Chapter Four - The Apology

Ok, I admit it, it hasn't been the overwhelming storm of posts I had first hoped for and anticipated, but that has an array of reasons. First off, writing requires some time. Not that I lack it, I just lack concrete writing time. And when you try to create posts longer than five sentences with more to say than just "Avatar w00t", that will eat some time off you. I estimate every post I make took me at least an hour or five to make and that's putting it lightly. In reality, that will be more than double. Finding the appropriate words to clearly express what you think and mean will also take some time. And all those together will have to happen at the right time, specially for someone like me who doesn't take notes during the day when the ideas roll in. Bastards, coming over unexpectedly, not giving me the proper time to prepare. The problem is that not all the free time I have can be spent writing and not all that time is in one piece. Actually, most writing is done is small parts, which annoys me, because I usually get most my ideas at night when I'm in bed. I think that's a common problem, but it does slow my progress quite a bit. Which leads us to the next problem.

Social obligations. Believe it or not,I do have a life outside of this, be it an ever so small and insignificant one. I have few friends, a girlfriend, hobbies, projects, family and all those people expect you to spend some time on them. Unbelievable, I know. And not only is this a vast portion of all my time, it also happens at the most random times and usually intertwines with each other. This to make things extra fun and difficult for me. For instance, I work out; again unbelievable.

Anyway, to complete my program there, I need to do about 2 hours of cardio and more than 2 hours on toning exercises. Take into account daily preparations, crunches and whatnot and that easily amount to 7 hours gone. Gone, I say! As that all happens at random times and days all time before and after that can also be scratched. I need to get ready and I need to shower and rest afterwards, or at least try.
Somewhere around there I need to feed myself and make sure that there will be nutrients in the fridge the next time I visit my close friend. And when I say my fridge is a close friend, it's because he's a few feet away from me at all times. So, in order to keep a healthy relation with said pal, I will have to take a few trips to the store.
There's a load of things one needs to do to maintain a lifestyle including things and people around him. Going to shop with the misses, catching up with friends, checking mails and responding said mails, making sure your arrangements are in order; the list goes on and on horridly. If you subtract all this, you'll keep about 2-3 hours of writing time snippets throughout the day. Good luck pooling all your thoughts together in those 10 minute snippets and not using some to go to the can. And no, I don't write this while on the john; I'm all business there.

But the first, foremost and most obvious reason I've been avoiding for a while now is the most simple one you can muster: PROCRASTINATION! Boy, I love that word almost as much as I hate the meaning of it. 
I could've gone on about how everything in life vehemently tries to fight me away from my keyboard and cry about the unfairness of it all. But the plain fact is: Once I'm at my keyboard, I'll usually find something else to do than write about things 4 people read. Herewith, I'd like to get on my knees and thank these people for taking the time to read my droning discourse, about things I doubt anyone connects with.
Also, I have the attention span of a dead rat and I'll get distracted by anything shiny at the drop of a hat. I'll also get distracted by the drop of a hat, as the expression would otherwise seem weird. 

Another main reason for this procrastination should be clear to previous entry readers: I have a game addiction. Please don't judge me, I like gaming more than real life, it's true. The problem is, the real world often sucks (10 points for reference). In game land, even though you encounter countless frustrations, everything you do leads to imminent hero status. Win the cup, slay the dragon, save the maiden or beat the last, mind-boggling level; it doesn't matter what you do. In the end you'll ultimately feel accomplished, or at least you should. As I'm a fan of old games, I had to bite the bullet a few times on that one; "Thanks for playing", kiss my hairy bum.
The point is, spending time in game land is the best, healthiest escapism I can think of, until Virtual Reality kicks in and we'll all be doing the Arnold like in Total Recall. And if it isn't the best time of your life, you can always shut it off with the flick of a button and go venture in some other awesome world. Don't you wish your life was like that? One second, you're a Grey Warden slaying Darkspawn to save Ferelden and once you're tired of that, boom! You're suddenly in a giant Mech, blasting away and shredding metal. The possibilities are limitless and only an inch away.

I'm also quite a music fan and that also takes up a large portion of my time, some in escapism, some not. But where music is the mood, a game is a complete setting, with tunes and all. Songs do a nice job to whisk you away and that works specially well in the great outdoors. You can put on the ol' Choking victim cd and stare into oblivion, but I've had to deal with a few problems several time while doing so. 
You see, the great outdoors stays where it is, whether you choose to be a part of it or not. So you can stare into nothingness with the headphones blaring, zombie walking your way to your destination, but you can't escape from it fully. At some point you'll have to notice your surroundings or risk getting run over by numerous life choosers, as I've frequently had. Not a pleasant experience to get torn away from your dreamworld by some cyclist, when you've been shoving "Get This" by Slipknot down your cranium for 20 minutes.
At some points I switch off the more violent songs out of fear of insanity outbursts. If your fantasy world depicts nothing but beaten and bludgeoned corpses, suddenly getting ripped from that view might warp your reality sense. And I already had none of that sense to begin with. It's fine to think about tearing apart the irritating youngsters in front of you in the bus, it's more inappropriate to suddenly do it. You don't want poor Marilyn to get harassed again, do you? Neither do I; he's such a good lad. Now, look me in my brand new eye!

And before you go all hardcore on me by saying you face your life head-on, stop for a second as I reveal to you this universal truth: Everyone on this planet is inclined to escapism! As 7 Seconds once simply, but perfectly put it: We all try cutting corners, we all prefer the ease. Whether it is speeding in traffic, watching films or tv, having a beer, conversations with friends or anything to take you away from your dull life. You don't like life anymore than I do and want to get over the crappy bits as fast and straightforward as you can.
My crappy bits are just so much more numerous and absolute. Anything I do in real life leads to imminent failure, as I, myself, am a failure. At least, in strange irony, that serves it's purpose marvelously. But it's also why I choose to put off those things as long as I can.You could contend the fact I finish some games and must ultimately do some things correct, but no. There's usually such a large, wide amount of failure proceeding this completion, the finish was a mere matter of probability. You could commend my dedication, but again, there's nothing deserving of it. I keep failing until Lady Chance spins the wheel on the odd factor that somehow finishes the game. But since I'm used to ominous failure, I still prefer the digital kind I can trial and error my way out. There's no way I can hit the reset button after decapitating the jerk who scolded me at my job interview. Not that I'd want to reset such righteous actions.But isn't it awesome to do whatever you want to and then drop it when it gets dull? Games will do that for you, sir. Games have it all!

I find it odd that this suddenly turned out to be another game post, but there must've been remnants of the previous one stuck in my brain goo. Oh yes, now I remember why! Apologies all around for the Alzheimer-esque, senile contemplation.When I finished Dragon Age and intended to swiftly breeze through my previous post, my brother sent me a message. Apparently, his brain hadn't processed I wouldn't be desecrating his house anymore and he asked to come over. Being the wonderful human being I am, I promptly did and told him I finished the game. I then asked him to suggest another game I could use as a means to rape his generous hospitality. We both drew a blank on that one however and I suggested something that should tie together all previous bits about procrastination and game addictions. I suggested, for several reasons, we'd have another go at playing Civilization together.For one, it's both our favorite game and we played it once before, but without the add-ons. Also, that would give me a chance to raid my own home and be semi-available there for other people and purposes. I'd still be locked firmly in my chair, but I'd be there in the flesh. You might even have the odd chance of asking me a question in between turns.

There's a major problem, however, with playing Civilization: It's the mother of all unaccessible games! You can't play it for an hour, you have to play it for at least 6 hours a day or you might as well try to start your own civilization in real life.But since I love to procrastinate professionally, that doesn't faze me at all. And so started my serious delay on any other thought I might have had. Truth be told, there isn't much room for other thoughts when you're in a 15 hour lasting game session. That's right, 15 hours straight. Well, straight is relative. There are odd minutes in which you try and prepare and consume food while you play, but I'll be damned if I use the restroom while my turn is active! But putting in these kinds of hours means every game session postponed my writing with at least one full day. Together with everything else, I might add. It's hard to feed yourself fast and efficiently when your dishes have been stacked to the ceiling and your fridge has been raided a few days in a row. Thank pixie sticks, laziness also breeds creativity. You find the most appetizing, leftover, microwavable bits you can find and shove them onto a tray you're not even sure will be safe to prepare. No time for major concerns or health warnings though, my legions need me on the virtual fronts of Sparta! This is what life feels like in a continuous LAN-party where you're the only guest.

In conclusion, don't blame me for my lack of material. Blame Sid Meier and his marvelous, juicy brain from where he emitted this gift of gods from. Were it not for him and his Pirates game back on the Commodore 64, who knows? I might have become an accountant or a corporate slave in a classy suit with a bluetooth headset.
Damn you, sir Meier, for all the wonders you have created! Please send me retributions for ruining my life immediately! 
I'll accept all games and related goodies and merchandise you have to spare, together with a signed photograph of you, be it in bikini or not.

PS: In an ironic twist, this blog was created in less than 3 hours.

Chapter Three - Intermezzo

This is a post I wrote a while back, somewhere else. This was one of the main things that triggered me to start this blog a few days later, I believe. I just wrote this to kill some time and at the same time clear my head a little, really. The time of this publication is set at 16 December '09 and at the time the show with The Carrier (Usa) and Dead Swans (Uk) had not taken place yet.I would like to state beforehand that this doesn't necessarily state the opinions of everyone I'm involved with. It is more of an assumption I have of the opinions, based on conversations throughout time we have had with each other.If you have heard other things from other people, feel free to believe what you will; these are however my beliefs. Enjoy the read or don't or plain skip it, it's all the same to me.
You'll have your filler, sir.


In my "spare time" I set up shows and this for a numerous amount of reasons.

1) First and foremost reason; where I live people don't have Hardcore shows to go to and that's a crying shame. In a city inhabited largely by students (about 50K +-) you have an insane amount of disco's and dance bars and that sort of crap I wouldn't ever dream of going to, but oddly enough you only have 1 (decent) venue to set up shows and the shows set up there are usually god awful. I won't go into details, as bashing people trying to set up a show isn't needed nor polite. Therefor me and a few friends wanted to start bringing bands we like to our town and set up shows, hereby associating our town's name with hardcore music. As it should be! (at the moment, we're establishing that name, so hurray!)

2) Hardcore shows are the bomb. Nothing like a good sing along and if on top of that there's some dancing and pile ups, we're golden. The vibe is usually effin' great during shows. Drink, don't drink; dance, don't dance; act a fool, stay cool, it doesn't matter, everyone essentially gets along and enjoys themselves. We make that happen and that makes me feel good, even if we put in way too much time,money, work and effort in it and run ourselves ragged. Queer as it sounds, when people at our shows have smiles on their faces, we've done an awesome job!

3) Too much people in this country setting up shows to make a profit. Though I understand you like money, hard currency is the furthest thing from our minds. In fact, we've always ended up paying a small amount and when we made some profit, we gave it away to the bands. Why? Well, for one, they just need the money. Secondly, we just wanted to do the show for them and for us; they've earned that money, they have the right to keep it. Promoters here are too hell bent on trying to fill their coffers, I think. Setting up mediocre shows at questionable prices or big shows at stupendous prices. You have however the rare occasion where an entrance fee is more than justified, until you see the amount of sponsoring comes back to them, ultimately still raising the bar of the profits.
Is it wrong? No, not really, I understand money is the biggest motivation for most people on this planet! It's just not how we roll and I'm content with that.

4) We're all musicians and we like the idea of doing shows, so we try and help as many musicians ourselves to do what they love doing: Playing shows.

For those reasons and more, I spend most of my day, every day on Myspace and such prospecting, checking things out, reading numerous amounts of things, contacting people, checking even more things, checking mails, answering mails, etc. I get no payment in any way for it, I actually get chewed out for not putting those hours into payed labor.
I must be out of my mind.
Good day.



Apparently when you type in "Hardcore Leuven", one of the only vids you'll find, is me singing poorly together with my friends, Second Base.
That's one of the only footage there is, together with a set from my heroes CJTC, but they've asked me not to refer to them, so I won't (fully..).
I'm drunk while singing, it was a show together with Belgian Asociality, so it's justified, damn it!

Chapter Two - Time For Adventure

Yesterday, after putting in weeks of professional game-time, I've finally finished Dragon Age: Origins for Xbox 360. And when I say professional game-time, I mean literally putting in a day's work through playing video games. Here's the thing:  I do not own an Xbox 360,  I don't have that kind of money. My brother, however, does. And when said brother is away at work, that Xbox just sits there in his room doing nothing, completely neglected. It must be a crime against humanity, as he's almost never home.  He does however justify this by spending every free minute of his life either gaming or watching Animé.  Sometimes even epically combining both in some sort of awesome coolness trip. 


Previously, while I was out browsing Gamespot for the usual old games I play, I kept coming across all sorts of references towards this game called Dragon Age: Origins. That made me recall this ranting spree my brother went on for several weeks, regarding this game called Dragon Age: Origins. At some point he asked me for my original Baldur's Gate collection. Something to do with the makers from Baldur's Gate making a new game called Dragon Age: Origins. Those factors combined made me crack at some point and decide to look into that game. Usually I try not to mess with newer games, as I can't play them anyways and so I get frustrated marveling in their glory. But since the buzz around it was so big and my brother's opinions about games are fairly correct 9 out of 10 times, I just had to go take a look. 

What I saw there was nothing extraordinary as all the hypes mentioned, but then again, hypes usually tend to set you up for imminent let downs. I did however see a new BioWare game and I've always enjoyed playing those frantically. More so, the whole reason I bought an Xbox, days prior to the next-gen release, was because I was playing a small bit of Jade Empire and KotoR II at a friends house. It got me hooked so badly, I couldn't think about anything else. I just had to go out and buy me those games. My addiction was so acute, I even had to go out of town to find a copy of Jade Empire there that very day.
The following weeks, I spent all day and night going through just about every possible playthrough in both games. And the best part was, it didn't even get dull.
That is the reason why a new BioWare game might not be the most surprising new game made, but it does deserve looking into. It's basically the same formula in a new package, but it's one hell of a winning formula. For those of you gladly battling alcohol addictions, consider it like a new beer. It's just some beer, but beer is always awesome and you'll always have some room for it.

Back to my original point: After weeks of hearing from all sides how good this game was, I formed a cunning plan. As my brother has a job and I don't, there's an 8 hour window where the Xbox is used as an expensive paperweight and I could step in to save the day. And by saving the day, I mean usurp his console and basic hospitality by raiding his house while he is gone. I pitched him this idea of interim gaming and he was cool with it. The only thing I had to do was to wake up on time for him to go to work and leave me in his house. That time, however, was 5 AM! To my amazement, it is possible to wake up in time, given the proper motivation. After 26 years of getting late for just about any morning appointment I have ever had, there I stood in complete zombie mode at my brother's door.
And so began my job as a professional gamer. Starting at 5 AM, I would take a 5 minute, snack break at 8 and have half an hour for lunch at 11, followed by a quick snack break around 2 PM. Like I said, I was taking this seriously; this was my job, not some silly toy!

During these weeks of intense gaming, I discovered a few things. 
For one, gaming makes you exceedingly lazy, yet productive towards your game. You'll pool all your non-game related tasks into 1 single sweep of actions. For instance, you'll combine going to the bathroom, drinking, following up daily tasks such as mails, cooking and eating all into one and do them in less than 10 minutes if possible. Because everything you do will make the clock tick closer towards that deadline where you have to return to your mundane life, instead of rocking it in Ferelden.

Secondly, this setting of professional gaming will make you plan ahead, even when not actively playing.  I was, for example, planning what I could eat the next day while playing and what dish would take the least time to prepare and then consume, while still being nutritious. A trait that wasn't too healthy, I think, as I would usually eat pasta, sandwiches or reheated food, but nothing else. And usually I take time to cook some nice dinner; but not anymore! There was questing to be done and I had a Blight to stop!
Also, any common courtesy you might have had, swiftly went out the door. I'd wake up barely in time to show up at my brother's (hey, it's still 5 flippin' AM!) and on bad days, I'd forget most of my food and drinks. And instead of wasting time to go fetch them, I'd just loot his fridge and cupboards. Once the game was on, there was no brother or hospitality, there was only the Grey Wardens and my nemesis the Archdemon.

But the main reason I'm writing this, is because throughout my second week of gameplay, I started wondering something. That's after 40 odd hours if you're keeping count, by the way.
I wondered how huge gaming companies would market games such as these to a big audience. Granted, there's a nice following of fans for any game that has references to Baldur's Gate. But I'm guessing this game has a huge budget and even if it's brought out on all platforms, it has to sell to a large amount of people to return that investment. Sure, there will be revenues also to be had in related merchandise. But that can't topple it, can it?
The reason why I wondered this, is because I can't perceive Dragon Age being played by a large amount of people. I mean, even if you play professionally, like I did, for 8 hours a day, it will take you about 2 weeks to complete one playthrough. the other playthroughs might be a little faster, but will still take in a sizable amount of time. Most people don't have that much time to spend everyday on video games. Kids have to go to school, do homework and possibly have some other hobby. Adults should have a considerable larger amount of responsibilities, such as work, college, groceries, housekeeping and other hobbies. Pensioners might have a butt-load of time, but do you see them picking up Dragon Age and going all epic on you? I'd have to see it to believe it.
And if you don't play for at least 4 hours a day, it would just take way too much time to ever have a chance at completing it. That might be fine to try that once, but I don't think you'll enjoy failing at games for long. In all, you won't be picking up an RPG you can't make time for.

So how would a casual gamer be convinced to pick up Dragon Age or any other adventure game? It's fine if you're a hardcore gamer. You know you don't have a date on Saturday and you'll be in your dungeon hacking away at the Darkspawn, possibly taking a break to pwn n00bs on some online game. But someone with friends, hobbies and essentially a life can't really afford to stow themselves away with their console to play out some fantasy with magical creatures. If nothing more than the lack of time, you'd quickly get stigmatized as some sort of nerd. Or a brand I usually get: a no-lifer.
That's right; enjoying video games means you lack the skills to go out and live your own life. Funny how that applies to only certain games and it doesn't apply to other things like films and books. Even more odd to me, as I think books and films can only direct you to one scripted ending in one track. Whereas in games, you'll have to work your way towards it and in cases like Dragon Age: Origins you'll have multiple outcomes based on your decisions during your experiences. That means that every action will affect the outcome and have different consequences based on those prior actions. Kind of like real life?
Surely, sir, you must jest? No, I do not jest! Get your head out of the prejudice box that generations before you have placed gamers in! Think for yourself! Is that so hard? Video games have advanced exponentially since PONG and we have, at the very least, added a few more lines to the screen...Excuse me for the rant, it needed saying. 


I'll grant you the fact that if you're going to play a role-playing game, you're going to have to put some serious effort in it. And yes, that will diminish the time you'll have left for other things, if you are interested in the game enough. But is that so bad to have a heartfelt interest in something? Why is it necessary to berate gaming? I don't see society scolding people who passionately read "The Catcher In The Rye" and I'm quite sure that book takes a while to finish as well. Although, in all fairness, people might have protested it in the fifties, but certainly not to such great lengths. I'll kindly leave the whole "games make people to bad things" argument aside (for now).
But the moment someone picks up an adventure game of any sort that takes place in some fantasy world and takes more than 5 hours to complete, people have the sudden notion you have no life. Because you have no interest in "normal" things. I don't recall being asked if I did have other interests though.


I think that is why racing, sports and other games are so much more popular and RPG/Adventure games are shoved into the nerd corner. They're just a lot more accessible to a large crowd. No real thinking or effort is required to enjoy a good racing game. You can pick it up for 5 hours or 10 minutes, whichever works best for you. Whether you're playing a quick match against Barcelona or trying to win the championship, you can play as long as you want, blow off a little steam and then go on with your natural life. Also, there's no need to read up on a lot of background and story or adapt to anything; you know all there is to know already. You know Henri and all his mates and what they do best; just put on the game and go!
It's that accessibility and recognizability that appeals to the masses. But it's also the factor that makes it acceptable to do as a pass time. You can do it, because everyone does it, that's normal. Nothing cooler than tuning cars or beating the living crap out of someone in a quick bout of Tekken.
Although I largely disagree with that statement myself, I don't think role-playing games as we know them now will change that opinion. Even if you raise the recognition towards it and make everyone participate in a more modern form of RPG, you'll still need some sort of knowledge of the background before playing. More traditional stories, like in a faraway, Middle Ages setting however, will need more work to be able to include everyone. Because, even with all other factors taken care of, you'll still need to put in the hours and putting hours on games equal nerd, we've established that by now.

 I, however, enjoy the frequent time I spend whisked away in Ferelden fighting for either good or bad, but mostly good. That's just the kind of person I am. I can always come back another time and do a thoroughly evil playthrough a second time around, for giggles. Usually though, I'll try to make the right decision or the one I find best at the moment. Surprisingly, in Dragon Age: Origins, that might not always be the best way to go. A nice twist I might add, it makes you think outside the box a little. Good choices aren't necessarily good and vice versa. It made me think of a mission in Grand Theft Auto where they'd lead you to doing something the mission did not call for and still have a positive outcome. That made me think people should implement that a lot more in games and have people do things their own way. 
It's yet another argument I have for keeping me locked in the game for a long  time, because it feels lifelike and it's an epic adventure. What more could I ask for?
Who wouldn't want to live out an adventure like that?

And maybe that's how companies would appeal to a large audience. Focusing on how awesome your adventure will be and how it's so real, you'll think yourself there. Without mentioning the time needed to the larger audience, you'll have more people wanting to experience the trip. At least, that's how I think they could market it, because that's what it's all about: the experience. Only, that brings back one of the original problems, that is the time needed. Like mentioned, you might trick people once or twice, but if they don't put in the time, they'll stop coming back at some point. Also, you'll again revert to the stigma of a dungeon dweller, playing hours on end instead of boozing it up with mates. Or trying to pick up chicks, whilst trying not to vomit in their cleavage you're immersed in. You know, the simple things in life.
Perhaps it might fancy a few by mentioning it's worth your time investment to see it through. Seeing your efforts come to fruition and all that. Or by appealing to it's customized ending or perhaps enticing people to save the world, doing the right thing. Marvelous graphics, lots of flash; all seem plausible solutions, but can't really deadlock me into believing a casual gamer might want to pick it up.  If someone has the answer to this question, I'd sure like to look into it.

Until I've figured that out, I've come up with a possible solution to make role-playing games accessible and acceptable by the masses:
Instead of making elaborate epic adventures, which are really compelling and use all their space in storytelling and durability, you make them short and fast. Doesn't sound like much on the first sentence, does it? Hear me out.
Normally you have one set world, with many regions, creatures, etc. Instead of doing that, you save all the disc space on creating a completely random world each time. And in addition you try and randomize as much you can concerning equipment etc. Let's say you make 3 tiers that way, so more traditional players can still pick up on it. But you don't want to stretch it out too much, you want as much room for creating a unique and thrilling experience each and every time. A problem with some games is that they want to be too much of all possible options and end up being poor in all areas.
Let's say 1 playthrough could be done in less than 10 hours and is filled with action constantly. Of course you'd need to keep some short cut scenes for each playthrough and preferably as many endings as you possibly can. Even if they differ in only one area or so each time. That way you're certain you have a large array of endings to keep the player coming back.  If you don't focus on having realistic graphics, you could do a lot this way.
One more problem you'd have to take care of is the traditional level system. In a game that takes less than 10 hours, it'd be ridiculous to have your character level 30 times or so. So I propose having a simple upgrade system you can use. Perhaps even so simple you can activate it while playing and don't need to go to a character screen, but not necessarily. It would however keep you in the action screen.
 The action on itself will more than probably work best in hack and slash method, but I don't see why you can't implicate as much skills and spells in there, if they're all custom to a wide array of characters anyway. Don't forget, each playthrough is completely different in area and story, so taking a different character each time won't become boring. It will feel like a completely different game each time.

In short I'd make it an experience that resembles a few existing games. You'd take the random levels such as in Diablo or in much lesser extent the Disgaia series, if you're familiar with them. You'd take the unique experience of such as Gran Turismo for your character, customizing it a different way every time with loads of possible characters to choose from. A battle system that resembles that of Final fantasy 12 and action packed like a mass zombie game. Cell shaded or more cartoon-styled graphics to keep the framerate up and the disc space low. It might not work in a medieval setting, but I think games like Odin Sphere and such look amazing, even in 2D and they probably take a lot less room to create.
Customized cut scenes and endings as many as you can muster; at least 300 cut scenes, each about 10 seconds or so and at the very least 30 endings. Depending on the length possibly a lot more. You don't need an ending of 5 minutes and a credit reel of 30 minutes. That can all be done quickly, if you want.
Voice acting? Why not; Dragon Age: Origins seems to have a massive amount of voice overs and still has room for a giant world. Just think of what that could mean for my idea! I think the voice acting will be much more efficient to keep the action flowing, instead of having to read a boring text box.

If anyone has heard of such similar games in existence, feel free to pass me a line, though I doubt it would be done in the extent I'm envisioning it, as I have such a large view on this game. It felt a bit lengthy to jot it all down though. I think these types of games would open the door for the casual gamer to gradually get cracking on an epic adventure and join us in our nerd world. It would be awesome to puke in a woman's cleavage at a bar, while you were discussing how you tried to free Morrowind from it's evil burden.
Until then, this boy with a leg tattoo of Dungeons and Dragons will bid you good day.