barely fatal

I found a chewing gum in my living room this morning. I don’t know how it got there. I don’t eat any, I never wear shoes in my living room, the curtains were still closed and I would bet it wasn’t there the day before. Very mysterious.

I finally beat Jade Empire and I wanted to start it again from the beginning right away with another character. I can’t stress it enough, it’s such an awesome, original game. Love it.

So, Jumpgate Evolution has been … officially announced one might say, there are a few screenshots out there and you can register for the beta. So did all the veteran Shadows, and I did, too, of course. I’m quite excited, though it’s hard to tell what it will be like. I read about new AI – none-conflux. Well, my flight stick is catching dust, so hurry up, Netdevil(s)!

Jade Empire arrived. It comes in a steel book, a heavy DVD case with metal plates at the front and back. The print has a metallic look inside and outside, it’s really shiny.

I just played for a good hour, so I can’t say much about the game yet. It runs absolutely smooth. The graphics are a little bit outdated, very well designed though. The style and animations are clearly above average. The menu is kinda ugly – but I don’t really care.

Anyways, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Like in every good role playing game, you have to create/choose a character and class at the start of the game. I usually choose the most balanced type – I’m that boring and develop my character on my own in the game. And I usually choose a female character. The big question is, why?

In the many MMOs I’ve played I had male and female characters, often based on characters from a book I used to write ages ago. The reason for that is pretty simple: I know those very well already. But in single player games, especially third-person role playing games, I often choose females. I always do when I cannot identify with any of the male characters. And then there’s the Lara Croft Effect. Lara Croft, because Tomb Raider introduced it to the global – at that time mostly male – gamership of the world. When you see your character for hours on end and always from behind – you at least want to look at a nice bum. Yes, I’m a man, too! Go to hell!

While I had no problem playing an evil male Sith Lord in KOTOR, playing an evil female character in Jade Empire is somewhat more difficult, and that’s what puzzles me. It makes you feel nasty. Nasty-er than if I were playing a big menacing dude with muscles and an evil grin – cute girls in a nice dress are not that persuasive. But I love being bad! So I’ve nonetheless decided to create the most evil, back-stabbing bastard cute-girl-in-a-nice-dress figure I can imagine. With a nice bum.