Ekim's Gamer View: Commenting the News

Michel "Ekim" Veilleux
2003-04-04

Boy! Is it a slow start to the year or what? I wonder if we're paying for last year's excellent crop of RPGs. I remember that I was already playing Dungeon Siege at this time last year, and awaiting impatiently the imminent release of NWN. This year is… different to say the least. You could say I'm waiting for KotOR, but then again I might as well not. Let's not even mention Gothic 2, even though the last few weeks have been more positive than before. So, for the lack of anything really interesting to comment on, let's go around the news and discuss the good and the bad.

Artifact Entertainment's Horizons

Horizons being picked up by Atari and Infogrames is somewhat of a good news, I guess. I just hope that being published by a big publisher doesn't force Artifact Entertainment to tone down on the game's list of features, and its vision. In my humble opinion Horizons is one of the most promising upcoming MMORPG out there for a number of reasons I won't go through here, and it would be a shame to see the corporate heads trying to re-shape it more into another EQ clone. God knows that we have enough of those already....

Piranha Bytes' Gothic 2

Where art thou, Gothic 2? Please pardon my bad Shakespeare… but is it just me or am I feeling left out? While Piranha Bytes is busy announcing an add-on and confirming rumors about a Gothic 3, we're still waiting for our own version of the second title of the series here in America…. And all the while we keep expecting greatness. Of course, those who already played the game will tell us we have nothing to worry about, but then again sometimes when you expect something too much you end up being disappointed. I don't doubt the game will be good, I just wonder how much longer we can wait. Let's just hope that Jowood (or whoever else publishes the game here) does a better job at marketing the Gothic 2 than what they did for Arx Fatalis, or even the first Gothic for that matter.

Reflexive Entertainment's Lionheart

As if we had more than enough single-player RPGs on our hands, Lionheart gets pushed back to… August??? Ouch! This game was already looking outdated last year. I guess I'm still curious as to how Lionheart will play, but I fear that even if it's a wonderful game it could suffer the same fate as Planescape: Torment and become one of the best RPGs which no one ever played.

Akella's Pirates of the Caribbean (a.k.a. Sea Dogs 2)

I guess no one can really blame Bethesda for taking advantage of a possible blockbuster title and ride the wave of fame by changing the name of Sea Dogs 2 to Pirates of the Caribbean. No one will blame them either if the game stays true to what it's supposed to be, which is an open-ended pirate RPG. Changing the title might invite fans of the upcoming movie to check out the game, and that is a good thing. Only if the change of title also means putting too much water (no pun intended) in the wine, the game might leave a nasty aftertaste with the fans who have been long awaiting Sea Dogs 2.

Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic

You know I have to talk about KotOR. Maybe it's just me, but I'm itching to buy myself an Xbox now, which is no small feat! Never one to let myself freely taken by hype, I still was tempted by the dark side last week and went to look at the game's FAQ… and the screenshots… and the preview movie. Well, all I can say is that Bioware is my type of developer, and I might (just might!) let myself be swayed and buy an Xbox just for KotOR. I never bought a console because of an RPG before, so this might be a first. I've never been a huge fan of console RPGs, which always felt more like elaborate adventure games to me. But this is a Bioware game, and it's the very first CRPG set in the Star Wars universe! Bah! I think I'm already sold…

Bioware's Neverwinter Nights

Last I wanted to touch on NWN. I think everyone knows how much I love this game by now. Almost a year after its release the first expansion pack will soon be out. And not long afterwards a second one will be made available. I guess the NWN community is alive and well, thriving even, and that is more than good news. There's a chance that the game will eventually suffer a decrease in interest, and I guess that's just normal for any game in this day and age. Yet, with the possibilities the toolset offers I wonder if eventually Bioware could not simply come out with a revamped graphics engine to refresh the whole game. For now the graphics are still adequate, but eventually people will be put off when comparing with what else they can play. Just a thought.

Now, it's your turn. Comment away! ;)