Dawnguard now available on PC

As stated on BethBlog, TES V: Skyrim first story-based DLC, Dawnguard, has been announced available on PC at QuakeCon 2012. I'm off to get it - let's see what it's got for me.

Diablo III or how Blizzard Entertainment killed it

Diablo has always been a game with a cult following, and Diablo II continued the tradition. Actually those games proved RPG could exist outside D&D, and many developers released would-be "Diablo killers" to take the throne, and noone succeeded. And now Blizzard Entertainment, sadly, succeeded where others failed: they killed the Diablo franchise. It's not that Diablo III is a bad game; it's that it will never live up to predecessors and the future of the franchise is, at best, clouded.

What was awesome about Diablo was the amount of random-generated content that never got boring; even when former Diablo developers formed Flagship Studios tried to recreate it in Hellgate: London it only felt like going into awfully familiar instances and killing iterations of the same monsters. No "monster horde slaughter", no "deeper into the dungeon", nothing like that. Diablo II changed much in the terms of atmosphere, it was a bold move but backed with a certain level of familiarity in the first act, consistent story and an amount of added content - the fans were overjoyed.

What would we expect of Diablo III? Pushing the limits further, I guess. Even more content, even more story, even more plots. When I heard Leonard Boyarsky, one of the masterminds behind Fallout, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines and Temple of Elemental Evil was in the team, my expectations went even higher.

Now let's go back to an earlier time. Blizzard was known as a company who put quality above deadlines and scrapped games when they did not meet their quality standards. Yet, after releasing WarCraft III - IMHO one of the best RTS games of all time - they killed it with a sequel. World of WarCraft. You may be a WOW fanboy all the same, but let's admit some things:

• making a MMORPG sequel to a game that is going to run for an infinite amount of time also delays further RTS sequels for an infinite amount of time;
• sacrificing lore to gameplay is selling out, and the idea of a Horde that includes Blood Elves and the Forsaken and wars against the Night Elf Sentinel is dumb as hell;
• pay equal - get equal philosophy leads to similar characters with similar top-tier gear.

 Well at least the world design and gameplay were brilliant, so I didn't condemn Blizzard much but swore a bloody oath I'd never play WOW.

If I only knew Blizzard was testing a new way of DRM on us gamers. When StarCraft II came out, it became more apparent: all the multiplayer aspect was handled by Battle.net, and this could be explained somehow too, but when Diablo III single-player content got handled by servers... that's when I said "Damn you Blizzard, I used to admire you but you'll never be the same". It's a DRM. Just a DRM. What's wrong with DRMs? It's that you're calling illegal copying thievery and calling your customers potential thieves.

Diablo and Diablo II are ageless games. I might take my disks out once in a while and revive my savegames from 98 and 2003. Diablo III... if something happens to Blizzard or Diablo server support stops, or you're somewhere there's no internet (grandma's house in the village), there's no Diablo either. It's like Blizzard cared more about getting as much money from you as they can instead of making another great game worthy of the Diablo line.

Skyrim got pirated the day it was released. Yet it sold at awesome rates. So Blizzard, this isn't about not losing money; this is about getting as much money as you can.

You never saw it coming

Well, not many would expect that the buggy TES: Arena of 94 could become the father of the flag-bearer franchise of Action RPG industry. But in 2002, when Morrowind was released, many saw there what they would expect of Diablo and more: freedom of action, a huge world and a story. And it appealed to many that the final boss wasn't something as cheesy as "The Lord of Terror and Father to all Evil in the World", but an old friend - betrayed, like you, but consumed with lust for power and revenge. Morrowind gave your hero a freedom of identity. And - a freedom to mod the game the way we liked it. And when Oblivion came out, Bethesda had messed the whole monster, NPC and gear levelling system (which forced me to finish the main quest on lower levels and get unique gear on higher ones). What did we do? We just modded the game, and forgave Bethesda - Oblivion became Game of the Year like Morrowind did. And still I feel apologetic tones when Todd Howard is speaking about Oblivion. Because the man respects gamers.

Now imagine if Bethesda decided to take out the modding capabilities from Skyrim. Instead, they made a better mod-making software and promised to make mods available on console.

Bethesda decides to make a TES MMORPG - they make a prequel set two eras before Skyrim. Just a chain of brilliant decisions, and that's why TES V: Skyrim is the next big thing and Diablo III is the Daikatana of RPG.

Four tweaks to improve Skyrim graphics

Ok, you might find Skyrim graphics impressive already, but the low-res textures always looked a bit blurry to me, and the shadows were a bit too ugly. So if you've got a high-end machine, let's make the world of Skyrim a bit prettier.

1. The first one is actually simple: download and install the official Skyrim: High Resolution Texture Pack for free, here's the Steam link. And here's a taste of what you'll get:

2. Now for the shadows. The first fix will fix jagged/pixelate shadows without hitting the performance. Just read my previous Skyrim tweek post to see how to modify settings and especially pay attention to the precautions and calls to backup the files you're modifying. When you're done, we're set to go.

Open SkyrimPrefs.ini and search for the following lines:

• ShadowMapResolutionSecondary=XXXX
• ShadowMapResolutionPrimary=XXXX
• ShadowMapResolution=XXXX

Where XXXX are values. Just change those values to 4096, save SkyrimPrefs.ini and close. Open the game - the difference should be apparent.

3. To fix twitchy or shaky shadows, open the same SkyrimPrefs.ini file and look for the following line:

• iBlurDeferredShadowMask=X

 Set value to 0. That should fix it.
4. Now, if you and your PC are up to the challenge, let's make the rocks and trees drop shadows upon themselves.

Once more open SkyrimPrefs.ini (once more making a backup) and find the following lines:

• bTreesReceiveShadows=0
• bDrawLandShadows=0

Change both shadows from 0 to 1. Pretty realistic already, isn't it?

This should do it for now.

Skyrim: Krosis fight

When the unwary Dragonborn comes to Shearpoint dragon lair on his Dragonborn business (killing dragons, that is), it's a mean moment when he goes a bit too near to the Word Wall and awakens something terrible.

Lets see what we have: an angry boss-level Dragon Priest with Ice spells and a nasty Fireball stuff, most likely accompanied by a Frost Atronach. On lower levels you're likely as good as dead the moment you charge him; so let's bee careful with this one.

Shearpoint location, image from elderscrolls.wikia.com

I tried to make Krosis fight with the dragon of Shearpoint several times, yet nothing came out. And if you are melee, I have some bad news for you: Krosis glides and slides faster than you most likely do, his frost spells further slow you down. Add a Frost Cloak spell that drains your stamina - so no power attacks. Due to his Greater Ward my "if you can't beat 'em, FUS-RO-DAH 'em" strategy didn't help either.

Krosis is pathetic without his magic and his use of fireball's AOE damage is intimidating. Thus he always tries not to charge you but to flank you. Still Krosis doesn't know the first rule of Skyrim ranged combat: whenever not shooting, make sure there's something between you and the enemy. So, my low-level friend, you should take up a spell like Lightning bolt, hide behind the Word Wall and come out occasionally, dodge his projectiles and land a blow or two. If you are a Breton (which are 25% resistant to all magic), you might visit the Atronach stone (to start absorbing magic damage and decrease the damage) and equip a Healing spell in one hand, an offensive spell - in the other, and take on Krosis directly. No matter what you choose, Krosis has a decent amount of health and you'll have a long fight on your hands.

Improving Your Skyrim Experience on PC

I know Skyrim came out almost a year ago and many thought they were done with dragon-hunting and stuff, but with DLCs coming out I guess it's time to FUS-RO-DAH the thin film of dust off the game's icon and become a Dragonborn once more.

TES V: Skyrim is a great game, yet I felt some amount of discomfort when started playing it. The problem is, it is optimized for console; and I'm a sworn PC player.

So let's break it all down to points. What's wrong with Skyrim PC experience, compared to my previous experience with Morrowind and Oblivion.

• the interface is optimized for game controller/keyboard, not mouse manipulation;
• the senseless horror of mouse acceleration;
• the FOV (field of view) is for viewing it from larger distance on TV screen;

Many of you will find other stuff to complain, but I think everyone will agree on these three points. So what should be done?