Thursday, August 28, 2014

Which MOBA is Right for You?

Sorry about the lack of activity recently. But a lot of it has to do with this post!



It's no secret that the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena if you were curious) is one of the hottest genres of gaming out there right now. This has obviously led to a huge amount of MOBAs being produced in recent years. There are so many that it's hard to know where to begin!

While it is very important to play games that your friends also play we won't be taking that into account with this next series of posts. Over the course of the next week I'll be taking a look at four of the most popular MOBAs out there. Strengths, weaknesses, communities, styles of gameplay, etc. I'll be touching on everything I can about them. Hopefully, by the end of this series you readers will be able to use this little guide to find a MOBA you truly enjoy. Maybe it's the game you already play. Maybe it'll be a new MOBA I've touched on that you'll try and fall in love with. Or maybe it won't be any of them at all. Regardless I hope this series helps you all to find the MOBAs that are, or aren't, for you!

Friday, August 1, 2014

No Need to Import Save States! Praising the Keep.


It's no secret to anyone following the gaming press that Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of the most anticipated games of the year. After the lackluster performance of Dragon Age II (which I really did like) people seem poised to either see Bioware bring those fans back to the fold or to see them fail on a truly massive scale. Inquisition has a lot riding on it and a lot has been promised. But the question is: will Bioware live up to those promises? I think they have the potential to and that they're heading in a good direction with the title right now. I'm a very huge fan of one of the features they had announced early on in development.


Dragon Age Keep is going to be a new feature that integrates with every copy of Inquisition on every platform. It will ensure the player can construct save states that they are comfortable with to ensure that their Inquisition experience shows events that pertain to exactly what they chose in all of the other Dragon Age games. The Keep will make it so that no matter what platform every player has played on that they will be able to have the Dragon Age experience that they want. This seems like a great feature but some people are a little up in arms about it after a post from the official DA Facebook page yesterday.

Here's a screenshot of that post. If this is taken as fact then there will be no simple importing of saves into Inquisition. All of the world building will need to be done through the Keep. Some people are up in arms about this, claiming that they'd rather just import their saves and that this could lead to things like no support for bringing your saves into Inquisition far later down the line once the Keep goes down. But here's the thing. People have been constructing and sharing saves for these titles for years. There are entire sites dedicated to preserving and sharing save files to give players different experiences. There are those that constantly make claims that one of the reasons Dragon Age: Origins is so great is because of the fact that it's great for modding. If this is the case then isn't it safe to assume that modders will find some way to preserve and share save states? Even when the Keep goes down very far into the future I have no doubt that people will be able to craft their ideal Dragon Age experience even ten years from now.

What do you guys think? Is the Keep an excellent idea? Do you feel cheated by not being able to import your saves or are you content with the options Bioware has given you? Are you excited for Inquisition or do you feel like Bioware will drop the ball? Hit me up in the comments and I'll catch you all next week.