Aim For The Heart: December 2009

I was fortunate many years ago to be able to review the first Geneforge game. Since then, I've played most of the Geneforge sequels. Since then I discovered Eschalon: Book I. (Whether you would consider the original Divine Divinity an indie title is debatable, but perhaps it could be included, too).

So every now and then I go on a hunt for good indie CRPGs. Sadly, they're few and far between, at least those that have the elements I consider important. First off they have to be in, 3rd-person isometric (3D or not). I think because the graphics are weaker, 1st-person perspective looks much worse, especially when compared to top-tier commercial titles. The objects are larger on the screen, and their flaws are more readily apparent.

Second, they must have plenty of quests, lots of character stats, stuff to pick up and sell, and lots of choices. The "role" part of role-playing game must be in evidence. Action RPGs are all well and good, but those aren't the titles that make me salivate.

Right now, I have two games on my radar: Eschalon: Book II and Age of Decadence. Eschalon: Book II is almost certainly a Day 1 purchase for me. I enjoyed Book I a lot, and I trust the devs to put out a solid product. Age of Decadence comes from a studio I don't know, and while it looks fantastic, I'll have to give a demo a try or check reviews first. I'm hoping for a title that rivals Dragon Age in quality, even if the graphics and sound aren't up there with a Bioware title (no one would expect a title like AoD to compete with a studio that has millions of dollars to throw around and over a hundred voice actors).

With those two indie titles, Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2 coming out, and then possibly Red Dead Redemption in April (more on that one later), the first quarter of 2010 is going to be packed!

This is NOT a spoiler-free review of the movie Drag Me To Hell, so you've been warned.

In this movie, Christine Brown is a loan officer at a bank who denies a third extension on her loan to an old gypsy woman. The woman begs for her help, but Christine refuses. That night in the parking garage, the old woman attacks her and then curses her. For three days, a llamia will torment her and then drag her to hell.

OK, first off, while it's sad the woman was going to lose her home, the bank is a business. A third extension is pushing things a bit. Christine suggested moving in with family or a nursing home, and the woman refused those ideas outright. While it's true that Christine's motive for refusing the extension was selfish (she was gunning for a promotion), I felt the catalyst for the horror was weak. Trying to run a profitable business is hardly an evil act.

Secondly, a psychic (the real deal, of course; they always are in these movies) tells her she can get rid of the curse by passing along the cursed object (a button from Christine's jacket). Mistake one was that the woman stole the button, and we never saw it given back to her. Seriously, Christine just suddenly had the button on her without the movie letting the viewer know that.

Anyway, the psychic tells her she can pass along the cursed object, so she gets the smart idea to dig up the old gypsy woman (who died the day after Christine met her) and give it to her. Seems like a good idea, right? That woman was genuinely evil after all, and if anyone deserved to be dragged to hell, it was her.

So Christine does that, and the next day dawns bright and sunny. She and her loving boyfriend are meeting at the train station to take a weekend vacation. While they're talking about how wonderful everything is, the boyfriend pulls out an envelope, telling her he thinks she gave him the wrong one. Surprise! She accidentally gave him the evil button.

She's shocked and horrified and backs away, falling onto the train tracks. Here's where the story messes with its own rules. She gets dragged to hell in front of her boyfriend's eyes. Why? Why did this happen? The rules clearly stated the person who was gifted the button would get taken. Why didn't she have to watch in horror as the man who loves her is the one taken?

I rated this movie a 2 stars on Netflix. Changing the rules of your world at the end of the story is a no-no. Making a heroine who doesn't actually deserve the torment fail at the end is also a bad idea. Part of the story was to show Christine become a stronger, more confident person. She learned to fight for herself. And then it was all taken away by the last scene.

I just finished Rhys Bowen's second book in the A Royal Spyness mystery series, A Royal Pain. It made me realize I like cozy mysteries only when they're set in historical periods. Normally I'd say I don't care much for cozy mysteries at all, but I love this and Kathryn Miller Haines's Rosie Winter series.

Bowen's books are set in England, 1930, when communism is on the rise in Europe and that upstart Hitler is getting some attention in political circles. The heroine, Georgie, is a British royal who's close enough to the throne to visit her grandmother the queen (Victoria) but far enough to never be at risk of ascending.

Kathryn Miller Haines's series stars a young stage actress trying to make a living in NYC in the middle of WWII. This series is so rich in detail and atmosphere you're instantly transported back to the time period the minute you open to the first page. The slang is amazing and the details are spot on.

I'm also reading The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It's interesting, if a bit slow to start off, and it reads exactly the way you can imagine a big budget movie director would write a book: lots of cuts between different scenes and POVs, lots of characters, some of whom live and die within the scene they're in, plenty of details. If there's one complaint I can make is that the writers are prone to excessive details about technology. Seriously, I don't really need to know the specs on that piece of forensics equipment your hero is using. I don't even need to know what piece of equipment he's picking up to perform that autopsy. Just tell me he's performing an autopsy and I'll be fine. Still, it's a book I look forward to reading.

Lastly, I started Jim C. Hines's The Stepsister Scheme, about Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty banding together to rescue Cinderella's husband. It has Hines's trademark humor, and it's a distinct twist on the fairy tale genre. It's worth noting that these aren't Disney princesses; these are the versions more closely recorded by the brothers Grimm.

That's it for now. I've been adding books like crazy to my Amazon wishlist, but I've made it a point not to buy any more. My current TBR pile is about to bury me.

Every now and then a game comes along that could never last long enough, no matter how many hours it gives you. I finished two games this week, Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins. Borderlands was not that game. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed it. I'll enjoy playing it again with my friends when they can get together, and the humor and style were fantastic.

But Dragon Age is an event. Dragon Age is an RPG that takes a step back and remembers that the roleplaying part of RPG actually matters. The game is entirely voiced, and the acting is fantastic. Conversations with your followers change depending on what choices you make. Conversations between your followers are worthy of stopping for just so you don't miss a single line of interaction. The codex is filled with world-building, and if you take the time to read it all, will show you a world full of history, intrigue, and politics.

It's a rare game that makes me want to turn around and start again as soon as I finish it. And considering I put in around 70 hours to reach the end, that's really saying something.