Dragon Age: Inquisition - Tresspasser

The newest and possibly last DLC trailer for Dragon Age: Inquisition dropped this weekend.  Tresspasser is DLC set two years after the final events of the game and will hopefully answer a lot of the questions players were left with.  In addition to finding out the fate of the Inquisition you get to fight Qunari again.

In addition to the DLC BioWare also announced some more quality of life patches are on the way.  Tresspasser will launch September 8th.  I know I'll be getting it, the last few seconds of the trailer all but demand that I do.

Dragon Age: The Descent

Dragon Age Inquisition's newest DLC was released yesterday.  The Descent sends the Inquisitor and crew into the Deep Roads and has them facing off with Darkspawn.  The expansion is very combat heavy but starts dropping some pretty big lore changes/hints when it comes to Dwarven history.  If you're heavily into Dragon Age's Lore you already know Inquisition threw some pretty big bombs at the player, this continues that trend.

I'm happy to see that the Dwarves are getting more time to shine this time around.  Inquisition didn't really spend much time with what is happening with Orzammar.  I realize their information shows that Dwarves are one of the least played races but I still really dig them.  Harding and Dagna were two of my favorite people to talk to in Inquisition.

Dragon Age Inquisition Jaws of Hakkon

Yesterday PC and XboxOne users were able to download the first real single player DLC for Dragon Age Inquisition.  Titled Jaws of Hakkon this add-on has you searching a new area for clue to the final resting place of the last Inquisitor.  The trailer happily shows you some beautiful new snowy areas to explore and also has a new dragon to fight.  The price on Jaws of Hakkon is 15 dollars.

I haven’t had a chance to download it myself but I was paying attention to the initial impressions.  If you’re a fan of Dragon Age Lore, you’re going to like this.  The zone is meant for characters in the 20+ level range and can be accessed both before and after beating the game.  Of course there is a bunch of new schematics and gear to use.  If you’re a fan of scout Harding, she is back and apparently has a bit of a larger role.  So for those keeping track: new area, new fetch quests, new lore, more Harding, and new enemies. 

If you’re looking for big explanation of the game’s final scene, it isn’t happening here.  If you’re looking for a Citadel style send off where you party with all your companions, it isn’t happening here.  I’m looking forward to playing it, but it isn’t enough to push to the top of my gaming pile right now.  No word yet on when this timed exclusive will make it to the other consoles.

Dragon Age Inquisition

Thanks to the Dragon Age Facebook page we now have the cover of the new Dragon Age game.  The cover is gorgeous and does something that really impressed me.  Bioware likes to give its player’s choices, I’m not saying all of those choices actually mean anything, but they are there.  One of those choices is the sex of the game’s main character.  When Mass Effect 3 came out they had two covers; so players could show off a male or female Shephard. 

The new Dragon Age cover simply made it impossible to tell which gender the character is.  It’s a simple solution that works perfectly in this instance.  We still don’t have an actual date for the new Dragon Age’s release, but I’m sure as that date gets closer and closer I’ll be completely consumed by it like I have been with the other games.

Joel Carroll Draws My Favorite Things: Part 5

This week we’re doing something a little different here at That F’ing Monkey.  While looking through my things the other night I realized I’ve been sitting on some amazing art work from Joel Carroll.  I’m lucky enough that I live near Joel, so I get to see him at a lot of conventions.  Every day this week I’m going to showcase another piece I’ve had commissioned from him.  Some are personalized pieces he did in his sketchbook others are character designs, etc.  When you’re done here make sure to go to www.joelcarroll.com and check out even more of his work.

 

Today’s art wasn’t actually in a sketchbook.  Instead it is a commission I had done right before Star Wars the Old Republic came out.  The Lazy Krayt Shipping Company was the name of a smuggler focused guild in the Bioware MMO.  Krayt Dragons are large lizards that are native to the planet Tatooine.  So the name is a little punny.  Joel’s drawing fit what I wanted perfectly.  It brings up memories of Snoopy sleeping on top of his dog house. 

Sadly I got pretty bored of the Old Republic after I finished the Smuggler’s main story and I haven’t been back since.  I still love the idea of the Lazy Krayt Shipping Company and I’d like to use it for something else.  I’ve long ago realized that writing Star Wars fiction may be a good writing exercise but is pretty much a waste of time.  Someday I’ll probably take the Lazy Krayt idea and recycle it into a setting of my own, I like it too much to let it just sit on a shelf.

Mass Effect Citadel

The final piece of DLC for Mass Effect 3’s single player game hit this week.  Citadel is all about fan service, teaming your Shepard with his or her favorite team mates.  It’s a huge download too, on the X-Box it is actually made up of two separate downloads.  Below is the official trailer for the DLC.

I haven’t played it yet.  When ME3 first came out, I played through it one time.  Since then Bioware has released the Extended Cut, Leviathan, and Omega DLCs.  I bought them all right away, but I didn’t play. I didn’t want to start another game until everything was released.  I finally started the game up yesterday.  I can’t wait to explore all the new areas that have been released since the last time I’ve played.  

Mass Effect Extended Cut

Today is the release of the eagerly anticipated Extended Cut DLC. If you aren’t familiar with Mass Effect I’ll sum everything. Through the course of three Mass Effect games, players become very involved with the characters and the setting. The ending was not put together well. The ending gave you three choices, but once you made that choice you were left with more questions than answers. The fate of your friends was left unanswered.

Today’s DLC was created after Mass Effect 3’s ending caused the internet to erupt into flames. This new ending doesn’t undo the dues ex machine at the end. It doesn’t get rid of the strange Buzz Aldrin bit at the very end either. It does expand on what happens to your crew and what happens to the galaxy because of your choice. From what I’ve seen it isn’t perfect, but it is a far better end to the series than what we were originally given.

Mass Effect Tali’s Song

I’ve been avoiding talking about the Mass Effect 3 ending fiasco. For the most part, I’m going to continue avoiding that subject. I will say that that through the three games many of the characters become a part of you. There are some huge character moments in ME3 that will have you cheering, laughing, or crying. I’m not ashamed to admit that last one either, it might have happened more than once. Tali is one of my favorite characters in the Mass Effect universe, because of that, I had to share this video.

Tali’s Song was written by James “Diegus” Panto and sung by Erin Panto with sound mixing by Eric Dumoulin. You can check out Erin and Eric’s band “Jackylin & Jermy” and their bandcamp page.  Apparently this is also a Taylor Swift parody. 

Mass Effect 3: Where are you Shepard?

Before I get started, I just want to say that there are no spoilers for Mass Effect 3 in the following piece. Please let’s make sure they stay out of the comment too. Between Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect I’ve talked a lot about BioWare on this site. The internet likes to complain about their games a lot lately. I’m in a minority, I liked Dragon Age 2. I recognize the problems with the game, but I still enjoyed it. I’m currently 20+ hours into the single player portion of ME3 and while I love the game so far, I was extremely disappointed with the first 5 minutes of the game.

There is currently an issue with Mass Effect that if you created your Shepard with a custom face way back in Mass Effect 1 that the face will not carry over to Mass Effect 3. You’re pretty much left to try to recreate your face from memory. This probably sounds like a minor gripe, but I don’t think it is. One of the major points of Mass Effect is crafting your own story over the games. Decisions you made in the first game carry over into the third. I take a long time with my play throughs. I could easily say that adding my play time from ME1 and ME2 together is 100 hours.

I have a really hard time understanding how that wasn’t caught before the game was launched. I’m not angry. I’m not demanding anyone’s job or anything. I re-created a face that is passable to the one I used before and I’m enjoying the rest of the game. I am disappointed though. The excitement of the midnight launch quickly faded when I ran into the error.  I know BioWare says they are working on a fix for the issue. It’s too late for my first playthrough, hopefully it will be working when I’m ready for my next Shepard.

Gone Reaper Hunting!

It’s time to take back the Earth!  Mass Effect 3 is out today.

If you see this image then one of three things is currently happening:

1. I’m currently taking the fight to the Reapers and gathering galactic allies.

2. I’m currently responding to a global threat in co-op with my Engineer. If this is what I’m doing, there is a good chance I’m also yelling “Go for the eyes Boo!” as I launch my Combat Drone.

3. After playing since I got back from the midnight release, I’ve fallen asleep. If the Galaxy Map still plays the same music while you are in it, it is very possible I’ve fallen asleep while looking at what planet to travel to next.

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Impressions

Not wanting to get off the couch most of Friday and Saturday, I spent a lot of time with the Mass Effect 3 demo. This is no small demo; it has a lot to offer. We aren’t going to be talking about the two single player missions the demo lets you play though; today is all about the multiplayer. There is something strange in my head that make me very uncomfortable playing games with people I don’t know. I get very anxious and don’t end up enjoying it. So when multi-player was added to my favorite game I got very nervous.

When you start the multiplayer you have to choose your class. They are the same classes you pick from when creating your Shephard. Each of those classes has 4 possible race selections, but only one of them for each class is unlocked at the beginning. The starting race for all of the classes is human, with some classes having the male unlocked and some having the female. Once you pick the class you can modify your armor color, name your character, change weapons, etc.

The missions you send your newly created character on can include up to three other players. For the missions I played there was only one other person playing with me. Waves of enemies come pretty fast. After the first two waves you’re given an objective. That objective might be kill specific enemies, stand in an area long enough to upload data, or interact with four different devices. Completing objectives means earning credits, more on those later. As you battle through the waves you can earn medals that are worth XP bonuses. Things like 5 headshots, or 25 assault rifle kills will pop up while you are playing.

The credits you earn while playing unlock booster packs. Just like booster packs for card games, you don’t know what you are going to get. You might get an uncommon weapon modification or unlock a new playable race. Some of the items, like the medpacks, are one time use. While we were playing Brandon unlocked the Asari Adept, I wasn’t able to unlock any of the classes.  The Turian Sentinel has an amazing grouping of powers.

I was very wary of the multiplayer addition. Those fears are gone. As much as I’m looking forward to jumping neck deep in Mass Effect 3’s story, I’m also looking forward to tracking some friends down and meeting them in the multiplayer, I’ll be the Engineer screaming “Go for the eyes Boo!” when I launch my combat drone.

SWTOR- A New Meme

I am slammed at work today.  So I’m sharing a video that I can’t stop watching.  At seven minutes long, there should be something you find funny.

Why I Love the Old Republic

It is no surprise at this point that I’m still waste deep in the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. When my day has finally wound down I usually jump on for an hour or more before I head to bed. The game isn’t perfect. It does have issues, but there are other things in it that make me smile. I’ve played Star Wars video games before, but there is something about this one that has made me grin numerous times just by including little things.

Tatoonie is a perfect example. The maps are spread out and mostly sand dunes, quite fitting of the planet. I’ve read where other players have complained because it is so spread out, but to me it feels perfect. I want Tatoonie to be spread out. I grinned like an idiot when I saw my first Sandcrawler. I was genuinely excited the first time I saw a herd of Banthas. Hoth was much the same. Wampas, Tauntauns, and Ortolans? I wanted to replace all of my crew with little blue elephant people.

We’ve also discovered a game within the game. No, it’s not Pazaak. If it was Pazaak I wouldn’t be typing updates to the website, I’d be playing Pazaak. It’s Droid Boxing! Robot Fight Club! Summon your ship’s droid, disable its healing powers, duel another player, target the other player’s droid, and then tell your droid to attack the other one. It’s serious fun for the whole family!!

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning: The Demo

The demo for Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning came out the other day. The game is interesting for a couple of different reasons, but a lot of attention is getting paid to its demo. The game’s executive designer is Ken Rolston, who was lead designer on Morrowind and Oblivion. So right out of the gate the game already has a pretty good bit of hype. Then R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane came aboard. Salvatore created the game universe and lore while McFarlane worked on the artistic duties. While personally those names are more of a deterrent than an incentive, a lot of other people do enjoy their work.

I played through the demo the other morning before I left for work. Much like Fable you can seamlessly switched between casting spells, shooting arrows, or swinging your weapon. I really like the skill trees; they easily let you specialize as a warrior, rogue, or warrior. The game moves quickly, to me, it felt very arcade-y in the way it moved. The other thing I want to say is the demo was surprisingly long. After you finish the tutorial part, the demo gives you 45 minutes to explore and quest in the first area. That is a surprising amount of time for a demo. A very cool move, I really wish they would have told me that before I started though.

The other important thing about the KoA demo is that you can unlock two pieces of DLC for Mass Effect 3. I’m sure as we get closer to ME3’s release date we will be flooded with bits and pieces of DLC offers. I won’t lie, like a pokemon master, I’m going to want to catch them all. I realize how silly that is, especially since I rarely use the items once I’ve collected them. I think after tracking down all those Dr. Pepper codes for ME2 that I only ever used one of the helmets. For starting the demo you unlock the Reckoner Knight Armor. For finishing the demo you unlock the Chakram Launcher.

The Reckoner armor will increase melee and weapon damage. They have not said if the armor is like the Blood Dragon and other promo armors. So at this point I can’t tell you whether or not you’ll be able to disable your helmet. If you finish the entire demo you’re awarded the Chakram Launcher. The Launcher sounds like it would be a heavy weapon, but it is actually an assault rifle. Both of these items were designed by Todd McFarlane.

Mass Effect Toys Return

Back in 2010 there was a large part of my life consumed by Mass Effect 2. One of the things I was excited about was DC Direct’s line of action figures. I waited, and waited, and waited. The line was delayed and when it finally did come out, it did so very quietly. Months later I finally found the Tali figure at a comic shop I stopped into while on vacation.

Well the line is back and no one should be surprised to hear that DC Direct is not involved this time. The company who has taken the Mass Effect reins it Big Fish Toys. They are re-releasing the first wave of figures and the second wave. The first wave is male Sheppard, Thane, Grunt, and Tali. The second wave is Garrus, Legion, Mordin, and Miranda.

With Mass Effect 3’s release date getting closer and closer you have to wonder if Big Fish is already hard at work getting new lines of figures ready. Sadly, I never play with the default Sheppard, so the figure looks good, he just doesn’t look like Sheppard to me. Still, anyone who missed out on the figures the first time around should be happy.

XS Stock Light Freighter

We’ve talked about the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO a few times before it officially launched. Now that I’ve been playing it for a little while I can honestly say I love the game. I’m planning a much longer article on that though; today I want to talk about something very important to my Smuggler, his ship. Smuggler players are given an XS Stock Light Freighter; other classes are rewarded with other ships.

Even though I was disappointed with Dark Horse’s replica Normandy I’m going to put this out there, I want a replica XS. There have been tons of vehicle lines for the Star Wars universe, there needs to be one for the Old Republic. I’m not asking for something the size of a coffee table like the deluxe Millennium Falcon. Something in the scale of the old Action Fleet would be fantastic. Hell I’d even take something in the smaller Titanium series. This is an amazing looking ship and I want one for my desk.

Please Hasbro. The only other option I’d have would be to buy the Millennium Falcon Lego set and then modify it to look like the XS. That sounds like a very large and expensive work around. Unless of course Lego wants to do an Old Republic wave, then I’d be rendered powerless and would have to buy one.

SWTOR Tips

Star Wars the Old Republic officially launched today, so I’m sure a tidal wave of new players are hitting the servers. Having spent the last couple days jumping onto the game when ever I had some free time, I wanted to share a couple tips that I’ve learned either on other sites or through my own trial and error.

Never sell anything you’ve crafted. You can Reverse Engineer it. You get some materials back and you may also get rare schematics.

You can store you crafting materials in your bank and still use them for crafting.

Shift + Left click is how you split up stacks of items.
/ginvite (name) can be used to send a Guild Invite to a character that is currently online

If your companion was left near death after a combat, dismiss and re-summon them. It is quicker than waiting for them to heal.  Right Click on your compainion's portrait for the menu to dismiss them.

Don't forget to repair your equipment.

You can view comparative data for Companion equipment as well as your own.  It is in the preferences.

AOE looting is in the UI preferences. You’ll no longer have to click on each corpse individually.

In your ability screen there is a power called “Emergency Fleet Pass”. You can use it once a day. It takes you to the Fleet.

When you train for level 10 you get to pick your advance class. Your trainer will have two tabs at the bottom. The first tab contains skills for your basic class; the other tab is for your new advance.

Your experience bar is at the bottom of your screen. The empty bar below your experience bar is for Legacy experience. It won’t do anything until level 30. You can disable it in the preferences.

Logging out in a cantina or on your starship will grant you rested xp when you log back in.

Old Republic Early Access

It started this morning, at 7am EST. If you listened hard enough you could hear people hitting refresh on their inbox. That’s when the first of the invite emails for Star Wars the Old Republic were sent out. Exactly how earlier your access was determined by when you entered your pre-order code. So if you immediately jumped when it became available then you probably are already in. I know I ordered around midnight on the first day and got my invite around 11am.

For those who waited, the game will be available to everyone on the 20th. I’m really impressed on how they are handling launch. I’ve been in from the start on a handful of MMOs and I think this is the overall best experience. The fact that I know my Guild is already waiting for me before I even start playing is a huge benefit. The ability to download the game days before launch was even better. Considering both Brandon and I are playing Old Republic you’ll probably be hearing more about the game soon.

Replica Normandy Review

From looking at the articles on the site, there is no denying that I am a huge BioWare fan boy. I love their games. Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and we can’t forget Mass Effect. Mass Effect is something that consumes my thoughts. I become obsessive about the designs, the characters, the story, and the ships. It was heartbreaking to see the Normandy torn apart in the start of Mass Effect 2. I was cheering when the Normandy SR2 was revealed.

Because of these feelings I was very excited when Dark Horse announced that they were doing a replica of the Normandy SR2. I quickly pre-ordered and counted the days until it showed up at my local comic shop. With all of that setup you’re probably expecting a glowing review. I really give it one in good conscience though. Unless you are a crazed die hard, the replica just isn’t worth 35 dollars.

The Normandy measures just under seven inches in length. It is cast out of resin, so the details show through the mold, you just have to be careful it doesn’t take any dives off where ever you display it. It also comes with a display stand. The bad news is that the Normandy looks like I painted it. That is not a good thing. Seriously. The paint applications are sloppy and ugly. It really detracts from the model and makes it look cheap.

So in my opinion, the Normandy is a big letdown. I really wanted to love it. I was all ready to make ship noises and zoom it all over the house. Unfortunately it is the only replica available. Well there is another version of the Normandy, it’s identical to the one I bought but painted in the Cerberus color scheme. If you must have a Normandy on your shelf/desk/etc… this is sadly your only option.

UPDATE:  So after posting my review I see that "Antique" version of the Normandy has been solicited.  "This version is offered as a limited edition of 1,500 pieces, with a custom base treatment (not pictured) that is different from the regular edition."   It is retailing for 50 dollars  So now you can pay more for a model where they don't even bother to paint details.

A Long Time Ago In An MMO Not So Far Away...

So this weekend I was involved in beta testing of the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. And it was damn good times, so good in fact that I can't tell you anything about it. It is very fun and I would recommend that you pick it up when it comes out on Dec. 20th.

Sorry it is a short one this week, we are still having some computer issues at work and that is where I normally write.

So are you excited about SWTOR? Perhaps you would like to guild up with us F'ing Monkeys in game. Let Your F'ing Voice Be Heard in the comments or on our Facebook page.