The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Year: 2002
Genre: Action Role-Playing
Website: http://www.elderscrolls.com/morrowind/

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Lee:

• Platform: PC
• Hours logged: 75.0
• Playthroughs: 1
• Rating: 8/10

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Notes and Discussions:

• Lee (7/7/2014): This game and I have a long history together. Morrowind was recommended to me a decade ago by a friend, and since it was the same friend that also suggested I play Half-Life 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, I picked up a copy...and I loved it! But I didn't beat it. Almost. So close. As in, I quit just before taking on the final fortress thingy. I honestly don't remember why I didn't finish the game, but I have regretted it all of this time. Fast forward a few years, and I found an original Xbox copy of the game to play on my Xbox 360. Unfortunately, the game gathered dust until I sold it. Then a few years later, I got a wild urge to play it again, so I bought a copy of it online from a German game reseller. (It felt kind of sketchy, but the game worked and LOOKED legit...) I played a few hours of it, then got distracted with something else. A few years later, that copy game made it into the Goodwill pile. But then finally, during last year's Steam Summer Sale, there it was. For $10. "Ah, fuck it," said I. And I bought the game a fourth time.
  
  Knowing that this was likely the last time I would consider playing this game, I stocked the beer cellar, dug out the strategy guide that I bought with the original copy of the game, hung the world map on the wall, and braced myself for adventure. Seventy-five hours of it. And you know what? It was a pretty great time. But the best part...I FINALLY BEAT MORROWIND!
  
  All in all, Morrowind had a lot to offer. The world was expansive and immersive, and the storyline, factions, and characters were interesting. Most of the quests were intriguing, challenging, and ultimately completable (though some of them did end up being a tad boring and repetitive). The game graphics showed their age a bit, but that didn't detract much from the gameplay for me. The menu systems and controls were a bit clunky and inefficient at times, but were still learnable and usable. And the game only crashed on me a few times...
  
  In addition to completing the Main Quest, I also became a Master in the Fighters Guild, an Arch-Mage in the Mages Guild, and a Master Thief in the Thieves Guild. I had intended upon finishing the other faction quests too, but that's a ridiculous amount of content, and I have a lot of other games to play.
  
  So now the question remains: What's next for me within the Elder Scrolls universe? Do I play the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions; move on to the sequel, Oblivion; or skip right to the game that I've been drooling over for years, Skyrim? We'll see...
  
  BTW...should you decide to give Morrowind a spin, here are a few tips to help you on your way: 1) Find the Boots of Blinding Speed (Google it), and make a "Resist Magicka 100% on Self" spell (name it "Prevent Blindness"). Cast the spell before equipping the boots. It will save you a ton of time. 2) Find Creeper (Google it), and always sell your shit to him. You are welcome.

Borderlands 2: Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage

Year: 2012
Genre: First-Person Shooter, Action Role-Playing
Website: http://www.borderlands2.com/campaignofcarnage

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Shane:

• Platform: PC
• Hours logged: 5.0
• Playthroughs: 1
• Rating: 10/10

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Notes and Discussions:

• Shane (8/25/2014): Before I played Assault on Dragon's Keep I played through Mr Torgue's Campaign of Carnage.  This was the first of the Borderlands 2 DLC that I tried actually.  I started it before I had finished all of the main storyline, which was a very small mistake.  There were a few small spoilers in this story that I won't post publicly because I try to not be a dick, when I can.
  
  The thing that struck me most was that I loved the Mr. Torgue character.  His childlike excitement for adrenaline is, in a word, awesome.  Things in this man's world were excessive by design and obviously took constant effort to maintain.  He is the personification of single-minded devotion to that which you love in a chaotic frontier full of murderers and psychopaths.
  
  The content in this expansion is much of the same that you can find in the base Borderlands 2 game.  That is probably part of why I loved it so.  The story was a nice blast.  There were one-on-one matches where things went wrong.  The writing was top notch.  The new weapons were... again, more of the same.
  
  I am short on words to describe how contentedly cheerful I felt when I finished this DLC.  I want to see the story again and interact with the characters more.  If Mr. Torgue was a real person I would want to hug him.  Then we could go out and blow up a car or something.

Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep

Year: 2013
Genre: First-Person Shooter, Action Role-Playing
Website: http://www.borderlands2.com/dragonkeep/

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Shane:

• Platform: PC
• Hours logged: 10.0
• Playthroughs: 1
• Rating: 8/10

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Notes and Discussions:

• Shane (7/24/2014):  I am really glad that I played all the way through this DLC.  I wasn't exactly tempted to NOT play through it but the first play session in this story was dissapointing.  I had just finished Campaign of Carnage DLC and completely fell in love with the Mr. Torque character.  Then I launched into a world with skeletons that were a bitch to kill.  Eventually I decided, what Campaign of Carnage had in Glee and Optimism, was displayed in Assault on Dragon Keep as Authenticity and Heart.
  
  The general story here, as one might expect from the whole "Dragon Keep" bit, is that the NPCs are playing a tabletop roll-playing game.  Full disclosure:  I LOVE tabletop roll-playing games.  My weekly gaming group ran for the better part of 10 years, playing through D&D, Earthdawn, Star Wars, Ars Magica and many others.  (I long ago stopped counting my books, as measuring poundage is more efficient.)  This experience may be part of why this content was so hard for me to get into.
  
  Here is where I get nitpicky.  In the regular Borderlands 2 world, you play as a Vault Hunter.  A distinct person, with its own existence and story and ability to do stuff.  When you set foot on the Unassuming Docks for the first time, suddenly you, the same character you have been playing through the regular campaign, are just a figment of the imagination of the NPCs.  Compounding the confusion is the apparent assertion that all three NPC players are controlling one player character through this campaign...  It is recursive, which is awesome, but it isn't internally consistent to the Borderlands 2 universe.  They even have another Vault Hunter show up in one of the cut scenes!  So the other Vault Hunters DO exist in this wacky world outside of the RPG being played, but they are a PC controlled by NPCs within a game where you control the PC that is the avatar of the game...  Ugh.
  
  All of that aside, I liked the story.  It made me feel warm and how they referenced the main story was really rewarding, for the kind of people who enjoy that in their games.  Give it a whirl if you have 8-12 hours to kill.  After you finish the main game, of course.  Playing this before that would confuse the hell out of you and spoil some pretty cool stuff.

The Bard's Tale

Year: 2011
Genre: Action Role-Playing
Website: http://www.inxile-entertainment.com/projects/the-bards-tale-android

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Lee:

• Platform: Android
• Hours logged: 1.0
• Playthroughs: 0
• Rating: --/10

Shane:

• Platform: Android 
• Hours logged: 1.0
• Playthroughs: 0
• Rating: --/10

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Notes and Discussions:

• Shane (4/10/2014): This game showed up on one of our Humble Bundles.  I wasn't immediately against it, having played through Dungeon Hunter on the Palm Pre twice.  I installed this, loaded it up, sat through the opening cut scene and... frowned.  The emotions that hit me were varied though simple.  On one hand I was intimidated by how much time I spent on Dungeon Hunter and I knew I didn't have that in me right now.  On the other hand... this game was trying to display a self-aware sense of humor that fell VERY short of entertaining.
  
  In short, I wasn't willing to spend the effort to enjoy this game.  If I want to dive that deep into a story I will read a book or go play Final Fantasy again.  I don't want to be tied to my phone for 75 hours on something that didn't offer a challenge or a compelling story.
  
  No playthrough.  No rating.  No more effort expended.

• Lee (5/6/2014): I did try to keep an open mind and made a small attempt toward getting into this game. Initially, I was intrigued by the slightly more "mature" humor and content that the game seemed to offer, and the graphics seemed decently well made (down to the detail of the barmaid's cleavage...by nerds for nerds). However, there was something seriously lacking that I couldn't put my finger on. Perhaps Shane was right in that they tried too hard to be clever and funny. Regardless, I pressed on, hoping to be rewarded with engaging gameplay and an intriguing story. No such luck. I defeated the giant rat in the cellar, watched my character be an asshole to an old man, and then made my way into a forest full of bandits. Hack, slash, hack, slash, yawn, snore...
  
  I can't say that I really gave this game a fair shake, but I do know that it didn't scratch the gaming itch that I had at the time. Maybe some other day. Probably not though.

• Shane (5/6/2014): I am really amused by how many games are getting the "I may try this again later... but I doubt it" label.  I know that we both mean exactly that, even as far as WANTING to be able to make it back into some of these, and I will be keeping a tally of how many of them we ACTUALLY revisit.