I’ve been trying out other games to take a break from WoW.

I’m still logging in, running the occasional dungeon, that sort of thing – but not really trying to give much attention to it. Hey, I’m allowed a break, I’ve been playing for years.

I’ll spend this post talking about the three games I’ve been toying with: Champions Online, Age of Conan (briefly) and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Champions Online: What Is Altitis

Champions Online is a game that allows the player to create a unique super hero to run around in a modern setting with typical comic book elements, like supernatural stuff, futuristic technology, and all the bits and bobs that go with this genre. It uses a very typical comic book art style (cartoony, bright colours, variety of costume styles) that’s highly appropriate when one considers the subject matter.

Cryptic Studios is pretty good at providing tons of customization options – I noticed this in Star Trek Online, and it’s especially obvious in CO. Characters can be from 4’6″ tall to 7″, with a variety of body types (unfortunately nothing too realistic) that range from fantastic to freakishly bizarre (waists don’t work that way, Cryptic).

Free-to-play players get access to some base character archetypes, which govern the sorts of powers that a character can use – for example, the Glacier archetype gets a bunch of ice powers (tossing bolts of ice, spitting ice, you get the idea), while subscription players can create freeform builds that give access to all power types (and some powers can only be used by freeform builds).

Cryptic also likes the free-with-microtransactions type of account set-up. Users can purchase Cryptic Points, which can be purchased and then used to obtain costume slots (yes, characters can have many costumes), character slots and other additions.

The game has a variety of quests, some interesting zones, and a strange sense of humour. It’s a problematic sense of humour in that it makes use of some… twitch-inducing stereotypes (like comics tend to do) in its attempt to make fun of the comic book industry. “Action Packs” – sets of quests and adventures set up like a comic storyline – provide fascinating boss fight mechanics and plenty to do when one tires of the game’s main zones.

I like this game. The roleplay is plentiful, hilarious, and often terrible. The gameplay mechanics are interesting. I am actually happy to give money to Cryptic to play this game, even though I don’t have to.

I’m @Kintarg on CO, by the way.

Age of Conan: This Will Be Much Shorter

I like the Conan movie franchise because it’s corny and horrible, yet utterly amazing (I prefer Kull ’cause Arnold is inferior to Kevin Sorbo). I want to read the books ’cause the original material is almost always better than the recreations and the world really interests me.

Or, I did ’til I started playing this game.

I knew that the world would be inherently misogynistic and terrible and it was! I’m torn, though. There are strong women, but “rape” is used casually at the beginning as part of a metaphor – you can choose between that or being a jerk about whores – and there’s a decent amount of slut-shaming. You get the occasional break from this, then it crops up, then there’s a break. This isn’t actually the worst part of the game.

It’s… the graphics issues. Bizarre clipping. The inability to really explore the terrain like you can in WoW or Rift.

Otherwise, it plays a lot like every other MMO out there. It’s Free-to-Play now, so if you want to give it a go, go ahead. Gameplay is interesting, but by not playing this game, you aren’t missing anything.

The Old Republic: BioWare Loves Butts

Everyone has been talking about this game. Everyone. It’s being touted as the next “WoW-Killer” (they said that about Rift, too), as the next best thing since sliced bread, etc., etc.

Guys? It’s a WoW-clone with shiny extras that fix a lot of problems that are inherent in WoW. The hype is not deserved. This will not be “the WoW-killer”. Sorry.

I bought this game because I wanted to play a Twi’lek. Those ladies are amazing, and when I realized they were a playable race, I decided to follow the pack and try it out.

My first character to level 15 is a Ratattaki Inquisitor. Whoops.

My experience with this game has been positive. I ran through a Flashpoint (instanced group quest set thing) with some friends (hiii Tee and Rosh) and found that pretty interesting – each character makes their choices in dialogue and the game makes dice rolls to decide whose response is used (and made my friends’ characters roll their eyes at the sigh, silly Sith and her bloodthirsty ways). These events rack up social points, which unlock social levels, which unlock special rewards. Or something. I’m not sure yet.

Here’s what I like:

Immersive dialogue: Quests aren’t just “read it and forget it” – you actually participate in the quest dialogue, there’s actual voice acting, and the things you decide to say can help or hinder you.

Companions: Not only do they help you kill things, they also do your trade skills for you. I can run around being evil while poor Khem Val gathers materials for my Synthweaving (armour for Force-users).

Customization: Bioware is good at providing lots of options for making your character look just the way you want it to.

Combat: Combat is similar enough to WoW to make adapting fairly easy, but different enough to be interesting.

AoE Looting: … I don’t need to explain this.

All Tight Pants All The Time: Matojo, my Cyborg Trooper, has a really nice butt. Everybody has a really nice butt. There are tons of nice butts all up in here. It’s a huge distraction. So shapely.

Now, what I don’t like:

Customization: The game’s idea of “thin” is “I really don’t think that level of thin is possible on humans, what is this”, the game’s idea of “stocky” for a female character is, well… average – overall, while customization options are decent, actual body type options are not. The men look silly, but in a “look at how strong I am” sort of way, which is typical of these games and not nearly as problematic as “stick-like or average” as choices for female builds.

Races: The Star Wars universe has a ton of neat aliens – but only the most humanoid ones were picked for this game. There are so many possibilities! SO MANY! I get my Twi’leks, though, so I can’t complain too much.

You Can’t Romance The Freaky Alien Companions: If it looks humanoid, you can romance it. If it’s a giant monster with a face full of big teeth like Khem Val, you can’t. EQUAL TREATMENT FOR SCARY ALIENS.

The Lag: I’m not sure if it’s my system, but I have a small amount of lag that’s noticeable enough to be irritating – even in low population zones. This could just be my computer, though, which is a brick and probably about to crap out.

Honestly, I haven’t played far enough into it to find any huge and gaping flaws (aside from the inability to romance same-sex companions, which is being patched in “eventually”). I did manage to get myself glitched once, though, so I’m sure that’s just the start of another adventure.

As far as the roleplay, I have no idea. I’ve seen it about, I know it exists, I just haven’t been involved at all because I know so little about the lore – so I’m just playing through the game content.

What games have you all been getting into?