I’ve mentioned before that while I enjoy Titan Quest I seem to be able to only play it in short bursts every so often.  I couldn’t put my finger on why that was the case, while back in the day, I could sink hours on end into Diablo 2.  The other night, I may have figured it out.

My current goal is to get to Athens, and while on my way there I came across the scene pictured above; a giant cyclops frozen in stone along with several other stone people in the area.  When I came upon the scene, the music changed, becoming much more ominous, and there were no living enemies to be seen in th area.  It was quite apparent that big ol’ nasty Medusa was in the area, and it was one of the few times during my playing of the game that I felt a sense of awe along with a compulsion to continue forward to face the threat.  It was then that I realized that Titan Quest has, for me up to this point, lacked a decent sense of atmosphere.

I’ve sunk quite a few hours into the game at this point and I don’t think I’d be able to tell you what the point of it is.  I know that my current goal is to get to Athens, but I don’t know why.  When the game starts, you’re approached by a villager and told that monsters have taken over the lands and you’re sent out to kill them as you make your way from town to town.  There’s nothing driving the player forward aside from the instruction to get to the next town.

When I think back to Diablo 2, I can remember there being very explicit reasons for all of my actions.  On top of the whole back story of the mysterious wanderer, each chapter has a specific goal to accomplish, and the threat to your character and the world, is always at the forefront.  The player is constantly reminded by the non-player characters of the doom and gloom that lay ahead, and that’s on top of the great atmospheric music portraying an ever-present sense of dread.

That kind of atmosphere just hasn’t been present in Titan Quest, aside from the little tastes noted above.  If your game consists primarily of clicking on stuff ad nauseum, you better present your players with a very compelling reason to  do so.  From a technical stand point, Titan Quest is a better game than Diablo 2, but its lack of a story, or more importantly, over-all atmosphere, is what is preventing it from being a better play experience.

I’ve been playing my Xbox 360 much more than my PC these days, and like my PC, I’ve got a stack of games for the 360 that I’ve barely touched, some not at all.  I remember a time when I’d have one game and stick with it for months before switching to another.  Now I’m buying new stuff before I’ve even taken older stuff out of the shrink wrap.  It has to stop!

My latest acquisition is IL 2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey.  This was a title that I almost picked up on release at full price, but never did for whatever reason, so I was quite happy to see it for $18 and I grabbed it.  For once though, I didn’t just throw it on the pile of games… I’m actually playing this one, and I love it.

I’ve always liked the idea of playing a flight simulator, but I just don’t have the time to dedicate to learning how to play them.  The great thing about IL 2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, is that it has both realistic and arcade modes of play.  I’m having a tonne of fun with the arcade mode; I can whip around in my plane and not have to worry about stalling, thrust, or aerodynamics.  It reminds me a lot of Crimson Skies in a realistic setting.

I have a feeling this game is going to keep my attention for the next little while.

Still without any desire to play World of Warcraft, I’ve jumped back in to Titan Quest, a game I’ve wanted to get through for quite some time now.  I continued the game from where I last played, long ago; my dual-wielding warrior was level 10 whose current mission was to speak to the Oracle in Delphi.

The first thing that struck me as I continued mowing through the endless onslaught of monsters was just how much mouse clicking I was doing.  I realize that’s pretty much what this type of game is all about, but seriously, my index finger was getting sore.  The other thing I noticed is how long the game is.  I don’t know how many different areas I went through before I broke down and checked an FAQ to see how much longer it would take to reach the Oracle, but it was a lot.  The FAQ only served to tell me that I still had a ways to go.  Now, it’s been ages since I’ve played Diablo II, but I remember it having a much faster sense of progression and story.  Titan Quest is starting to just feel like a whole lot of clicking, but it looks so good I still want to go through it to see everything it has to offer.  Another glance at the FAQ told me that there was a very long way to go until the end of the game, which didn’t include the Immortal Throne expansion, which I also have.

I want to see the game, but I also kind of don’t want to play it any more because, like I said, it’s now feeling like nothing but a lot of clicking.  There’s something missing from it; something that kept me playing Diablo II countless times over and over.  Maybe it’s my choice of class and mastery selections.  I don’t have spells, or cool abilities to execute, just endless clicking.  The masteries I took were all passive abilities, so I don’t even have different skill buttons to click, I just swing my swords.

The solution to my problem, I decided, was to cheat.  I download a program called TQ Defiler which allows for save game editing.  I boosted my hero to level 25 (I didn’t want to go too crazy) and jumped back into the game, only to discover that the extra levels didn’t make that big a difference.  The problem seemed to be the equipment I was using.  While I had more health and better stats, it appeared that the weapons I was using were holding me back from being a crazy damage dealing machine.  Back to the editor, I gave my warrior access to the final encampment in the game and 7 million gold, then once back in the game, teleported to that encampment and bought all the best equipment on offer there, only to find that my stats weren’t quite high enough to equip them.  So, using the editor once again, I gave myself three more levels and jacked up my stats a fair bit.  Now I can kill most creatures in one hit and I can progress through the game a lot faster, which fits my purpose of just seeing the game’s environments without caring for the gameplay.

I continue to migrate further away from World of Warcraft, my time with that game clearly approaching another break.  I logged in for a bit the other night but quickly found myself bored out of my skull so I logged out.  I’d still like to force myself to 85 (I’m currently a quarter of the way through 83) before un-subscribing, but I’m really finding it a chore to play these days.

I’ve been having a lot of fun on my Xbox 360, particularly with Halo 3 ODST which I just completed last night.  I’ve had the game in my inventory for quite some time now but never really played with it beyond a few minutes here and there.  That changed a couple weeks ago when I gave it a solid chunk of time and I got hooked into the story.  I ended up really enjoying it, and found myself loading it up whenever I had some free time.  Now that I’ve finished ODST I can finally crack open my copy of Halo Reach, which I’m really looking forward to trying, but in all likelihood  I’ll be taking a quick break from the Halo universe to tackle one of the many other games awaiting my time.

Right now I’m trying to decide between Torchlight, Titan’s Quest, and Darksiders.  I’m the furthest along in Titan’s Quest, so that’s sort of how I’m leaning right now, but I can only take that game in short bursts.  I do want to finish it though.  Darksiders is really calling out to me though, so we’ll see.

This is me riding my newly acquired Green Proto-Drake.  The Proto-Drake is obtained from a Mysterious Egg which can be purchased in Sholazar Basin if you have revered reputation with The Oracles.  According to WoWWiki, ”you may only carry one Mysterious Egg at a time, each of which takes three days to hatch. [The Reins of the Green Proto-Drake] has an extremely low drop chance, although this chance was increased in patch 4.0.3″.

Originally, the egg took seven days to hatch, so you could only check once a week to see if you got the mount.  After reaching revered with The Oracles on my Shaman, I was fairly diligent in checking my egg once a week, but after having no luck with the mount drop, I gave up.  Then I started focusing on leveling my Mage and forgot about the Shaman altogether, who I haven’t played in over a year now.  His talent points are still sitting unassigned since the release of Cataclysm.  He’s had a Mysterious Egg in his inventory, ready to be checked, for a very long time.

A friend of mine has been doing the egg-checking dance for quite some time now, hunting for the Proto-Drake.  He has had no luck, but he has continued to check time and again.

I was playing my Mage last night, doing quests in Deepholm, when my friend logged on.  I saw that he was in Icecrown and sent him a quick message asking him what the heck he was doing there.  ”Just checking my egg, on my way to get another one,” was his reply. Remembering that my Shaman had an egg on him, I quickly logged him in to check it.  Lo and behold, the Shaman was actually camped in Sholazar Basin, standing in front of the guy who sells the egg.  My friend was now standing there as well.  I check the egg, fully expecting an Aged Yolk, or some other common rubbish, but instead received the Proto-Drake.  Here’s a screenshot of what happened next…

Here’s a transcript of the conversation for those of you reading without graphics:

You receive loot: [Reins of the Green Proto-Drake]
Friend waves at you.
To [Friend]: I just logged in to this character to check my egg… haven’t logged into him for ages
[Friend] whispers: what did it hatch?
To [Friend]: [Reins of the Green Proto-Drake]
[Friend] whispers: let’s see

At this point I mount up on my new proto-drake, and begin prancing around my friend… yes, prancing…

[Me] says: WOOT!
[Friend] whispers: you’re a stupid dick face
[Friend] whispers: [Aged Yolk]
To [Friend]: I’m sorry, but I’m laughing so hard right now
[Friend} whispers: do you know how many weeks I’ve been doing this?

So there you have it.  I’m a stupid dick face.

A stupid dick face with a brand spanking new Green Proto-Drake!