shinikaru

I've been thinking recently; and, well, that's a problem. This is probably more geared towards people in my industry, but I'm sure other creative fields apply...

Have you ever had a project you've always wanted to do? Since as long as you can remember really getting into your field, it's been your dream. It was a bit of a lofty goal, something that surely couldn't be undertaken by someone with such little experience. You went on your way with your rationalization and tried to push it all back.

Except that doesn't really work, eh? Probably because there's a reason we're all doing what we do (I hope, at least!). We're passionate about this stuff; it's natural for that to lead to big goals. Yet so many people sit on their great ideas, or write them off as impossible.

Instead of doing that, I want to move ahead with my goal. I know it's not completely practical, that I probably don't have the know-how to accomplish it all (at least on my own), and at this point because of my job, the time frame is infinite (which is fine by me, I love my job). But at least I'd be working towards that, too; satisfying that little voice in the back of my head that knows I have to be on to something.

It's been a busy month to say the least. Between a pretty heavy workload at work and an overall lack of free time, I've neglected my blog once again. So lets bring things current!Game-wise, I've been playing quite a lot of Dawn of War 2. What started with a fascination for Skirmishes with my Coworkers and lunch and after work has turned into an obsession with the Campaign in Co-op. And I find it fairly surprising, mostly because I never actually expect much from an RTS' single player component (although it's probably not entirely fair to refer to DoW2 as an RTS really).

On paper, it's a pretty strange concept. Diablo light adventuring, click-fest looting meets a squad-based RTS. But these things come together to create a really great package. Random loot constantly drops, which definitely drives the carrot-on-a-stick idea; not to mention the items you get for completing specific missions. While they don't visually change much (because at that viewpoint, you really wouldn't notice), they generally tend to impact gameplay in a unique way. During this time, your squads (four active at one time in Single Player, two per player in Co-op) are gaining experience, which can be spent on unlocking a slew of new talents and abilities.The gear and skills tend to highlight specific aspects of the class the squad falls under.This leads you to ultimately design squads that really fit your play style. There's also times where you'll customize your load out to fit specific mission information; Anti-Vehicle, Defense, and more.

And surprisingly, the Story's passable. It's not going to win any awards, but it does get the job done and is usually interesting enough to keep you interested in the overall picture.

The only complaints I could leverage against it really deal with just wanting more. We're on the last mission of the Campaign, and while it's probably taken us 11+ hours or so (and the redeployments we're doing should take on another two or 3, I really don't want it to end. A lot of the squads have just gotten some really great gear and abilities, and the desire to spend more time playing with those is huge.

My other complaint still inevitably falls under game length; almost half of the game consists of redeployments (new objectives on already played maps); which for the most part is fun... but a 50/50ish ratio might be just a bit too high.So in reality, I just can't wait for Relic to release an Expansion Pack. I'm hoping they'll keep up the same level of support they did with the Original game; if so, I have a lot to be excited for. In the meantime, I'll shift focus back to Multiplayer Skirmishes.

Or replay the campaign Co-op as the Guest so Eric can get the Host only Achievements :)