News n' Stuff

Sadly, I don't have much exciting personal gaming news to report.  Last night I finished up my 30 bajillionth replay of The Witcher 3--I had a great time, like always, but felt like the graphical updates in the "next gen" version caused some issues.  I had weird flickering throughout and fuzzy patches during cutscenes that I never had before this update.  I did enjoy the added content and decked my Geralt out in the Netflix series inspired armor set (it's a nice looking set if you enjoy the black leather aesthetic).  If you haven't checked out the updated version, it might be a nice summer option.

In gaming related news, this article caught my eye.  I'm a big BioWare fan so when there are any mentions about games related to their big name franchises, I'll usually bite.  Unfortunately, too much of the news we read about seems to be bad--long time team members leaving or issues/delays in development (and yes, tech seems to be in a bit of a layoff-tastic time right now).  As a Mass Effect and Dragon Age fan this news sounds good-ish in nature--it's good that they're prioritizing the flagship series.  If you're a Knights of the Old Republic player though...sorry!  We haven't really heard too much about ME4 or Dreadwolf, so it's surprising to read this little tidbit.

Shep & the Normandy.

What am I hoping for in the next iteration of BioWare goodness?  Look, I know that every RPG these days needs to be some fantastic, open world monstrosity...but does it really?  I would love to see a more story focused RPG in the classic style of BioWare games--great characters who build strong relationships and become a team that feels more like a family.  I would take that over clearing out my five thousandth pointless enemy base and checking a map marker off an absolutely glutted map of locations.  The chances of actually getting a game like that seem low--both Andromeda and Inquisition took on aspects of the open world.  I didn't hate either game (and Inquisition is most definitely the stronger of the two) but I would argue that neither are fan favorites.  The era of gaming that was more writing heavy...I think it's over and that sucks.  Why hire more writers when you can copy/paste locations, enemies, and encounters onto a map and charge $69.99?  But, would gamers accept a smaller, more focused game?  Part of me thinks that they would--I think we're seeing some rejection of certain open world formulas (Ubisoft-esque map nightmare scenarios).  The realistic part of me knows that what they really want is a way to get gamers to cough up that $69.99.

If you're a BioWare fan...let's all just keep our fingers crossed that we get some good news (no more articles about people leaving or frustration with the direction of the company/development).  I've got my toes crossed too!