The Night Angel Trilogy, Brent Weeks

So, I’m 100 pages into the last book of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and I have realised that not only are they brilliant books, but they have probably become my favourite series of books, over Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Sergei Lukyanenko’s The Night Watch quadrilogy. I haven’t read A Song of Fire and Ice yet but I’m expecting great things from it. Whether it can knock King from my top spot, I’m not. Anyhow, I thought it was time to review some of the more notable books/series that I’ve come across and I haven’t touched literature much in this blog yet.

First up, is Brent Weeks’ The Night Angel Trilogy.

When I first picked up the first book of the trilogy, The Way of Shadows, I honestly wasn’t expecting much. At the time, I was looking for a book that would tide me over until what I really wanted was released. It had been reviewed at the local bookstore and it intrigued me, so I bought a copy.

I was told then that it was a fast read, and that put me off somewhat. While I didn’t want an epic, I didn’t want to finish reading it in a couple of days. I was assured then and there that if I liked the fantasy genre, especially dark, gritty and brutal fantasy, that I wouldn’t be disappointed. I definitely wasn’t.

It’s not a short novel but it gripped me from the very first page. Weeks pulls the reader straight into his world and the graphic details immerse you in that world. The descriptions are so vivid and they’re things the reader can connect to, you could almost convince yourself you were there, watching everything unfold rather than simply reading it. That is a sign of a good writer.

A few days later, I returned to the store and bought the other two books. They are also short reads but thoroughly enjoyable. There was no disappointment other than the story ending. As with any good story, you can never be satisfied and always want more. It’s an open ending, allowing you to make your own mind up about what comes next, where the characters go.

The trilogy covers a lot of growth and emotion. There’s love, betrayal, sin, greed, immortality, magic, demons, morality and ethics. Some are obvious while others require more thought and deeper reading. In a more conventional story, our heroes would be the villains. There is a gradual shift in their attitudes as the world changes and our eyes are opened the wider plan and it is clear this story was not crafted on a whim. Some hard thought has been put into this, and the small threads that connect at various stages are planned. There are clues throughout as to what could or will happen, if you have the eye to see it. So gripped I was on my first reading of it, that I caught none of it.

There is a lot of strong language, so if you are offended easily, these may not be the books for you but it none of it feels out of place. The world we are shown is dark, violent, brutal and not always a pleasant place to be. This is a refreshing change from the more civilised worlds and fantasy stories that have been so popular in the past. Things don’t always work out, there aren’t always happy endings but life goes on. That’s an important aspect of this trilogy.

Everything operates in shades of grey throughout, there is very little presented to us in the white and black, good and bad. The reader has to decide for themselves how good a character really is and there is a lot to consider. Despite the depth and the bulk, nothing is wasted.

These are very enjoyable reads and Weeks has the gritty, dark fantasy story worked out. I can read these books over and over again with no hesitation and I’d advise anyone to give them a shot. It may not be your normal reading, but it will be an experience and an eye-opener. I look forward to reading his following books!

Guild Wars 2: So far

Well, it’s been over a week since those who pre-purchased the game have been able to log on and play properly. While the Beta Weekend Events and Stress Tests have been enjoyable and enlightening, they are nothing compared to the launch of the game. Knowing that your characters and progress will not be erased after a few hours or days is a much better feeling, no matter how early you got to play. So I decided to go through some aspects of the game. Enjoy!

Basics

Guild Wars 2 is an online MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing game) with no monthly subscription fee. The original Guild Wars and follow ups were of the same genre and this latest instalment has taken the best parts of Guild Wars and combined it with proven elements of the best other MMO’s around. The world is huge, the choices vast and the story is tailored to you. The guild system allows you to play with friends from the previous games as well as new ones, and your account can be linked to multiple guilds although your characters can only represent one at a time.

Professions

There are eight professions to choose from, with some continuing on from Guild Wars and some new ones. Any future releases may well contain new professions as with the previous game. There are three armour types, heavy, medium and light and each profession can only use certain weapons. There are no secondary professions in this game. Your profession is chosen at the start and at present, there is no way to change it!

·         Warrior (heavy armour) – Continuing from GW1, the warrior is a staple of any RPG and provides a good damage source as well as blocking enemy attacks. They can use a wide array of melee weapons.

·         Guardian (heavy armour) – A new class that is a combination of warrior and healer. They can cast a lot of buffs on themselves and allies, making them extremely valuable but this is not a healer class!

·         Ranger (medium armour) – As opposed to GW1, a pet will always accompany you this time. Pets can be found throughout Tyria and different pets will fight in different ways. It is down to the player to utilise them the best way possible, both on land and underwater.

·         Thief (medium armour) – A new class that takes some influence from the Assassin from Guild Wars: Factions. You can sneak and shadowstep while dealing damage to the enemy’s blind spot.

·         Engineer (medium armour) - Another new class that focuses on mechanical inventions to turn the tide of battle, including turrets and specialised skill sets like grenades and flamethrowers. They can use all types of guns, unlike other classes.

·         Elementalist – (light armour) – One of the biggest damager dealers in both versions of the game. The biggest change is that you can change which element you use in battle, rather than always returning to an outpost. There is a recharge time on doing this but it can turn the tide in those tricky situations.

·         Necromancer (light armour) – Returning from GW1, the master of life beyond death is still a popular choice in Tyria. The number of minions may have been reduced but they are stronger and you have much more control than in the past.

·         Mesmer (light armour) – I was never a big fan of Mesmer’s in GW1; they were too indirect for my style of play. That has been taken into account and they can provide a steady constant source of damage through illusion skills, including a clone of yourself!

Races

There is a choice of five races in GW2, and each race have their own specific skills, regardless of which profession you choose. While there is no obvious advantage to race/profession combinations, it is something to consider when creating your character, beyond the aesthetic considerations.

·         Human – The basic and most obvious race for any player. In GW1, you could only be a human and they have a big part to play in the story. Two out of the six big cities are also in Human territory.

·         Charr – Any GW1 player will recognise one of the first enemies encounter in the original game. This time, they seem to be less evil but still occupy Ascalon and are no longer in a direct confrontation with the Humans.

·         Norn – These towering characters hail from the Shiverpeaks and dedicate themselves to one of four sacred animals, determining their beliefs and story. Introduced in Guild Wars: Eye of the North, they have become much more involved in what is going on in other parts of Tyria.

·         Asura – Introduced at the same time as the Norn, these smart and arrogant creatures have been forced to live on the surface of Tyria and have more interactions with other races, much to their annoyance. They have constructed portals to transport players to different parts of Tyria instantly. The Waypoints that can be found are also of Asuran design.

·         Sylvari – The newest race to emerge in Tyria. They are a cross of Human and plant and are mainly a peaceful race, but the rise of the undead and Elder Dragon has brought them to take action. They believe they were created to defeat this threat. All are brown from the Pale Tree and have all the memories needed when they awaken to complete whatever task they see in their ‘Dream.’

Story

While you only have five character slots to choose from, there are too many options for each race to make this feasible, if you want to experience every branch of the story on offer. There are three options to choose from during character creation and then more branches appear throughout the game. This allows you a more personal story that is matched towards the options you choose. You can buy more character slots but in reality, you will have to complete the story, delete the character and start over, choosing different options every time.

This is all a theory on how to do it, but most people will choose an option that involves friends and other players, following them through their stories to experience as many as possible, should that be their driving force in Guild Wars 2.

Skills

Instead of the eight skill slots available in GW1, there are now ten but they have specific uses to prevent builds being made to make the game too easy and reduce Player versus Player advantages.

·         Weapon skills – A two handed weapon will give you 5 skills. A one-handed weapon gives you 3, and an off-hand gives you 2. These skills depend on weapon and profession and are not changeable without changing weapons.

·         Healing skill – A dedicated skill to keep you alive. This has replaced the need for a healer class in the game.

·         Utility skills – These three skills are unlocked as you level up. They have skills that you can change to suit your specific needs, environment, weapon and playing style.

·         Elite skill – Unlock at level 30. Like GW1, only one Elite skill may be used at a time. They take a long time to recharge but are very valuable and can turn the tide of battle instantly.

Crafting

There are several crafting options in GW2. You can learn and use any of them at any time but only two can be active at any one time and the higher the skill, the more it costs to reactivate it. One good method is to find out which skills are good for your profession, or what you will use the most. You can also use other guild members to make things for you but the higher level items are said to be bound to the crafter so you may have to learn them all eventually.

Items are not exactly easy to come by but with some common sense and little exploring, you can find what you need. Gathering points can provide base materials such as metals, wood and some foods, but you will need to salvage items to get a good amount of other materials. The Trading post will be another option, should you be willing to part with your gold.

Different levels of the items are found in corresponding zones and higher level items. You cannot use higher level materials without using the lower level ones first, and the rarer crafting items do tend to improve certain stats on the items in question. There are a lot of guides online for this and more experience players can help you get to grips with this. It can be confusing at first.

Exploring

Each map zone is split into a different level range. No matter how strong your character becomes, each area in a map has its own level cap. A level 80 character in a starter area will still show up as a level 5 character and have the stats to go with it. It will not affect what weapons and armour you can use but those will be weakened as well. This means you can join low level characters in events or searching for materials without it being too easy.

In each map zone, there are a certain number of Waypoints (used to travel to various places for a fee), Renown quests (to gain karma, gold and experience), Points of Interest, Skill challenges and Vistas (special cut scenes for that map). To gain complete exploration of Tyria, every single one of these must be found and completed. This is quite a task, especially when you first play the game and realise the size of the world you have to explore.

Jump Puzzles

In the map zones and cities are jump puzzles, where characters can earn account medals and exploration points, as well as special loot and experience by completing various puzzles, usually involving a lot of jumping (and a lot of dying if you miss!). These are extremely fun and very annoying but when attempting with friends, can provide a lot of laughs. It’s something different that doesn’t always require fighting and can be a good distraction from other elements of the game.

I remember falling off one jump puzzle at the same place for over three hours! It was driving me crazy, giving my fellow guildies plenty of laughs and keeping me going much longer than I would have thought. I finished that level and found another straight after. I could have cried right there and then!

WvW

World versus World is the latest version Player versus Player. In this realm, players of one world/server will face off against another to earn bonuses for their world. Arena Net has taken measures to keep the worlds balanced as much as possible but this is a new way to fight other players in a way that affects everyone, raising the stakes substantially, should you have the courage to join them.

It’s definitely kept me busy since it went live and while there have been problems since launch; it has been one of the smoothest launches I’ve played, with all the issues being fixed as soon as possible. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, players can keep up-to-date with any issues that do arise and while there will be plenty to come, there is more than enough to do right now that does work to keep the community at large happy.

The timing of the release is also good. Last week I quit smoking and I admit, I’ve used GW2 as a distraction from the cravings. It’s been a week since I quit and I’ve had no cigarettes at all. It’s not been easy but hopefully the game will keep me hooked until the desire to smoke decreases to almost minimal levels!

A few branches to follow on...

It’s been a busy couple of weeks at work since The Dark Knight Rises was released. It has kept me very busy and been an exhausting time but the film itself is very good, but not quite as good as The Dark Knight, I believe. There are reasons for this but I will go into that at a later time, in a separate post.

New writing project

Well, I’ve finally decided to try and start some writing again. It wasn’t a total success but it did get me a little closer. I still haven’t found a way to inspire myself on anything I’ve been working on recently but I did go through some of the pieces I did for university and found a few things that I began to merge and expand on that I think could turn into a really nice little project.

It’s already standing out to me as something different to my favoured genres and styles. One of the pieces that I’ve selected was specifically written for a much younger audience and while that age group might change again, it doesn’t feel like a story an adult would read. This could all change, as I don’t write to a certain age or with an intended audience in mind. I write to tell a story, and as the story evolves and is put to paper, it will inevitably find its own audience. There will always be editing to be done to touch up on issues or loose ends and this project will be no different. I am quite excited and feel closer than ever to start writing again.

Birthday surprise!

My birthday is surrounded by my father’s and older sister’s birthday. IT’s an expensive time of the year for the family, having all three within twelve days. F1 is something we all enjoy but being at Silverstone has shown me I also enjoy the other races going on. My father is also a fan of the Touring Cars and as they are at Silverstone the weekend of his birthday, the three of us will be going down. I’ve never had the time to really get into it, but the small parts I have seen I’ve enjoyed and now I have a reason to make sure I get it sorted before October.

I really enjoy going to Silverstone – it’s a fantastic circuit and there’s always a great atmosphere no matter what the weather. I’ll walk around the circuit again, as I have done both times I’ve been before and I may even see if I can get some good pictures and put them up here. I’m always experimenting with things online. Photo’s in my blog, from a writer? This should be interesting!

Stephen King

Over the last few years, I’ve slowly been getting through Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. I’ve just finished book five and have started book six, The Song of Susannah. They’re fantastically intricate reads and it can be confusing as to what is happening and where but they have kept me interested far better than any other books have recently. When I finish the last two, I think I will do a post looking at the series in its entirety. It will be interesting for me, if nothing else!

Stephen King is a fantastic writer, although I have found some of his stories can be repetitive. I suppose when you rule a genre like he does, this can be an easy trap to fall into. Each story is very well written and I hope I can branch out to other genres and stories to avoid this pitfall.

There are some other gems I have recently added to my book collection again thanks to a book voucher from MMU for receiving the Programme Leader’s Award. I spent £94 and still have £6 left, with another £10 card to spend, so a few more books are coming my way. I finally bought The Hunger Games books and the first A Song of Fire and Ice (or more commonly known as The Game of Thrones books). I have a lot of reading ahead of me!

Commitment

It's weird to think I haven't been to a seminar at university for over four months now. Weirder that my last exam was in May and more than that, it's been two weeks since I graduated. That one will take a long time to sink, I reckon.

All in all, life as a graduate hasn't been too different. I'm working full time now but the lack of funding from Student Finance means I don't get to go out as much as I used to and I'm still not completely ready to jump back into writing again. More on that later.

So, I'm going to put more time and effort into this blog. I'll be following up my RPG genre post and exploring tangents from it, maybe so movie and book reviews, as well as things I find interesting throughout the week. Consistency is the key, I hope.

Job hunting

One thing I've never been a fan of is job hunting. It's something that my friends and I, along with almost every other graduate out there, are going through right now. The problem I'm having is that there are very few entry level jobs, and all the things I've done in university seems to count for very little so far. In time, I hope that will change but I'm under no illusions that my current state of mind is still enjoying the freedom of not having a "real" job right now. I do have plans, and I don't want to be in my 30's/40's by the time they start to happen.

Those plans keep me tied to Manchester. I'm not complaining too much about this, as I love the place and want to stay here for the foreseeable future, providing the work is here. I think a lot of it now is who you know, not what you know, and being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

Hungary Grand Prix

It's no secret that I'm a massive F1 fan and this season has been fantastic so far. My only complaint is that I can't watch every race live, and through no fault of work (for once). I cannot afford Sky, let alone the sports package needed to watch every race on their channel. The BBC coverage is good but watching highlights is not the same, especially as I usually hear the result from someone or somewhere before I get to see the highlights for myself.

This weekend should provide an interesting race; a week after Fernando Alonso's third win of the season, the rule changes from the Red Bull engine mapping incident, and from today's practise sessions, the improved McLaren pace. While Friday practise is no evidence of pure pace, it is good to see the British drivers having a good start to the weekend, and hopefully they can carry on throughout the event. It will be even more interesting to see how much pace the Red Bull cars have actually lost, with the team saying it makes very little difference. If this is true, we could have five or six cars fighting for the victory on Sunday.

Safe to say I'm a little excited!

Writing again...almost

Ever since handing my dissertation in earlier this year, I've had very little motivation and inspiration to do any writing. It's annoying because I have a few projects on the go that I want to get back into but my random working hours and huge amounts of energy spent on job hunting has just stopped me from feeling any enthusiasm to any of them.

So, not only do I have a novel to redraft and a sequel to write in this year's National Novel Writing Month in November, I want to continue and finish the first draft of my dissertation by the end of the year as well as working on a sci-fi story too. Lots of projects and that's not even all of them. I also have an idea for another fantasy story and I'm pulling together ideas and pieces of information for that in the hope it will encourage me to write something - anything. I also hope this blog will help with this too. I'm going to post some pieces of writing here too, just to get it out there and maybe find some feedback!

Guild Wars 2

Less than a month before release!!! I'm going to spend a lot of time on this, but with enough will power, it won't interfere with the more important goals of doing some writing. I played the first two Beta Weekend Events but unfortunately I missed the final event due to the release of The Dark Knight Rises (an epic film that you should watch if you haven't already!). It just so happened to coincide with the release of the Sylvari and Asruan races, both of which I have been waiting to play since the BWE's began!

Then again, nothing will be spoiled for me on release, so there is a silver lining, and one I'm very much looking forward to!

Busy busy busy

It's been a bit longer than I had hoped since my last post, but I had to move at the beginning of the month and only just got Internet access back on my laptop - I didn't fancy writing a blog post from my phone!

I've set up a new e-mail address as well, and I do wish Google just had an option to change e-mail addresses or transfer control over easily, but that doesn't seem to be the case (unless I completely missed it and if so, I'm going to feel like an idiot...).

Other than moving, the big thing that's been going on for me has been the second Manchester Children's Book Festival, organised by MMU. The first festival took place in 2010 and it was a fantastic achievement and I was proud to be a part of it but this year has taken it to a whole new level for its second year. I missed most of the Family Fun Day on Saturday 30th June due top moving, which happened two years ago as well - I'm hoping to make sure this does not happen in two years time - but in the last hour, I managed to talk to a lot of the families attending and everyone had a great day with the zombie make-up being a big big hit!

Last night, Thursday 5th July, I volunteered at the Philip Pullman event and that was a fantastic evening with some interesting insights into his work and themes inside his writing, as well as a good way to get a bit closer to the author himself1 I'm a big fan of Philip Pullman's work, especially the His Dark Materials trilogy, which I did manage to get signed at the end. Hopefully there will be a photo to follow!

The man himself is a great role model for any writer, as he seems to be devoid of ego. He writes because he wants to, it's his passion and that's something I can really relate to as I feel the same way. There is nothing that I found I could dislike about him, even if I wanted to. He may have differing views on things from me but so do a lot of people and that has never stopped me from respecting or getting along with anyone. One day, I'd like to have a longer talk with him and go into further detail about things I found curious in his writing but there is hopefully plenty of time for that!

This afternoon I attended an event at the Museum of Science and Industry, here in Manchester. This was to announce the winner of the Midland Future Manchester competition, of which I helped judge the entries and create the shortlist that the winner was chosen from. The standard of the writing from these young people is astounding and very scary for someone like me, who can already see that in a few years, they will be at my level or even better. It shows that I can't stop writing for too long or risk missing out completely!

I do want to mention something else, on a much sadder note. Earlier this week, one of the F1 test drivers, Maria de Villota was involved in an accident during a straight line test and suffered serious injuries. It was her first time in the current F1 car and she has lost her right eye as a result of the accident, which is an awful thing to happen to anyone. Thankfully, while her condition is described as critical, it is also stable and anyone who reads this, I hope you join me and many other people all over the world in wishing her a speedy recovery. My thoughts also go to her family who must be suffering as well. It is a great thing that so many names in the F1 paddock are offering their support and wishes to someone who is new to this formula and it shows that even though each team is competing against each other, they are also part of a larger body that works together to help in the hard times.

A lot of people over the world can learn from this. Hopefully when they see communities and organisations doing this, it will happen more often and reach more people.

Guild Wars 2

There haven’t been many games recently that have excited me as much as Guild Wars 2, and in all honesty, there isn’t much coming up that can knock it from the top spot in games I want to play right now.

For those of you in the know, GW2 isn’t ready yet but we have had two Beta Weekend Events so far and these have given people who have pre purchased one of the three editions of the game an idea of what is to come on the official release. I have to admit, I did go all out and buy the Collector’s Edition of the game, something my bank balance and wallet have not quite forgiven me for yet, but come the official release, I have no doubt I will spend more time playing the game than doing anything else, including spending money!

I admit, one of the biggest concerns I had about GW2 was this massive free world where everyone would play together. It just screamed World of Warcraft to me, and all the issues I had with that game came with it. However, the BWEs convinced me most, if not all my concerns had been addressed.

Before I go any further, I haven’t played WoW for a very long time now, so some of these issues may well have been resolved, but I also don’t like paying monthly for a game and that’s where Guild Wars stood out.

With a mass environment, I was worried that anyone could come along and steal my kills, and the loot that came with it. If I’m going to spend time doing quests or finding items, I don’t want that time increased almost infinitely by people coming along at the last minute and stealing the kill, and the subsequent loot, and I’m sure this is true of most gamers. GW2’s answer is a simple one; no matter who is involved in the kill, you will all get the experience depending on how involved you were in the fight. The loot is personalised to each player as well, so no one else can even SEE my loot, let alone take it. This was clear early on in the first BWE and it gave me a good first impression.

A break away from Guild Wars is the lack of heroes and henchmen. It is quite feasible to wander around on your own or to team up with people in a more organised fashion but even those in a party don’t have to be in the exact same spot and with the vast areas available, it is easy to come and go as you please, as long as you’re considerate of the party’s goals!

It’s good to see people around the game outside of towns and outposts. It took some getting used to, but it gives the game a more real feel to it. GW1 was about socialising in outposts and guild halls but in GW2, that element is removed and the whole world becomes a social encounter. Random world events draw random strangers together in a PUG-like fashion but without having to commit yourself to an entire mission or area. The freedom almost encourages more cooperation. Throughout both BWEs, I have seen very little in terms of flaming or trolling. This might, and probably will change come release but it’s encouraging to see at the moment.

I haven’t spent too much time looking at crafting skills yet, but from what I understand, GW2 requires materials and recipies to create new items to use, but only two types of crafting skill can be active at one time. You can still find items and weapons from events and combat but I’m guessing that this is not only a money maker but will have some of the stronger weapons available. Unique weapons, in whatever form they’ll take, I have absolutely no idea about. I’m hoping they have better looking skins and the collector’s value, just like the unique weapons in GW1.

Guild functions haven’t been too prominent so far in my gameplay experience so far. Considering the game is called “Guild Wars 2” this is a bit of a surprise but I’m hoping there are some surprises for the release. Influence gained from quests seem to have a role in unlocking things but the full extent of what these features are, I’m waiting to see. Any of the people in my guild who see this, may well educate me and cause a subsequent update or edit to this post but I’ll cross that bridge later. My guild is up and running and hopefully the official release of GW2 will bring an even bigger resurgence of the people I have been playing GW1 with for the last seven years.

The Auction House is an interesting addition. The idea of being able to buy or sell anything, anywhere in the game means you don’t have to be in an outpost like in the past. In theory, it also keeps chat channels free of people trying to sell or buy things and focus more on the social and gaming events going on. Granted, you have to go to a trading post to actually get the items, but that doesn’t seem like a bad trade off in the larger scale of how the world is set up.

Like many, many others, the Sylvari are a huge point of interest that we haven’t seen yet. Whether there will be another BWE before release where this race will be available to play or we’ll have to wait until release is unknown and the same question needs to be asked of the Asura. I have had a look at the Charr and the Norn but so far, the human areas and stories are appealing to me more. Perhaps I have a grudge against the Charr for their part in GW1 and as for the Norn…well, they’re big, brutish and usually drunk so I SHOULD be happy with them unless I’m seeing a reflection of myself in their environments. Hopefully, we will be able to make more than five characters when the game is released.

Overall, I’m very excited for the official release of GW2 and the additional bonuses to come from the Hall of Monuments from GW1 will still keep me playing right up until release. Any free time will be spent in Tyria for the foreseeable future on the games release and I’m looking forward to seeing all the rest of the features the game has to offer!

The RPG Genre

Sometimes I find myself thinking that offline RPG's are getting too easy and are just not the value for money they once were, especially since they're more expensive with every generation of console released! I won't pretend I'm not biased - I'm a Playstation guy. I had the PSOne, PS2 and now the PS3, as well as currently owning a PSP. The original Xbox controller didn't sit well with me, it felt awkward and it was heavy! I could've used them as weightlifting tools. However, while they got better for the Xbox360, I still wasn't sold. That, however, is a discussion for another day.

My favourite RPG series is the Final Fantasy series by Square Enix (or at the time, Squaresoft). The stories were long and extensive, keeping me interested even if I deviated from the main story plot. FFVII and FFVIII are probably my favourite games of the series. Three and four discs respectively, there was so much going on in that world that by the time I had done it all and completed the game, I had no problems with going back to the start and playing it again, changing my choices to unlock new things. Add to that that each game had new characters and gameplay features; it stopped them from being boring when the next one came along.

Even now, two consoles and many years later, I find these games to be much more of a challenge than their more recent counterparts. FFXIII and FXIII-2 are both good games in their own rights but I can't help feeling like the longevity isn't there anymore.

FFXIII is almost a completely linear game. You will follow the story and the maps give you almost no choice in that. When you reach a later point in the game, you can deviate a little but such is the level differences that any journey will require a lot of grinding and effort. After the game, you can return and complete what you missed, which is fine but that then makes restarting the game defunct, except to experience the very linear story again, and even that wasn't a great story in my opinion.

FFXIII-2 is the second attempt at a sequel to a Final Fantasy game, the first being FFX-2 (which I'm currently pretending did not happen). It takes almost the opposite approach and goes for a game that almost encourages non-linear play. It's almost as if Square Enix can't make up their minds as to where the balance lies in this respect and have gone from one extreme to the other. Continuity is there though, with a very similar battle and gameplay system and the same characters but it's the freedom to do what I want, when I want, how I want and to change it whenever I want that appeals more to me than FFXIII.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is probably one of the best games I've played offline even if it's not my favourite. Its predecessor, Oblivion, was also very non-linear and I found it hard to even find the story arc. It was supposed to be a free roaming RPG and it was, but very daunting. Skyrim rectified that problem and started you down the story and gave you the basics of how to play before letting you decide what to do – and there is so much to do! I’d be lying if I said it was so vast that it was impossible to complete but it is, and again, the story arc is relatively short in comparison to the size of the game.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is another game I really enjoyed but again, found it very short. Once the story was finished – that’s it! There’s nothing else except to go back through the game and do it again, differently. That’s fine, but while I got the game towards the latter end of 2011, it’s now been over six months since then and I still have little interest to play it again. I give it points for being vivid enough to remember, but it loses those and more by not inspiring me to play again.

It seems that graphics are becoming more and more important to game designers as opposed to story, difficulty, content and gameplay. I’m still drawn back to games such as FFVII and FFVIII, despite their graphics being a lot less advanced because the games are more enjoyable to play opposed to looking at. Further to that, even earlier games such as FFVI using 2D sprite images still have a strong appeal – they’re harder to play and that’s a lot more fun, at least to me.

The PS2 will always hold a special place in my heart because it seems to have found the best balance between gameplay and graphics. Games such as FFX or the Kingdom Hearts series looked good and played better. If I could rule the big companies in charge of these games, this is what I’d tell them to look at for inspiration.

I’ve not spoken about online RPG’s, two of the biggest examples being World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. I’ve been a GW fan and player for almost seven years (partly because I can’t afford to pay a monthly fee for that long at the moment) and there were things about WoW that didn’t engage with me but one thing for online RPG’s is the constant updating of content and gameplay to keep their audiences interested. Of course, overcrowding can detract from story arcs onto the people and that’s not for everyone but on the other hand, not enough players can make it hard to do certain things in the game. I enjoy online gaming but you have to pick your time, whereas you don’t with offline or console gaming.

Then again, with Guild Wars 2 and the new WoW content coming over the summer, a fresh surge will be introduced into both audiences and it will be interesting to see what each side has come up with to beat the other!