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I can only think of one word that explains what's been happening with my new gaming addiction, Battlefield 2, and that is of course 'frustration.'
I got this game a while back and just got around to playing it last weekend. Things were going great, and I was really starting to get into it. I had just made the rank of lance corporal which allows me my first unlockable weapon, which I was going to use last night when playing with
Trav and
Tom.
Turns out the patch I installed a while back didn't take. So, I decide to patch it again. Failure. I get an error in the middle of patching and have to exit. "Alright I say, it was only a fluke." Try again, with success! Oh but how short lived my joy was. After I try and start a map I get not one but two errors while loading. I am forced to exit the program.
At this point I am beginning to be upset. "Why am I having problems with this process?" I ask myself. "It should be simple enough, right?"
I do some research and find out the errors I am getting are rather common, and apparently the problem requires a complete uninstall. I don't know about you folks out there, but I absolutely love uninstalling and reinstalling programs that have tons of settings and tweaks that get lost. That love is increased exponentially when the reason I have to do this is caused by a necessary patch.
So today, kicking and screaming, I force myself to tackle the completely undesirable task of reinstalling my game. Things go well, and thankfully with the support of some of my peers the process goes by quickly. Then comes the process of patching again. With fingers crossed I open the program and it patches correctly with no errors! "Off to the races!" I say to myself, and I start up the game.
I decide to attempt a single player map with the crazy default settings just to make sure things are working smoothly. No joy. This time while loading I don't get the pleasure of seeing an error message. Instead I have the opportunity to experience a full on lock up, to which I thank my machine generously. I let the system idle in this state for several minutes just to make sure she's not tricking me. "Again, perhaps this is a fluke." I think to myself. "After all machines aren't perfect."
I decide to give her another chance. To my dismay the problem is repeated and I'm afraid I'm back to square one.
Now, you're probably asking yourself, "What, jimb0, is the point to this horribly written and dreadfully boring story?" I'll tell you that I hate patches. I curse the day they were conceived. I must apologize in advance for the incoherent rant that is to follow.
The whole idea behind patches is to correct or improve something that has come up after a product is "completed." How does that philosophy of improvement turn into the bane of my gaming existence?
This is not to say I think improving gameplay balancing and removing bugs is a bad thing - not in the least. However, as clearly documented by my current situation, the cause of my problems
is the patch. This wouldn't be the first time either. How many patches, and the rarer and even more extremely ridiculous
patch to fix a patch, have their been? I mean it's never ending, but in my opinion one time is too many.
Because of patches, is it now an acceptable excuse to ship a product early in order to get it out the door, only to release a mammoth update soon after? Most recently exemplified by the wonderfully buggy launch of
Dark Messiah. How is it that stuff like this is allowed to happen?
Now, surely there are some benefits of having a patch system. The first and foremost being that a buggy product does get fixed, (if it works correctly that is.) Or in the case of World of Warcraft where the patches come in the form of 'updates' in which the users get actual content (that I don't mind saying actually
works.) Maybe the companies are to blame? Does Blizzard have their act together while Dice and EA are only in it for monetary reasons (did I mention that my patch
didn't work?) Maybe that argument is best left for another time...
The fact that remains after my heated typing fit you just suffered through, is that I had hoped installing an official "fix" to a game that I had no problems with whatsoever and was really enjoying in order to join some of my online buddies in fact prevented me from doing so and coincidentally playing the game period. That is in my humble opinion bad business. With that said though, I do have to admit I believe patches are a necessary evil that I will have to put up with, and I doubt this will be my last harmful run in with one. *shudders*
Maybe all of this PC trouble is a signal to return to my roots once again. That's right, apparently there is another Retro Revival Week scheduled for next week.
I am once again very excited about the prospect and will definitely be participating, although probably not in the same capacity as the first one.
I don't think I'll be able to adhere to the retro-exclusive rule. I'm smack dab in the middle of Okami and there's no way I'm going to put that gorgeous game down for an entire week. I also have a Guitar Hero competition to attend and I will most likely need to practice for that. I've never actually competed in any formal gaming event, and I'm actually pretty interested in how the whole thing goes down.
I'll still have some stuff to blog about as I have a few older games on their way to the pad, and I'll be trying them out and taking pictures and all of that for sure. Until then...
I also received my very own copy of Beggar Prince today. Aaron Thomas recently posted his first experiences with the game (45 minutes of it, I think.) I have to admit, this game excites me. 
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