Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

This past two years I had the opportunity to play Command and Conquer 3, Heroes of Might and Magic 5, Elder Scrolls 4, and Neverwinter Nights 2.  It's been a while since playing the last two, but recently I had the opportunity of finishing C&C3 and once again trying my hand at HOMM5.  Here's some short thoughts on each of these:

Command and Conquer 3

This game could potentially get pretty addicting and frustrating simultaneously.  The so-called "easy" level felt more like a difficult level.  There was some interesting aspects to the game like the Nod Avatar vehicle being able to "upgrade" via crushing four different types of vehicles and then assimilating them.  Also, giving the engineers (and engineer types) the ability to capture and restore Avatars, Juggernauts, etc. 

However, I thought some of the game made it slightly harder to create and structure your base.  The 3D tiling makes it really hard to place objects and gets confusing.  I couldn't really deploy any sensible strategy based on distance because the terrain made judging distance quite tough.  Also, what happened to some of the previous units from C&C2?  For instance, the other Mammoth Tank Mk 2 was cool.

I still enjoy playing this series but the UI with the emphasis on 3D is making the game nearly unplayable or unmanageable.  It's just far too complicated to manage so many units and deal with all the different elements interacting with each other on screen.  It's definitely a lot different than the old Dune days.

Heroes of Might and Magic 5

To show you how long I've been playing these games, I started out on Might and Magic I and practically played most of the series.  I missed out on 4 & 5 as well as King's Quest (because I heard that it was impossible to run on a Commodore 64).  Ever since M&M1, I've been trying to get every game that's come out per year.  When 3DO when out of business, I got depressed since two of the best series were dead in the water.

Fortunately, Ubisoft bought the rights to the game and resurrected it.  What they produced in HOMM5 was a graphically updated version of HOMM3.  I found the game to be far too well balanced as if the creators decided to take a safe route and appease hardcore old school fans.  From what I've read, HOMM5 employs the World of Warcraft graphics engine, which isn't bad, but I think there was some problems that I need to point out.

The game is quite heavy and prone to crashing.  Sometimes you can't even load the game.  I got the extension Hammer of Fate and it had some audio problems just after the initial load.  Apparently, the game designers decided to hold off on any further updates and recently had released a new extension Tribes of the East with the latest patches.  I'm actually pretty disappointed that more maintenance on the game hasn't been done because this game is VERY buggy.

My biggest gripe about the game is that the AI takes far too long to go through a single turn.  At one point, I would wait at least 10 minutes for the AI to complete a turn!  This is absolutely ridiculous!  During my little Christmas break, I would go between cleaning up my apartment and playing the game because each turn was taking too long. 

Another huge disappointment with the game is the unwieldy game editor.  I loved the previous games because they provided a cool editor for building your own scenarios.  However, with more 3D effects becoming prominent, it's obvious that HOMM5 too has fallen by the wayside and emphasized form over story and gameplay.  The editor just is too frustrating to work with.  For example, the dizzying zoom in and out effects when trying to place an item becomes nerve wracking that I just end up giving up.

From that one thing I have to say is that the world isn't really that much bigger.  In fact, it feels like it shrank despite having the ability to visually zoom into more details.  Some of the gameplay was lost between 4 and 5 as well.  For instance, you can't move use individual creatures as units without the hero.  That was one cool feature with HOMM4. 

Hopefully, Ubisoft does not stop producing the HOMM and M&M series and that they utilize these two releases as learning experiences in expanding the HOMM/M&M universe. 

Elder Scrolls 4

I had picked up Morrowind (Elder Scrolls 3) a few years ago and discovered what a gorgeous environment that was created.  My coworker at Ticketmaster later showed me a screenshot of the newest version and I was baffled.  So I couldn't wait a few years back to pick up what looked like a highly immerse, incredibly detailed world.

To say the least, Elder Scrolls 4 probably was too immersive.  Meaning that there's so much detail, you feel lost.  I enjoy games with detail but I don't like the fact that the detail forces you to waste a lot of time.  For example, in both games, if you want to travel around, there's no easy short cuts outside of just walking from point A to point B.  I mean, they did have some town teleportation type of tricks, but in general, if you're looking for a cave, you really have to delve into the game and find it.  I got frustrated on more than one occasion because I'd end up losing confidence in determining whether or not a particular place was the real spot.   

The other thing that I don't particularly enjoy about such a game is that you feel like you're wasting time with meaningless travel.  In the whole going from point A to point B, you might not doing anything outside of just walking for long periods.  No fights, no items to pick up, no meaningful quests to solve.  Just walking.  If you ever saw the movie Manos: the Hands of Fate, then you'd know the pain I feel.

I think gameplay just look a good movie, a good book, and a good song should be meaningfully filled.  You don't want to waste the user's time on gratuitous graphics just for bragging rights.  And you definitely don't want to increase the user's frustration level too much either.  Take Ultima 5 for instance.  In Ultima 5, the world is QUITE large for an RPG, even now.  Lots of towns to explore and many options to do.  But the gameplay is never boring, imo.  Even as you're wandering, you might encounter a group of trolls or orcs to get a little bit of experience.  Sure, Elder Scrolls does something similar, but I think the presentation make each games different in terms of something that feels rewarding.

I've yet to complete this game, so maybe I might try taking it up again sometime in the near future.

Neverwinter Nights 2

I got a few of my friends somewhat addicted to this game.  This type of game really replaces the whole Friday/Saturday night D&D game + pizza concept.  But I really like the way you can build up different types of characters and experiment.

The latest installment wasn't as big of a hit as the first one.  Perhaps, the biggest problem from what I've read was that the game was too loose and didn't have the same level of story  telling as the first game.  Also, the ending supposedly was anti-climatical.  However, I've yet to finish this one either so I'll judge for myself.

I think the interface wasn't as fluid at times as the original.  I had to re-map the keys to make the game play smooth.  I enjoy the moving camera concept to some degree.  It reminds me of some of these contemporary Matrix-like movies with the floating camera perspective. It doesn't seem to take away too much from the game play and you can do some cool stuff like zoom up on a treasure item or monster.

I don't like the fact though that like many AD&D games, they limit your level.  Level limits just don't make too much sense for me as it seems that putting a cap on a character's growth just makes the game boring and forces you to find something less limiting after a while.  Also, I hope that they publish many extensions that provide newer items and upgrades.

Also, I really hope that this game expands on the notion of interacting with the world.  One thing that I've always loved about the Ultima series has been that the world increasingly becomes more interactive.  I like the idea of  being able to make bread, push a chair or break a glass item.  Visual appeal is only one aspect of making a world immersive.  You have to provide the elements of workability to compliment the look of a game.  Otherwise, everything is simply gratuitous CG.

Anyway, these are my thoughts for now.  I think there was one other game but I'll have to check before bitching about it again :)