Tyler F.M. Edwards's Blog, page 25

On the Stargate: Universe Comics

I love Stargate: Universe. If you’re a regular reader, you probably know it’s one of my favourite shows of all time. Its premature cancellation left a hole in my heart that’s never quite been filled.

[image error]When it was announced the series would continue in a series of canonical comics, my feelings were decidedly mixed. I want to cheer any continuation of Universe, but I’m not a big comics reader, and it’s not the same without the fantastic performances of actors like Robert Carlyle and Louis Ferreira. More worryingly, the comics would not be written by the same people who brought us SG:U, nor would they follow the long-term series plan created by Robert Cooper.

Still, while strolling through Indigo, my eyes landed on a compilation of the first six issues of the comics, and I couldn’t contain my curiosity.

It was a decidedly mixed experience.

The one thing the comics do very well is capture the characters. They’re all immediately recognizable as their old selves. Rush is still a shifty bastard, Eli is still a lovable dork, and Colonel Young is the gruff father figure we all know and love. Even their speech patterns have been captured perfectly. I was constantly hearing the actors’ voices in my head as I was reading.

The good news, sadly, pretty much ends there.

This is basically Deus Ex Machina: The Series. It’s just an endless spree of incredibly lucky breaks for the Destiny and its crew. If that sounds out of character for SG:U, congratulations, you’ve seen at least one episode of the series. The tone is just way off, and the end result is the removal of much of the struggle that made Universe special as a story.

What makes this even more egregious is that the story doesn’t really advance any other way. We learn nothing new about the mysteries of the Destiny or its mission. The eternally rushed comic book medium doesn’t have space to develop the relationships and character arcs that were so memorable on the show. The entire focus is on the festival of deus ex machinas.

These comics are the brainchild of writers who previously worked on Stargate: Atlantis, and honestly, I can’t escape the impression that their main goal was to turn Universe into Atlantis so they’d be back on familiar ground.

I’m a fan of Atlantis, too, but what made Universe special was that it broke new ground. It had its own character that was separate from the other incarnations of Stargate. The writers of these comics either don’t understand or don’t appreciate that, and for that reason I don’t think I can give the comics a recommendation, much as I wish it were otherwise.

Song of the Month: Grimes, We Appreciate Power

For this month’s song, I’m going for some more Canadian content, the recently released single We Appreciate Power by Montreal’s Grimes.

I could try to describe this song, but it’d be a waste of time for all concerned. Grimes is… unique. I usually like her music, but I also know she may not be for everyone.

Give it a try. You’ll probably either love it or hate it.

This is a great song to listen to while I’m working on my TSW homebrew for Dungeons and Dragons.

Aion: Awakening My Legacy

As long-time readers may know, Aion is a game for which I have long nursed a special affection, despite its significant flaws and the fact I’ve spent relatively little time playing it. Even so, it had been so many years since I last played I had thought my time with the game done… until I heard of the Awakened Legacy patch, a Cataclysm-style revamp of the entire game.

[image error]Awakened Legacy is not without its controversy, and I fully understand why, as it not only changes but also straight up removes large swathes of content, but it seemed like an excellent opportunity to give Aion one more chance.

Trying to jump in on my level ~30 character after so many years and so much changes sounded like a recipe for headache, so I decided to start over with a new character on a new server. That said, I was also attached to my ranger, so I took advantage of a very convenient feature that allows me to easily export and import character appearances. I therefore started over with a new ranger who was almost* an exact clone of my original.

*(Since I was back on the character creation screen, I did make some very subtle tweaks, most notably a new hairstyle, but she’s still very recognizable as her old self.)

I have to say I was surprised by how intensely the nostalgia struck me as I returned to the cold woods of Asmodae to familiar music and hearty cries of, “Azphelumbra!”

I’ve said it before, but there is something special about Aion that most other games lack. There is a character to the world, a sense of place. It’s hard to put your finger on, but I think it’s some special alchemy born of the dreamy and colourful environments, the rich backstory, the surreal cosmology, and many small touches that add personality to the experience.

[image error]For instance, at one point I ventured into an area with heavy snowfall, and my character spontaneously began trying to catch snowflakes and generally frolicking. It was a delightful little vignette, and it makes other games seem terribly lifeless by comparison.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. While much was familiar upon my return to Atreia, it was immediately clear that much had changed.

At some point the starter zones got a complete graphical overhaul, so while Ishalgen is still recognizable as its old self, it looks much, much better. I mean, it was always pretty, but now it’s downright stunning.

I think there may have been some general graphical updates since I last played, too. The lighting seems more dynamic, and I don’t remember there being hair physics before. Low level gear has also been completely redone, and is now almost too pretty. All told, Aion is aging very, very well.

The cosmetic updates are the least of the changes, though. Awakened Legacy has truly rewritten the game.

[image error]I’ll say off the bat that I think Aion needed some trimming. It was a slow game with a lot of filler content, a product of an older school of design that has long outstayed its welcome.

That being said, even I balk a bit out how heavily the game has been streamlined. Copious amounts of content have been completely removed, even including entire zones. Leveling has been sped up to an almost absurd degree. I already find myself much more advanced, in both levels and content, than I was on my old character, despite only playing very casually.

Again, I think Aion did need some trimming, and it did need to be sped up. It was much too slow before. But it’s been taken to such an extreme that a lot has been lost in translation.

When I played before, I recall there being a lot of internal intrigue in the Asmodian faction dealing with their oppressive government. It added a lot of depth and nuance to the faction, and it was one of the things that attracted me to the game off the bat.

That’s all gone now. The story is now greatly simplified. As someone who played before and remembers much of that depth, it’s not a crippling flaw, but newcomers to the game will be missing out on a lot of important world-building.

[image error]There are also a lot of gameplay features that seem to have been removed or downplayed. It’s a bit hard to say because I can’t quite tell what all is gone, and what’s just changed. It took me until yesterday to realize that changing gear appearances was still an option but had simply moved from an NPC to a UI menu you can access anywhere. That’s actually a great change, but nothing tells you the feature is there.

By that same token, I honestly can’t tell if crafting and gathering have been removed, are now exclusive to high levels, or if I’m just missing them somehow. I still have an essencetapping skill in my character sheet, and I found some nodes in the housing zone, but they only seemed to drop housing-related currency. Meanwhile the crafting facilities seem removed from cities, and I can’t find gathering nodes in the open world zones I’ve been adventuring in.

Methinks this update may have been a bit rushed.

Group content has also been massively downplayed, at least while leveling. Group quests used to be commonplace (frustratingly so), but as of now I’ve yet to encounter a single group quest, or even a group dungeon. As a mainly solo player, this is no skin off my hide, but even I must admit it feels odd to be level forty in an MMO and not even have the option for group content.

From what I can tell PvP is still crucial to Aion’s endgame, but I haven’t encountered any enemy players while questing so far, despite spending a lot of time in zones that are theoretically contested. I haven’t been prompted to raid Elysea yet, either. Supposedly the new server is a bit under-populated at the moment, so that may be lessening the PvP aspect.

[image error]Some changes are entirely good. There’s now an easy to use waypoint system to port you between quest hubs, which is a massive time-saver. You can also now vendor items directly from your inventory, which took me longer than it should have to realize.

Beyond that, it does remain recognizably Aion. The combat is much as I remember it: the best example of the worst style of MMO combat. It’s a standard tab target system with unchanging rotations, but the animations are flashy and incredibly satisfying, there’s little to no downtime in the rotations, and the chain skill system is oddly compelling to me for some reason.

It’s still too early to say if Awakened Legacy will convert me to a serious Aion player, or whether this will just be another brief flirtation. The grind of kill ten rats quests holds little appeal for me these days, but I don’t have a lot else on my plate, and as I’ve said, I do adore Atreia as a setting, whatever other problems the game may have.

Dungeons and Dragons: The Wild World of Homebrew

As our venture into the world of table-top role-playing progresses, I and my friends are now beginning to expand beyond the basic rules of Fifth Edition and experiment with more drastic homebrews.

[image error]For instance, for our most recent session our DM led us in an experimental one-shot using the setting of ReBoot.

I have to say I very deeply admire the effort our DM went to for this. He not only had to design entirely new mechanics for the ReBoot setting, be he also had to create the mechanics for the Games we entered into over the course of the adventure. At one point we wound up playing a tabletop version of Mario Kart. It was… different.

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword because it did lead to a lot of the session simply being learning new rules, but still, the sheer creativity has to be admired.

The Reboot setting also allowed for some interesting role-play. I of course chose to be a Guardian, but I played him as a hardboiled, loose cannon cop who plays by his own rules. Meanwhile the show was stolen by one of my friends, who made her character an over-the-top cutesy anime JRPG heroine. We were a motley bunch.

For my part, in a turn of events probably everyone saw coming, I have begun working on some homebrew to adapt 5E to the setting of the Secret World. I started out just creating passives for the various factions — I decided that choice of faction replaces racial choices — but it got a bit out of hand, and the document is now 5,000 words.

[image error]That being said, I still consider it a rather basic framework. It mostly still uses the same mechanics of 5E. I’ve not touched classes or monsters at all, aside from disallowing a few classes that didn’t fit the setting. I may expand it to include those things at some point, but I’m not sure.

It is very much a vanity project. I’m the only person in my friend group who ever played TSW, so I don’t foresee a lot of interest in this from my friends, and I’m not sure my game design “expertise” is at a level that any strangers would be interested in what I’ve come up with. If nothing else, it amused me.

I do wish to share one thing from the homebrew, just because I’m rather proud of it. I came up with a number of custom backgrounds to fit the modern setting, and while most are somewhat bland, the Conspiracy Theorist background is a bit more fun:

You were right all along! The Illuminati are real! The people in the YouTube comments said you were mad, but who’s mad now?!? You have proficiency in Hacking, Insight, and History, and you are also proficient with a Hacker’s Kit and Thieves’ Tools. You are much less likely to suffer consequences for revealing the secrets of the Secret World to the public, because no one takes you seriously. Your maximum sanity is lowered by 1.

Gaming Round-Up: ESO, Bless, Zeratul, and MMO Mobs

Once again I find myself with a number of gaming topics that are worth discussing, but not worth filling a full post on their own.

[image error]Bless Online: Actually okay

With its launch as a full free to play title, I decided to give Bless Online a try. Given the incredibly negative buzz, I was surprised by how decent the game is.

Once again I feel the need to point out that the universal and hyperbolic negativity of the gaming community has made word of mouth entirely meaningless. I no longer know which games I should avoid, because basically everything is decried as a broken cash grab, regardless of reality.

That’s not to say Bless is a masterpiece. It’s not. I actually gave up on it fairly quickly. But this is much more symptomatic of how jaded I’ve become than the quality of the game itself. It’s got a lot going for it.

The graphics are gorgeous. The world is detailed and filled with personality. The story is surprisingly high effort and actually halfway interesting. The combat is very flashy and engaging, if once again much too easy. If I weren’t in a period of feeling somewhat burnt out on video games in general and traditional MMOs in particular, I’d probably have played a lot more.

In the end, that may be Bless’ one major sin: It launched too late into a market too crowded.

[image error]ESO: Home sweet villa

After months of hard work and with the assistance of an ESO Plus trial event, I’ve finally finished decorating my Grand Psijic Villa home in Elder Scrolls Online.

I am not sure why I did this. There is no gameplay reason to spend time in my own home, and I have no friends who play to show around the place. I suppose it’s a nice virtual environment to wander around and reflect on my life choices.

Ahem.

The place is so huge I had to wall off a few rooms because I didn’t have the resources or energy to furnish them properly. Even so, I did manage to include a feast hall, bedrooms for both my Aldmeri characters, a kitchen, and indoor gardens. Meanwhile the exterior is home to as much plant life as I could cram in, a campsite with a hammock, some lovely statuary, and a semi-submerged coral garden, among other attractions.

It is fun to express yourself through design like this. I’m beginning to catch a glimmer of why people are so passionate about player housing in games. I just wish it was a more fleshed out feature.

SC2: En aru’din Raszagal

Surprisingly soon after the release of Tychus, StarCraft II has gained another new co-op commander: Zeratul.

I preface my thoughts on him by saying that I think Zeratul is fun to play, and I don’t regret purchasing him. He has some cool abilities, a unique mechanic in the hunt for artifact fragments, and his unit skins are gorgeous.

That said, he does somewhat reinforce my perception that the co-op team is running out of ideas. Aside from the artifact mechanic, he could basically be described as “Nova, but Protoss and somehow even more overpowered.”

Zeratul is very powerful, and very easy. His macro is simplified to the point of being almost non-existent — even his upgrades are researched automatically — and he also has surprisingly low micro requirements.

Your only real strategic choices are what top bar abilities to pick (which is a neat mechanic, I grant), as his unit selection is limited, and you really don’t need anything other than Void Templars and Enforcers with the occasional Shieldguard for back-up. His only real micro in battle is casting blink and dropping his calldowns. Meanwhile his base runs itself.

[image error]I mean, I hate economic management, and even I feel Zeratul may have gone too far in eliminating it.

Zeratul’s fun, but I can’t pretend there aren’t a lot of ways in which he’s simply a failure of good game design. If nothing else, I have to believe there are more interesting things they could have done.

New article:

In other news, I’ve published a new article on MMO Bro. This one seeks to rethink the design of open world mobs in MMOs.

Review: Mass Effect: Andromeda: Annihilation

If there’s one question Andromeda left me wanting an answer for, it was the fate of the Quarian Ark. Oh, there are many more unanswered questions from the last Mass Effect game, but none of the others have such an immediacy. Questions about the Kett, Jaardan, and Benefactor can wait for the sequels — and yes, for all the doom-saying around Bioware in general and Mass Effect in particular these days, I do expect Andromeda sequels, though perhaps not for a while.

[image error]Thankfully, that burning question has at last been answered. In the new novel Annihilation, author Catherynne M. Valente uncovers the true fate of the Keelah Si’yah.

I will say off the bat: This is a delightful book. Initiation was fun, but not really essential reading, even for hardcore fans. Annihilation, on the other hand, is something I’ll recommend to any fan of any of the Mass Effect games. Not only because it answers a crucial mystery from Andromeda, but just because it’s so good.

In the truest Bioware tradition, the best feature of Annihilation is its characters. The Keelah Si’yah carries not just Quarians, but members of many other less influential Milky Way races, allowing for a cast as diverse and colourful as any of the Mass Effect games. Particularly memorable are the acerbic Volus fashion designer Irit Non, lovesick Quarian outcast Senna’Nir, and the Elcor wannabe thespian known as Yorrick.

What really surprised me is how funny Annihilation is. I was expecting a very dark, unhappy book, and in some ways it is, but the characters are such oddballs and the writing has such a wry, quirky style that I found myself laughing out loud on almost every other page.

Not to say that it can’t be serious when it needs to be. Actually I found the mystery of why so many things are going wrong aboard the Ark quite effective. The ultimate reveal is not at all what I was expecting, though it makes perfect sense in retrospect — everything a good mystery’s conclusion should be. It’s also far more interesting — at least in my opinion — than any of the popular fan theories for what wrong aboard the Keelah Si’yah.

It is not entirely perfect, of course. I really only have one complaint, but it does cut down on the enjoyment of the book a fair bit: It’s much too short, and much too rushed. These characters could have carried a book twice this long. They could have carried a trilogy, or a quartet. I wanted to spend more time with them. I wanted to see their relationships continue to grow and evolve.

Annihilation is like a delicious, inventive meal, but the portions are all too small, and it leaves you hungry for more.

Overall rating: 8.1/10

IntPiPoMo: The Stable, Part Two

It’s time now for part two of my run-down of (some of) my MMO characters for International Picture Posting Month.

If you’re just joining us, make sure to catch up with part one, and as always, remember you can click the images to view them full size.

26: Bosmer sorcerer, Elder Scrolls Online

[image error]27: Dunmer templar, Elder Scrolls Online

[image error]28: Altmer warden, Elder Scrolls Online

[image error]29: Khajiit dragonknight, Elder Scrolls Online

[image error]30: Breton nightblade, Elder Scrolls Online

[image error]31: Norn thief, Guild Wars 2

[image error]32: Human warrior, Guild Wars 2

[image error]33: Norn mesmer, Guild Wars 2

[image error] 34: Romulan tactical officer, Star Trek Online

[image error]35: Andorian science officer, Star Trek Online

[image error]36: Klingon engineer, Star Trek Online

[image error]37: Drow hunter ranger, Neverwinter

[image error]38: Half-elf oathbound paladin, Neverwinter

[image error]39: Tiefling scourge warlock, Neverwinter

[image error]40: Whatever the hell this thing is, Landmark

[image error]41: Castithan, Defiance

[image error]42: Division agent, The Division

[image error]43: Aqua Elf paladin, Bless Online

[image error]44: Maewha, Black Desert Online

[image error]45: Mental villain, DC Universe Online

[image error]46: Ice hero, DC Universe Online

[image error]47: Blade, Champions Online

[image error]48: Assassin, Riders of Icarus

[image error]49: Asmodian ranger, Aion

[image error]50: Asmodian gunslinger, Aion

[image error]The really amazing thing is this still isn’t the full list of all my MMO characters from down through the years, though it does at least include all of the noteworthy ones I have significant history with. There are several that didn’t make the cut, either because I ran out of space, or because I’ve hardly ever played them, or because I’ve already posted all the shots I have of them. I made sure all these are shots I haven’t posted before so they would still qualify for IntPiPoMo.

At least, I’m sure none of them have been posted on Superior Realities before. I can’t promise some haven’t appeared on MMO Bro. I wonder how that affects their eligibility? Hmm…

Song of the Month: Metric, Now or Never Now

Come on, you didn’t really think I’d only feature one song from Metric’s new album for Song of the Month?

Aside from No Lights on the Horizon, the other big stand-out from Art of Doubt, at least in my opinion, is Now or Never Now. I normally consider myself somewhat “inspiration proof”; I look at other people who see stories of human triumph or powerful works of art and feel inspired and just shake my head in confusion. But Now or Never Now is a rare case of something that does inspire me. It’s the perfect song for where I am in my life right now.

One thing I love about most Metric songs is that while the lyrics are usually deep and meaningful, you can still appreciate the songs without paying attention to the lyrics. They work just as fun pieces of music.

Now or Never Now isn’t like that. This song really tells a story, and you need to pay attention to the lyrics to truly appreciate it. But damn, it’s worth it.

Also, this song is amazing live.

My one complaint is that the writer in me really wants to put a comma in the title. “Now or Never, Now” gets the point across much better.

IntPiPoMo: The Stable, Part One

For the first time, I am choosing to participate in the blogging event known as International Picture Posting Month, generously organized by Chestnut of Gamer Girl Confessions. I’d like to say this decision is motivated by an upswell of community spirit, but in truth it’s mostly because I heard there were prizes.

You may accuse me of many things, but you can’t say I’m not honest.

Posting 50 new screenshots in a month is not much of a challenge for me. My picture folder on my computer has over 10,000 files, and the large marjority of those are video game screenshots.

Still, my usual posting schedule might not have allowed me to reach the goal, so I figured a special picture post or two might help. Ever the virtual narcissist, I immediately thought of posting some portraits of my many MMO characters… and then it occurred to me I have so many alts across so many games I could probably hit the 50 goal just by posting one of each. Let’s find out, and as always, remember to click the images to see them full size.

And so, without further ado, I present you… ALTS! ON! PARADE!

1: Human rogue, World of Warcraft

[image error] 2: Blood Elf warlock, World of Warcraft

[image error] 3: Night Elf monk, World of Warcraft

[image error] 4: Human paladin, World of Warcraft

[image error]5: Blood Elf mage, World of Warcraft

[image error]6: Blood Elf demon hunter, World of Warcraft

[image error]7: Orc shaman, World of Warcraft

[image error]8: Dwarf warrior, World of Warcraft

[image error]9: Worgen druid, World of Warcraft

[image error]10: Tauren death knight, World of Warcraft

[image error]11: Nightborne hunter, World of Warcraft

[image error]12: Blood Elf priest, World of Warcraft

[image error] 13: Chiss agent, Star Wars: The Old Republic

[image error]14: Mirialan consular, Star Wars: The Old Republic

[image error]15: Sith Pureblood warrior, Star Wars: The Old Republic

[image error]16: Sith Pureblood inquisitor, Star Wars: The Old Republic

[image error]17: Sith Pureblood smuggler, Star Wars: The Old Republic

[image error]18: Cyborg bounty hunter, Star Wars: The Old Republic

[image error]19: Miraluka knight, Star Wars: The Old Republic

[image error]20: Zabrak trooper, Star Wars: The Old Republic

[image error] 21: Dragon #1, The Secret World

[image error]22: Templar, The Secret World

[image error]23: Illuminati, The Secret World

[image error]24: Dragon #2, The Secret World

[image error]25: Dragon #3, The Secret World

[image error]To prevent this post becoming too bloated, I think I’ll stop there and bring you the rest later…

BlizzCon 2018: It’s Worth It for the Warcraft III Remake

There was a profound level of cynicism going into this year’s BlizzCon. Blizzard themselves put a strange amount of effort into telling people not to get their hopes up, and the whole community — myself included — seemed to look toward the convention not so much with excitement as fatigue.

[image error]I can’t say that pessimism has proven entirely unjustified, but for me, there is one silver lining.

A carnival of disappointment:

For the most part, BlizzCon 2018 has felt underwhelming thus far. Most of what’s been announced is predictable, uninspired, or otherwise disappointing.

World of Warcraft’s news so far consists only of a release window for WoW Classic, which I have no interest in, and a breathtakingly tone-death speech in which Jay Allen Brack sung the praises of Blizzard’s inclusive and welcoming community and then immediately pivoted into talking about Battle for Azeroth, an expansion specifically designed to divide the community and foster animosity between players.

Oh, yeah, and a new cinematic, which didn’t really offer much, actually.

Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch both got the expected new hero reveals. Am I the only one who thinks the Overwatch character looks like a grown-up version of the girl from Heroes? They’re both girls with white hair and red eyes…

Hearthstone has another new expansion, themed around Trolls this time. Maybe this is exciting for Hearthstone fans, but this just seems like more of the same to me.

[image error]StarCraft II saw Zeratul of all people announced as the next co-op commander. This got barely a mention in the opening ceremony, and I had to go to the official website to see the trailer and get details.

My knee-jerk reaction was serious disappointment. I can think of lots of more interesting characters to become commanders. However, having looked over the preview, he does seem to have some unique mechanics to offer, most especially his ability to enhance his army by collecting randomly generated Xel’naga artifacts.

His army is also more themed around the Xel’naga than the Nerazim, so it seems he won’t just be Vorazun 2: Electric Boogaloo. So Zeratul for me has been upgraded from “couldn’t care less” to “might buy, maybe.”

I still would have strongly preferred Selendis. Seriously, she’s been one of the most requested characters since co-op launched. What do we need to do to get her in the game?

Surprisingly little hype was built around the fact everyone on Battle.Net is being given Destiny 2 for free. That seems like it should have been a bigger deal. What I’ve played of Destiny 2 didn’t wow me, but now that I own the full version, I might give it another try at some point.

[image error]Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention the new Diablo mobile game, Immortal. As these things go, it actually looks fairly cool, but as it’s mobile-exclusive, I’ll never play it. I don’t use mobile devices. Never have.

Honestly, I’m wondering if Blizzard games are just not for me anymore. The company has evolved into a new direction. There’s nothing objectively wrong with it, but it’s not the same developer I used to love. And it’s just not the same without Metzen.

However, there is one thing here that excites me.

Warcraft III: Reforged

Now this was a pleasant surprise. I thought it possible a Warcraft III remaster might come someday, but I was not expecting it so soon.

I tell you, when they rolled that remake of the original Reign of Chaos trailer, I literally started shouting “Yes! YEEEESSS!” at my monitor. Such a moment of pure nerdgasm.

It seems too much to hope for, but how amazing would it be if all the cinematics were redone like this?

[image error]Even if they’re not, the updates to the in-game graphics are almost cinematic quality. It’s stunning. This is not a slapdash effort like the StarCraft remaster. This is a true modernization. In fact, the official site describes Reforged as a true remake, including balance changes and gameplay tweaks.

My one complaint is that it’s a bit over-priced. Pre-orders are already live, and even the base version is a whopping $40. Even considering what an impressive effort this is, that’s a steep price for a game from last decade with no new content.

I suppose I should try not to get too hyped. The other game remakes I’ve played — even good ones like The Age of Empires Definitive Edition — didn’t hold my attention for long. At the end of the day, it will still be a nearly twenty year old game I already played to death.

But Warcraft III was my favourite game of all time, at least until TSW came along, and even now it’s kind of a tie between the two. The thought of bringing it into the modern day brings out my inner twelve year old and sends a shiver of excitement down my spine.

If nothing else, I hope this encourages people who never played Warcraft III to give it a shot. It’s a true classic, and one of the greatest epic stories in gaming.