7,777 is coming up in just a few. I haven't even finished with the 6,000 yet when *Karacat asked for Chai Ka and Wildflower or Kang the Mad exploding something from Jade Empire. (Status: still trying to come up with a good reference and concept.)

So, just a heads up for anyone who wants to snag 7,777.

Er, watch closely!

So, the #BiowareFanClub has been approved and is a-go. Everyone is welcome to join, and we could really use more members... and there is an *awesome* reason why!

A few of us on the sister LJ Comm, Bioware Fangirls (Boys Are Welcome, Too) have come up with a cool community fan project that I would like to invite all of my flist to participate in. Since most of you are Bioware or related gaming nuts, hopefully this is an appeal that will, well, appeal to you.

For details on the Bioware Tarot and Abracadarium projects, please check out the LJ Comm entry or the report here on DA at #BiowareFanClub.

Happy Holidays!

~ Inverse

Also, I am running a Journal feature and still have open slots for artists. If you are interested, check it out here: [link]

Hi folks! I have awesometastic news... we now have a Bioware Fan Club! Club is, at present, for discerning members only... mostly because there is nobody but me. SADS. So, some and join up and we'll get this party CELEBRATING! Woo!!

To join, go to the front page and click on Join Group. Approval should clear in 1-2 days. Members can submit deviations and suggest favs. If you'd like to help out with the admin and moderation PLEASE let me know!

#BiowareFanClub

Note: The following review discusses gameplay and general user interface. No story spoilers have been included.

Bioware’s new Dragon Age: Origins CRPG arrived in the mail on Wednesday. Confused marketing prior to the release had me wondering whether to buy it. I don’t understand why Bioware insists on using their concept art to market their titles. The art is always dark and murky, a little pulp, and never reflects the actual mood of the story. But my problem was neatly solved when my brother got it for me for my birthday. Thus far, I’m about 54% percent of the way through the game, and quite a bit below the 100 hours of game play promised — I’m only at about 30 hrs recorded thus far.

Unlike Mass Effect, the mechanics of the game UI seem to be geared more heavily for PC users rather than console play. Drilling down into the action menus is unintuitive and time consuming — on the Xbox, you have to hold down the left shoulder trigger religiously to get anywhere, and a slight slip of the finger in battle means that you’re suddenly exposed, or have to struggle to get back to the menu item again, costing you real time and taking up valuable play time.

The much-touted Eclipse engine seems dated and handicapped next to comparable contemporaries. (It does allow for significant end-user development, but as I am not much of a modder, I haven't heard about how well it works in this regard.) Having played other action adventure games like Lionhead’s Fable 2 and Bethesda’s Fallout 3, I have to say, the movement and action controls on Dragon Age: Origins are clunky and overloaded. Fighting is ridiculously difficult in real-time and the transparent overlapping menus have way too many options for battle. The in-game event notices — a huge banner with swirly blood that pops up every time some quest is updated — are badly proportioned and difficult to see on my 32" flatscreen from any distance farther than 2 feet away. There are no multi-camera angle controls (annoying!), no jumping, no swimming, no looting, and no at-will wanton killing. (To the last complaint I say, "so much for being the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate!")

The Dragon Age: Origins name comes from the conceit that the game boasts six different customizable origin stories for the player, based on the variables of race and gender. In terms of game story customization, this is an interesting move towards greater replayability and player-character engagement, and I predict that we will see greater variety and development on this front in future games. Story-wise, however, I am not impressed. There have been no surprising twists (given the advertising, I expected more hard decisions and betrayals), and the characters lack the hook of previous Bioware fare. (How I missed Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster, Boo!) The game’s target audience is, admittedly, in the 17-22 year old range, so perhaps the absence of real emotional "hardness" isn't surprising. The naivete and lack of dramatic pathos in the plotline seems to suggest even younger crowd; belying the “M” for mature audience rating.

Overall, I find this a step back from the game play and story development exhibited in Bioware’s previous release, Mass Effect. But for Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights nostalgia, it seems like a timely revisit to the sword and sorcery genre. As an avid gamer who grew up on the Final Fantasy franchise and the Bioware RPGs, it’s nonetheless a must-play for the True Believers. But after years of the same thing replayed again and again in different settings: Bioware, I am ready for more of a change.

I'm a sucker for bandwagons, because they are awesomecakes. Thanks to ~VaguelyFamiliar, I get to sign up for this one. Yay! It's all about spreading the DA love around, and introducing viewers on your page to other fellow viewers and potential DA friends. So guys, comment quickly and comment fast! There are still THREE open slots! I want to start spewing the praise, already.

Rules

(slightly modified)

1) I will feature 10 people on this journal in a Feature List.

2) The features will be determined by the first 9 people to comment on this journal entry.

3) For each of those 9 people, I will put their name and three deviations I like from their gallery on the list.

4) If you comment here and I feature you, you'll have to do the same in your journal, putting me in first place, completing the list with 10 people in this way.

The idea of this is to spread art around for everyone!

---

#1 ~VaguelyFamiliar I love the earthy, sensual quality of her painted pieces. The lighting and coloring is usually to die for, and the characters always look like they are in motion even when they're posed. I particularly like that she uses different color shades in her coloring, which creates a dynamic lighting environment and a wonderfully layered, 3 dimensional effect. Plus, she draws some sexy, sexy art.



#2 ~TheVikingGoddess What is there not to love? First of all, she is a VIKING GODDESS. Also, I really enjoy VG's classical sensibilities for subject matter, and her bold, unapologetic lines. Fellow DA fans may know, VG is much adored for her lineart, but I think that what often gets overlooked is the variety of the lines and the kinds of textures that she creates when you look at her entire gallery.



#3 ~lubyelfears There are so many things to love in luby's gallery, I don't know where to start! She's one of the few non-digitally obsessed artists I know, and that makes her work all the impressive in the face of so much glitz and Photoshop glam. I love her wacky sense of humor and relaxed lineart. I am very jealous that her sketches always look so dynamic and yet naturally posed.

I think most of us already know each other's work through fandom and fanart, so I'm going to highlight some of luby's original pieces, too. Feel the love!



#4 ~Thylja is one of my favorite, sharp-as-a-razor minds on the internet. She primarily calls herself a photographer, but I've caught a few glimpses of doodles and sketches that she's done in the past. Her works usually exhibit a strong focus on the subject, and feature a lot of portraiture. Some of my favorites are when she breaks her own trends and go for an asymmetrical composition.



#5 ~UrbanZebra, or Ilmatar as she is know around our IRC channel, makes me super-jealous in the good way. <3<3:love<3<3 She is a wonderfully prolific artist and writer, and is always enthusiastic about tackling new projects, and talking up a storm up about the fandom.

I love the layers and shadows and highlights in her work. She has a great sense of color and balance, and each of her posts on DA seems well-thought out and meticulously painted. So it's ironic that some of my favorite pieces by her are black and white linearts and grayscales, because I love the texture and the deliciously thick and thin detailing of the lines. More than anything, though, what I really admire is the level of attitude and expression that she's able to infuse in her characters, and that is what makes each and every piece so appealing to look at.



#6 ~artastrophe is some kind of brilliant. A m4d genius, I tell you!! She's also adorably neurotic about everything she does and says, and has a fantastic fanart gallery. To be honest, I would just highlight her whole gallery if I could, but that would be cheating on my own rules here.

Arta may be a strong contender for the Mistress of the Melancholy Mien, but don't let that fool you. Her gallery and is full of diverse styles and awesome compositions! A trip to her recent work will turn out quite a few Baldur's Gate portraits that I think really beat out the originals, but it's her quirky pieces that show her sense of humor that I think I like the most. And did I mention that her sense of composition is made out of awesome?



#7 ~PolymorphicGirl is well-named. Her artwork reflects a shifting, malleable quality that seems ready to change at any moment, and always seems in motion. Her characters appear to be to be both ephemeral and earthy at the same time. And her gallery is quite expansive, so it was hard to choose only a few to highlight. But I love that her subject matter covers everything from classical literature to more obscure references dedicated to video game composers.

So, I'd appreciate it if you could just make my life easy and go checkout her art gallery and see for yourself, folks. I promise you won't regret it!



#8 [open]
#9 [open]
#10 [open]

There are still open slots -- so what are you waiting for?