Randomessa pretty much said everything I wanted to about The Secret World, so I’ll send you over there to read her excellent insight and musings. As for me, before I get the lovers or the haters, let me fade the public for a moment:
Things I liked about TSW that most people didn’t:
- I don’t care about graphics. I’m happy with the way they stand now, with the exception of the glitches that need to be fixed.
- I like the fact that I have to go outside the game to get answers for the Investigation quests. Bring it on!
- I don’t mind the fact that my character doesn’t speak. The honest truth is that TOR was an RPG firmly in the Eastern tradition (Final Fantasy, et al), while I am firmly in the pocket of the Western tradition (Ultima, Wizardry, Might&Magic). I want a less firmly defined character so I can put *my* stamp on them. I don’t want your preconceived voices, your god-awfully long cutscenes, your vision of how I should play my character. So I’m glad TSW doesn’t force that crap on me.
Things I didn’t like that most people did:
- The Anima/Gaia rhetoric. Quite frankly, I wanted Conspiracy Theory, not New Age Mysticism. I wanted Ancient Aliens, Forbidden Technology, Psychic Powers, and Weird Science. Instead I got a different brand of superheroes/mutants, who all operate based on the same awakened mechanic of being able to manipulate a hidden energy source tied to the earth. Blah. Quite honestly, I was hoping that everything the introductory Illuminati character was saying was true. So far its just been a bunch of hooey.
But enough of that. TAGN also challenged us all to enjoy a fun game of Blogroll Breadcrumbs. I decided to have fun, I would go with 4’s (fourth name on every list, etc.). Here’s my journey out:
Harbinger Zero >
2) Ardwulf’s Lair > Deadend. Ardwulf apparently has no blogroll? So I picked the 4th most recent comment >
4) Fluff Factor > Deadend. Again, no blogroll. All the comments were nonlinked or broken links. Same with pingbacks, so finally I found a post on other gaming blogs. 4th one was broken, and the 5th was…>
5) Epic Slant >
6) Malchome’s Mind >
7) Mana Obscura >
8) Psychochild’s Blog >4th link I had already visited (Epic Slant), so I went down one to the 5th >
9) Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins >
And that’s about as far as I got before running into spam comments and the non-mmo, non-gaming portion of the internet (again no blogroll). A fascinating voyage through TSW, GW2, Diablo III, and Mists of Pandara posts.
For the return journey, I started with Psychochild’s Blog, since Confessions was a bit of a dead end…and that was easy, because I just had to click on Ysharros‘ blog, wher I’m linked, to find my way home again!
Good stuff!
Harbinger Zero 
The honest truth is that TOR was an RPG firmly in the Eastern tradition (Final Fantasy, et al), while I am firmly in the pocket of the Western tradition (Ultima, Wizardry, Might&Magic).
Egads! My husband I had been saying that for so long now, I thought we were the only ones who felt that way! I honestly do get a JRPG vibe from Bioware games and it contributes to my lack of connection to their stories. Unfortunately for me, the illusion of choice via dialogue wheels only serves to cause an uncanny valley effect when none of the dialogue choices lines up to what I want my character to say. Like you, I’d much rather fill in the blanks myself, so I am most comfortable with TSW’s silent protagonist (I don’t mind the long cutscenes, though).
Hmmm, well, give that I have taken to reading your blog regularly Randomesssa, its entirely possible that you put the bug in my ear on that one. Either way, its absolutely true. I probably should have included The Elder Scrolls series as a better example of the Western tradition.
Also, I will tweak what I said: I don’t mind cutscenes, I just don’t think the cutscenes should take up more of the time in the game than the actual gameplay do (I’m looking at you FFX). TSW does a good job of avoiding that.