Jade Empire (Xbox) - Part 2

Today on Super Adventures, I'm getting back to Jade Empire for the second and final time. If you want to read part 1 CLICK HERE.

I'm still looking for a town with sidequests and a big problem I can solve, so I can get a good impression of what the game's actually like before I turn it off. Something like Knights of the Old Republic's Taris, or Mass Effect's Citadel... except smaller hopefully.

This means there will be some SPOILERS here for the first few hours of the game, but nothing too serious I expect.

Jade Empire (Xbox) - Part 1

Developer:

BioWare

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Release Date:

2005

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Systems:

Xbox, PC, Mac, Android, iOS

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out a game that I'm absolutely sure I've probably played before. I just can't remember doing it, or even how it plays exactly. I feel like I must have gotten past the tutorial and then ran around the starting area for a bit before turning it off.

I have to wonder what Jade Empire did to lose my interest so quickly as I can usually sink hours into a BioWare RPG. This was their 7th game, by the way, coming between Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. It's what they were working on while Obsidian was making the considerably higher-rated KOTOR 2. Wait, is that actually true or am I just making a huge assumption there?

Okay, I've done the research and according to Metacritic, Jade Empire actually scored just a little bit better than KOTOR 2, on Xbox anyway. Jade Empire falls a bit behind on PC for some reason. I'd check their scores on PlayStation 2 and GameCube but they appear to have neglected to port the games to either system. Possibly because it came out in 2005, near the end of that console generation... or possibly because it was published by Microsoft.

Anyway, I know what BioWare games are like, so my plan is to keep playing long enough to find the first proper quest hub town and sort out their big crisis. Assuming that it even has towns. I'll be playing the original Xbox version, but I'll be running it on an Xbox One through the magic of backwards compatibility because it'll be easier to get video out of it that way. Plus it might even boost the framerate and resolution a bit.

Mass Effect: Andromeda (PC)

Developer:

BioWare

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Release Date:

2017

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Systems:

Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4

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Today on Super Adventures I'm celebrating N7 day by writing about the Stargate: Atlantis of Mass Effect games - Mass Effect: Andromeda! Not to be confused with the Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda of Mass Effect games, that would be something different. If you haven't seen Atlantis or played Andromeda, I'm referring to the fact that this is a spin-off that jumps over to a brand new galaxy to start its own isolated story where the events of the main series theoretically can't reach it.

The game went through a troubled development process, but then it's by BioWare so that's no huge shock. This article you're reading also had a troubled development though, as I started the first draft way back in 2017, when the game was shiny and new. I don't generally write about new games, as I figure that the rest of the internet's already got that covered, however I'd already written about the original trilogy and felt that I should complete the set. But then I shut Super Adventures down for a year and the draft got shelved. I got back to it in late 2019 and nearly got it into a publishable shape... but I figured people would rather read about Super Mario 64 and Suikoden etc., and it got buried again. Now I'm finally finishing it in 2021, exactly six years to the day since I wrote my epic four-part Mass Effect 3 article. I won't be dragging this one out to epic proportions though, I'll be trying to keep this brief.

My gimmick for 2021 is that I'm only playing games which have appeared on someone's top 10 list, and I found Mass Effect: Andromeda at #2 on Screenrant's '20 Most Disappointing Video Games of 2017' list, just beaten to the top spot by Star Wars: Battlefront II. The game came out five years after the controversial Mass Effect 3, and received a very different reaction from players. Mass Effect 3 got fans emotionally invested and then pissed them off to the point where they started campaigns to get the endings changed, but Andromeda had them laughing out loud at the awkward dialogue and dodgy animations. Then people just kind of lost interest with it as far as I can tell. Maybe people still play the multiplayer, I dunno, but it didn't sell well enough to even get DLC, never mind a sequel.

Okay, I'll be sharing screenshots of the first few hours of the game so there might be SPOILERS here for things you don't want to know. Just giving you a heads up.
 

Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (PC) - Part 2

Today on Super Adventures I'm just playing a bit more of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Enhanced Edition). Well actually I'll be playing a lot more, but I wouldn't worry too much about spoilers as I'll just be skipping through all the interesting parts to whine about things that bother me.

I'm sorry I can't be as in-depth or insightful as the CRPG Addict, but it seems like he's going to take another decade or more to reach the 2000s, so why not read my words while you wait? I mean I'm assuming you've probably read part one already. If not you can get to it by clicking here: PART ONE.

Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (PC) - Part 1

Enhanced -	Developer:	Overhaul	|	Release Date:	2013	|	Systems:	Win, OS X, iPad, Android, iPhone, Linux, Switch, PS4, XBOne
Original Game -	Developer:	BioWare	|	Release Date:	2000	|	Systems:	Win

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the Enhanced Edition of the gigantic Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. This one's a titan of RPGs, an absolute classic, and very similar to the original Baldur's Gate... which I've already written about. In fact you might be wondering why I'd spend so much time trying to play and then summarise something so massive and complex (and yet also so well known) when I've basically done it already, but it's too late for you to talk me out of it.

Baldur's Gate II was BioWare's fourth title, after mech action game Shattered Steel, Baldur's Gate, and misc action game MDK2, and this is the point where they cast away all distractions to fully devote themselves to the RPG genre. But they only make blockbuster AAA titles these days, so Beamdog (their Overhaul Games division to be precise) got to be the ones to update this game for modern systems 13 years later. They updated the Throne of Bhaal expansion as well, and even threw in a bonus battle arena called The Black Pits II (which I'm not gonna play).

The Enhanced Editions apparently sold well enough, as a few years later Beamdog also got to make a new expansion for the first Baldur's Gate, called Siege of Dragonspear, which fills you in what happened to your hero in the time skip between the two games. So Baldur's Gate II is now following on from content made 16 years after it. You can import your character from that expansion into this and start off way overleveled... by like 2 levels (Dungeons & Dragons can be incredibly stingy with the level ups it seems).

I never played pen and paper D&D and I haven't read any Forgotten Realms books, so I'll have no idea how faithful Baldur's Gate II is to the lore and gameplay. I have played a few of the videogames before though... including this one. In fact it was probably my first D&D game after Eye of the Beholder, and I completely bounced off it the first time I installed it because I had no bloody idea what I was doing. I don't even think I knew I was supposed to rest occasionally. But then I gave it a second go later and made real progress. Tons of progress. I didn't actually beat the bloody game though and it's been tormenting me ever since.

I'm thinking that I got about two thirds of the way through on my last time, but it's a bloody long game so I'm not really sure. All I know is that it's going to take more than the first hour to really get an idea of how it plays, but I'll try to skip through without really spoiling anything beyond the prologue. Expect lots of zoomed out images of tactical combat and beautiful shots of menu screens.

Mass Effect 3 (PC) - Part 4: Extended Cut

THIS IS PART 4, YOU CAN FIND PART 1 HERE.

Around four months after release, Mass Effect 3 received an alternate ending DLC, with a price of absolutely nothing. The Extended Cut replaces the original ending, but not by default; it needs to be downloaded and installed separately. Unless you’ve got the Wii U version that is, then you’re stuck with the new content.

I actually think it’s great that the original ending’s still there for people to experience first hand, as we should be preserving content like this. Plus developers shouldn’t be able to edit our copies of a game to change the story without permission anyway!

Is it a good thing that BioWare ‘caved’ to their fans at all though? Does it set the medium back as an art form when customers can demand changes when a story doesn’t match their expectations? And does it actually fix anything?

 *** WARNING: ULTIMATE SPOILERS ***

Mass Effect 3 (PC) - Part 2

Welcome to part two of my epic four part review thing!

In part one I played through the prologue up to getting my ship back.
In part two I'll be going through a typical mission and talking about how the game progresses. I'll put my conclusion here along with the comment box.
In part three I'll be going one step further into madness and analysing that ending to figure out why people were so bothered by it.
In part four I'll be talking about the new ending, and whether BioWare did the right thing by retconning their art. Yes I realise that no one's going to still be reading by this point, but I'm putting a second comment box there anyway.

There'll likely be massive spoilers for the first two games, and I'll be talking about how some major storylines wrap up near the end. See, this is what happens when I actually finish a game for once, I feel like talking about all of it and end up ruining the whole story for people. You should be safe to skip to the conclusion though.

Mass Effect 3 (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

BioWare

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Release Date:

2012

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Systems:

Windows, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm celebrating N7 day by replaying the first couple of missions in Mass Effect 3 and briefly... oh fuck it, I'm going to go and beat the whole game again. No sense in half-assing it after I finished the first two to get here.

Plus I remember there being a bit of controversy about how the game wraps up the (first) Mass Effect trilogy, so I'm going to go through the ending in excruciating detail and share my own thoughts on how it plays out, and whether people were freaking out about nothing. You're not going to get a 47 page let's play out of me, I haven't entirely lost my mind, but this shall be an epic four part article!

PART ONE is what you're reading now, where I'll talk about first couple of hours and show how the game plays. It'll likely spoil the last two games along with the start of this one but not much else.

PART TWO is where I'll talk about the game overall and give my thoughts about it. Likely to be more spoilery. I'll review the game at the end and give you a box to leave non-spoilery comments underneath.

PART THREE is going to reveal my SHOCKING opinions about the unloved original ending of the trilogy, as I go through the final act in the aforementioned excruciating detail. This will have all of the spoilers, maximum spoilers.

PART FOUR is going to quickly go over the changes made for the Extended Cut and whether altering the story was a good idea. It'll also have maximum spoilers, plus a second comments box for you to chat about the ending specifically. If you want.

I'm going to be playing the Windows version so some of my issues will be PC specific (like not being able to click on anything without disabling the Origin overlay first). Also I'm using a fix to enable ambient occlusion on my Nvidia card, following this guide I found on the BioWare forums, so my visuals will look slightly sweeter than the default. Or maybe slightly glitchy and screwed up, it could go either way!

(Click the screenshots to expand them to their original resolution.)

Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

BioWare

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Release Date:

2010

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Systems:

Windows, Xbox 360, PS3

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Today on Super Adventures, I'll be going through the entirety of Mass Effect 2 in an epic 70 part Let's Play! Actually no I've got a better idea, I'll show off the start of it, skip through to the bits I have something to say about, then wrap it up in let's say... 2 parts. That'll mean much less writing for me, much less reading for you, and everyone's happy! Plus the last thing I want to do is spoil the whole game for people who haven't played it.

That said, this will have SPOILERS ALL OVER THE PLACE, including the identity of all recruitable characters, the outcome of Mass Effect 1, the events leading up to the ending of Mass Effect 2 and what's waiting for players at the end. But I'll put another warning before the really massive spoilers at the end so you can safely skip right past them.

If you find my spoiler warnings to be inadequate in any way, then please scream at me in the comments later so I can be depressed and guilty about ruining the game for you fix them.

(Click screenshots to open up a higher resolution version.)

Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Part 2

This is the second and final part of my Mass Effect 2 article. You can go to part one by clicking the text that says 'part one' here: Part one.

WARNING: CONTAINS HUGE ENDING SPOILERS AT THE END.

Mass Effect (PC) - Part 2

If you're looking for the first part, you can reach it by clicking here: Part one.

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Mass Effect (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

BioWare

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Release Date:

2007

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Systems:

Xbox 360, Windows, PlayStation 3

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Today on Super Adventures I'm finally taking a look at a Mass Effect game! I started the month with a sci-fi two parter and now I'm ending it with one too! Next month: I dunno... zombies.

The Mass Effect series is basically what happened when the developers of Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic decided they could really do with some of that Gears of War and Halo money. They'd already switched to full 3D visuals and moved the camera behind the characters for KotOR, and this took another step by swapping out the tactical combat for cover shooting, to appeal to more of the console owning mainstream. In fact the game was an Xbox 360 exclusive for 7 months before BioWare's original PC fanbase finally got to have a go of it. PlayStation 3 owners on the other hand were left waiting so long that they were able to buy both Mass Effect 2 and 3 first! Which is just dumb.

I've actually had all three in my library for years and I've played all of them once before, but I've been putting off writing about them because it either didn't seem the right time to show off another modern AAA shooter, or I didn't have time to do it properly. If I start playing one I'll have to finish playing all of them, and that's a whole lot of space adventure to document. But it's BioWare's 20th anniversary this year, so to celebrate I'm going to put the effort in!

THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST FEW HOURS OF MASS EFFECT (AT LEAST). IN FACT I MAY END UP ACCIDENTALLY SAYING MORE THAN I SHOULD ABOUT THE SEQUELS TOO, SO... STOP NOW IF THAT'S AN ISSUE.

(Click the screenshots to open them up big.)

Neverwinter Nights (PC) - Part 2

Today on Super Adventures, I'm still playing Neverwinter Nights from 2002.

Click to jump back to part one.

Neverwinter Nights (PC) - Part 1

Today on Super Adventures I'm taking a quick look at classic Forgotten Realms D&D RPG Neverwinter Nights! No not the revolutionary 1991 game by Stormfront Studios that dared to find out what would happen if you took an MMORPG and added graphics, I mean the other one by BioWare that came out around a decade later in 2002. I couldn't blame you for getting the two confused though, as they're both D&D games with a strong multiplayer component that share the same bloody name, setting and city!

The dumb thing is that all that BioWare needed to do was think of another word to go with 'Neverwinter' and it would've been fine! Or they could've just called the thing Neverwinter on its own like the folks who made the 2013 MMO would later do. Legacy of Neverwinter Chronicles: Origins, there you go!

Great looking font though.

I said earlier that I'd be taking a quick look at the game, but it's an RPG so that was actually code for 'I'll be playing this for hours'. I've written about enough of these games by now to know the drill: to get a good feel for what kind of RPG this is I'm going to have to invest a fair bit of time, so forgive me if this drags on a bit.

(Clicking gameplay images will likely open them up a little bigger, with more readable text and obvious aliasing.)

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC) - Part 2

Click to jump back to part one.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC) - Part 1

And this year's final 'K' game is... Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic!

I've spent forever trying to capture screenshots from the Xbox version of this game, but the best I've managed has been fuzzy black and white footage from an old DVD recorder. But then one day a copy of the game miraculously appeared in my Steam library. I'm taking it as a sign that fate does want me to play this game, it just wants me to play the PC version instead.

I admit I have played through this before on the Xbox, about a decade ago perhaps, but thankfully my crappy memory means it'll likely be as if I'm seeing it all for the first time! I didn't even remember it has its own unique theme tune instead of reusing music from the films: youtube link.

Though here's one big difference I've noticed between the two versions: the PC version does not like my Xbox 360 pad one bit. Mouse and keyboard only, controllers not allowed.

(Click the pictures to view them at 1280x960 resolution. Except for the next one and the one after that.)

Baldur's Gate (PC)

Today I'm going to have a quick look at classic BioWare title Baldur's Gate. Well, relatively quick; the game's an RPG so if I want a good idea of how it plays I'll probably be stuck playing it for days rather than hours.

There's a number of fantastic user developed mods for the game like Baldur's Gate Tutu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy that run the game content in a newer version of the Infinity Engine, while fixing bugs and tweaking the gameplay. Plus the game was recently given an official overhaul in the form of the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, so I've got a few options here. I'm not playing any of them though. This is going to be original old school vanilla Baldur's Gate, straight off the DVD, with all the original quirks, bugs and annoyances present.

(I'm deeply sorry that these are crappy compressed jpeg images, but clicking on them will reveal crystal clear lossless screenshots, for those that want them.)

Dragon Age: Origins (PC)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 3:

Today I'm taking a look at Dragon Age: Origins, Bioware's spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate RPG series. Also known as 'the good one' after Dragon Age II did its best to slay the franchise when it was barely a hatchling.

Though to be honest, despite that game's obviously rushed development time, endlessly reused environments, and a story that falls apart way before the end, I actually kind of like DA2. Sure I often wondered why I was walking around the same warehouse slaying the same mages for the fifteenth time, when it was obvious that nothing I did mattered and that no one in the grimdark crapsack city I was trapped in was worth saving, but holy shit that game had nice menus. I could sit scrolling through my inventory and assigning skill points for hours.

Anyway like I said, this is supposed to be the good one, so I'm expecting a little more from it.