Air Zombie Meat
Member
I'm assuming you mean no pause. You should have quit to the title screen, its the same thing. It takes precisely three button presses and about 2 seconds more than a pause would.
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Raise the flame shield: Your "controversial" gaming opinion.
- Thread starter Laughing Banana
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I'm assuming you mean no pause. You should have quit to the title screen, its the same thing. It takes precisely three button presses and about 2 seconds more than a pause would.
Liabe Brave
Member
Half-Life 2 is one of the most vapid, soulless things I have ever experienced. The obvious craft, care, and polish make it incredibly fun to play...and utterly lacking humanity. It's like a game designed by an AI or an alien: perfectly honed, but with no understanding.
This was so much worse in Fall Out 3
I think this is more an issue of the Source engine itself. I find almost all games with that engine that I played (that is, HL2+Episodes, Portal, CSS, TF2, some mods) very sterile and lifeless. While this worked for Portal (since its supposed to be like this to some degree), and the gameplay of those games is mostly good, they often feel stale and artifical.
tearsofash
Member
I've a.ways been a big fan of Game Genies/Game Sharks, and strategy guides since I was a kid. People give me grief for it. I'm "missing out" on the way the game is supposed to be played, or I'm cheating myself out of a good time. I've always just wanted all the items without having to go start the game over, and I didn't want to grind. I wanted to experience the story. I did this mostly on PSone RPGs, and they span several discs.
I'm just not a huge fan of battling. I can appreciate a good battle system, but I hate repetitive stuff. Games are supposed to be fun, not boring. By "cheating" I made them a little more fun, and was able to enjoy the things I wanted to enjoy. (plus, debug rooms)
I'm just not a huge fan of battling. I can appreciate a good battle system, but I hate repetitive stuff. Games are supposed to be fun, not boring. By "cheating" I made them a little more fun, and was able to enjoy the things I wanted to enjoy. (plus, debug rooms)
Care to explain why that's the case?
Riposte
Member
It is a waste of time to think like that and not very helpful at all. It is not a question of what you choose to ignore or not, it is what is in the game. If this all came down to not pushing the select button or something, I would never even bother to mention the points I did. What would be the point? I wouldn't even be talking about Dark Souls, at least not accurately. I would be talking about a Dark Souls mod that existed in my head - where I had to go out of my way to be a dumber player to be a smarter designer (as a player first and foremost who is trying to pursue feelings of power and triumph, this does not feel good). Same is true if I decided to pretend a button that did an attack which killed enemies in one hit didn't exist. Or a route in a platformer which negated the rest of the level design.
I don't even mean to condemn the entire process of ignoring rules in the game (for example ignoring quick-saves or even obscure glitches), it is just an issue onto itself. I rather focus on something else: The mindset which lead to these comments. The kind that leads player into thinking "Why are they taking this away from me? Wouldn't everyone be happy if I had everything and people who wanted less, who are totally crazy for wanting pain, could just pretend they have less?"
Generally players just love becoming more comfortable (this fits nicely with the mainstreaming of games and focus on accessibility in western game design) and fucking hate it if that is taken away from them. It is no big surprise difficulty (frustration) is the enemy of such a state of mind. So I can only come to the conclusion that high difficulty is an acquired taste, maybe one forged by some sort of discipline which leads to a better understanding of frustration. However all players still want to be challenged, just comfortably so (very relative to their "level"). That means not being truly challenged, but just enough so they are not immediately bored. What works best here is the perception (or illusion) of difficulty. This is mainly achieved through convincing the player the game is hard ("I'm dying like crazy!"), but then have a sort of softening effect which pretty much reverses the difficulty of at least that convincing symbol ("I'm dying like crazy!" And it doesn't matter because of 30 second stages or constant checkpoints and infinite lives.)
You got the minor things that lead to minor difficulty which are harder to "justify" (in other words: less accepted, easier to blame) in a sense because they are so loosely tied to the game. Stuff like a lack of pausing or maybe a UI which obscures some basic information. You know what? On some level they are understandable complaints, really. Like I said, some people just don't want to test their bladder and so on. But does it stop there? Of course not. Not having checkpoints, having "bad" checkpoints, not letting you quick-save, not letting you save anywhere, restoring health/resources freely, "punishing" deaths, etc. So they want to get rid of testing their ability of playing well for any significant duration of time! Common enough, but can't they see tha- punishable animations, slow attacks, less mobile jumps, projectile spam, cross-ups, grenades, failing stealth penalties, new control schemes, a hells worth of bullets, complex weight mechanics, in-depth steering, camping, turtling, etc. I've even heard "Why do we have to fail games at all?" At this point the intention becomes clear, they want to get rid of tests which frustrate them. It doesn't sound good when you just honestly say "I don't like it because it is too hard for me/I'm too stupid/too weak", so that's where the words I was talking about before come in. Difficulty becomes unfair difficulty, which needs to be disqualified and dismissed. Arbitrary, cheap, fake, etc. Janky, wonky, honky, etc. Frustration goes from meaning feeling powerlessness to being imbued with powerlessness (in other words: it's the game's fault). This self-serving nature (which is mostly unconscious) to the argument means you have to be very vigilant in discussions of difficulty and what is fair.
Here's another thing: The whole defiance in prideful weakness, e.g. the "anti-hardcore" sentiments comes off as rather petty defense mechanisms. In fact that's usually exactly what they are in the context that two players are playing the same game and posting on a message board about it (and more so if we are talking direct competitors here). I mean what is worse than being talked down to by someone can easily prove their superiority in a subject? Thankfully we have decades of videogame stigma to work with here (athletes and chess players have no such luck). Put down the idea of being superior ("I'm having fun" and you are not), put down the subject ("It is just a game, loser"), or both. There is nothing necessarily wrong with thinking less of videogames, but this resentment and dishonesty is blatant and ugly. (And for clarity, though it should already be clear, I'm not talking about the dudes who want to make it seem the hardcores are out to make their favorite series, like a Zelda or a iOs game, irrelevant or more mainstream or brown or whatever. That's just a bunch of misdirection.)
I'd be curious to see this idea elaborated on in detail, also. More so if you are not being hyperbolic lol.
(Hope this doesn't have too many typos, since I'm too busy right now to edit it right now)
TF2 is stale and artificial?
Visually, I think it is. To a lesser extend than the other games, since its graphical style somewhat conceals it (as in Portal). Don't get me wrong, its a good game nonetheless.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Source doesn't look stale and artificial in my opinion. Most engines people are using these days just use excessive amounts of post-processing, while Source is focused on producing the cleanest image-quality possible.
Feel the Swift
Member
TF2 has the best graphical style of any FPS I believe.
I agree with him. I couldn't care less tbh if Sony went under tomorrow, and this is coming from a PS3/PC gamer.
Ventilaator
Banned
Sure.
When I play the single player campaign of an RTS game I build a barracks, click on the "make dudes" button and have them attack. Then I win. Repeat in the next level. Sure, I could think about the rock-paper-scissors thing that's going on, and create units to specifically counter what the enemy has, but what's the point if what I'm doing works very well? Building specfic counter units would be me forcing myself to be strategic and I shouldn't have to force myself to be strategic in a goddamned strategy game.
The obvious answer would be to play on a harder difficulty, but then the AI starts cheating. Even the game developers couldn't put strategy in their game. Resorting to cheating kind of ruins the point for me.
The obvious answer to that is multiplayer. I've both watched and played multiplayer Starcraft and the game is such a science. There's a cycle of trigger-response-trigger-response-trigger-response going on until one player's cycle breaks and the other one wins.
Then you have scouting and building specific counter units. The number one thing here is speed. As soon as the game starts you need to get your economy going, then get information on what the enemy is doing and then build accordingly. Whoever does this the quickest has a massive advantage, and to do this quickly you need lightning fast fingers and reflexes.
So I wouldn't call that strategy. I don't know what I'd call that. It's what would happen if someone would try to make Rock-Paper-Scissors into a racing game.
This is not me saying that Starcraft is shit and the genre is invalid or anything, I just have a problem with "strategy" being touted as the thing this genre has, while so many other things are way more important to winning. I want a game where a really smart guy can go through the tutorial and beat a dumb guy who has played the game for years.
Yeah, it's what makes the difference between flame bait and the stuff worth discussing. Or at least trying to understand.
jim-jam bongs
Member
I'm not the person you quoted, but here's my opinion on Sony as a publisher; as a company their historical involvement in the film industry has created a schism in the current industry between games which are entirely focused on being guided experiences and those which are intended to emphasise player agency. As a result, in my opinion, their net contribution to gaming has been a negative thing overall. I'd call that a controversial opinion for the simple reason that, if GAF is anything to go by, even the enthusiast gamers seem to be tending more towards a preference for guided experiences, hence Portal 2 taking out the GOTY last year.
As far as their franchises are concerned, they're all me-too and no meat. Drake is their take on Tomb Raider, Ratchet & Clank their take on Mario, Resistance their take on Halo etc etc. I have no desire whatsoever to play games featuring those characters when I can play the games they ripped off instead.
I have one that's probably been stated already but it is my opinion:
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is not the 'greatest game of all time.' It is one of the best games ever but I don't think it's as good as people think it is. The dungeon designs on certain areas are great and some being really bad
Plus, it seems at the time to have started this whole obsession with side quests in Zelda games (or games in general) that have nothing to do with the main game and distracts from the overall experience (thankfully, none of the side quests/mini games are really that essential to finishing the game). I'm nearing completion on OoT but these are my thoughts thus far.
Still, despite that, Zelda: OoT has reminded consistently excellent and enjoyable to play.
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is not the 'greatest game of all time.' It is one of the best games ever but I don't think it's as good as people think it is. The dungeon designs on certain areas are great and some being really bad
Shadow Temple.
Still, despite that, Zelda: OoT has reminded consistently excellent and enjoyable to play.
EatinOlives
Member
Uh, yeah. Sure.
I don't think I'll ever understand the "SONY RIPS OFF EVERYTHING" crowd. They make a couple of good instances where Sony jumped in on a bandwagon but then they say crazy crap like the bolded above and their entire position suddenly seems more loony.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Wait, a 2 out of 3 strike-rate is a bad result now? You disagree with one thing I said in a two paragraph post and now my position is loony?
EatinOlives
Member
Depends on exactly what you said, not how much of it. The fact that you not only think that Mario and R&C are similar enough for comparison, but to think that Sony/Insomniac deliberately developed R&C as a me-too of Mario is completely and unequivocally loony. It puts the rest of your opinion in a bad light. Uncharted=Tomb Raider is another urban myth that has never really had any real merit, but I let it slide because it's a widely-used one. I've never heard something as crazy as "R&C=me-too of Mario" before, however.
That's my problem with the "SONY RIPS OFF EVERYTHING" crowd. They have a few legitimate examples and then go off the deep end and sprinkle in ridiculous ones. Yes, it invalidates your whole argument if you make one hilariously bad example with a straight face among other legitimate ones.
Playing through Skyward Sword the first time - liked it a lot.
RIght now, I'm playing through it for a second time. Jesus fucking christ. It's fucking frustrating - constantly. Trying to roll the bombs across the bone bridge in the volcano is absolutely infuriatingly bad. You have to literally twist your wrist round, while trying to aim properly on the analogue stick (which is WAY over sensitive for this), and then roll it within a time limit before it blows up, throwing you into the lava. fuck that shit
almost at the end now, and sadly my opinion of the game has plummeted. It's absolutely shit in places.
RIght now, I'm playing through it for a second time. Jesus fucking christ. It's fucking frustrating - constantly. Trying to roll the bombs across the bone bridge in the volcano is absolutely infuriatingly bad. You have to literally twist your wrist round, while trying to aim properly on the analogue stick (which is WAY over sensitive for this), and then roll it within a time limit before it blows up, throwing you into the lava. fuck that shit
almost at the end now, and sadly my opinion of the game has plummeted. It's absolutely shit in places.
Play the game.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Oh you let it slide? Thanks for your graciousness :lol
Anyway, I'm merely commenting on the impressions these franchises give to those of us who aren't intimately familiar with them. If I'm wrong you can blame Sony for not making them appealing or original enough that I bothered to investigate them.
Actually, this is only true on the internet and in arguments between 4th graders.
EatinOlives
Member
I didn't know you spoke for people who "aren't intimately familiar with them". More than likely you're only speaking for yoruself. "R&C=Mario me-too" sounds insane for anyone but complete ignorants of one or both series. If you're trying to defend the position of the ignorant I suppose you're doing a pretty good job.
Of course. If I have a long list of perfectly well-thought examples, it stands to reason I can wedge in a completely baseless falsity and it doesn't at all affect my overall position. Brilliant logic.
All their PS3 games lack soul with with the exception of Uncharted and inFamous. Just my opinion. I wish they would go back to what worked during the PS2 days and stop wasting money on shit like Killzone, Resistance, Mag, Socom, Home and other soulless adventures.
Put the money towards RPGs and even more Platformers. Let's not forget about the Demons Souls fiasco about not publishing in the west.
Jake Tower
Banned
Nope.
ScreenSplitter
Member
I thought Mass Effect 2 improved upon the original in every conceivable way.
Uncharted is not a take on Tomb Raider either.
jim-jam bongs
Member
People who have no interest in something aren't likely to go to great lengths to investigate that thing, but they can have reasons why they aren't interested. I've explained that, to me, the examples I listed seemed to be aping other series, so I've never been very interested in them.
I'm glad I'm doing a good job though!
Well no, you generally address the individual issues with someone's position rather then dismissing it entirely because of one thing you feel is baseless.
No point explaining to him.
sevenchaos
Banned
This. And to add more to it Link to the Past and Majora's Mask (Twilight Princess being a close third) are the worst games in the series.
UnlovedJew
Member
It might not seem so outrageous now, but I've been of that opinion ever since I finished patched up NWN2, Mask of the Betrayer only cemented that opinon and New Vegas was icing on the cake. Meanwhile, people still had faith in Bioware. Nowadays Bethesda is probably considered to be the best RPG developer by the mainstream audience.
It's a shame Obsidian has such big hurdles in QA department and it's better to wait several months before playing their games, though.
TaroYamada
Member
I am also a card carrying member of the theory that gaming would be better off without MS and Sony, I think they have irreparably harmed gaming.
I don't think anyone does. I still can't recall the second halves of both Morrowind and Oblivion, as I only "finished" them once each, and I still haven't finished Skyrim's main story. Actually, I haven't made it past the part where you meet the girl in the inn, which is like the 3rd-ish main story quest.
HD gen Sony/Microsoft have. Disagree about past generations though.
Sure why not all of there games have major issues.
GT horrible online brain dead a.i. bumper car driving still a valid strategy after 5 games.
Uncharted horrible combat I would go on record saying it may be the worst 3rd person shooter I've played this gen.
All of insomniac games are meh technically good nothing wrong with them but really lacking in design and come of average. Caveat haven't played R3 yet and the downloadable Ratchet and clank was pretty good.
God of War 2 may be my favorite game ever then there was GOW 3.
I can go on. And honestly they aren't shit but god they are overated I don't think they have one game that is first in class in any Genre and as a first party they should.
Oh and Sony Japan lol.
jim-jam bongs
Member
I actually give Beth a lot of crap as a rule but I do think they deserve a lot of credit for setting the standard for open world RPGs. It's unfortunate that they don't do anything that deep or interesting with them though.
Hopefully them focusing on projects like South Park with their own internal tech will eventually mean that this isn't the case. Hopefully!
This isn't a fact?
No. It would be incorrect if it was labeled as such.
EatinOlives
Member
There are valid reasons for not being interested and invalid reasons. Nobody's saying you HAVE to have vast knowledge of a series of which you have no interest. You are, however, expected to have some vague understanding of the series if you're going to make a comparative statement and subsequently a sweeping statement about said series. You made a comparative statement with Mario games despite clearly knowing nothing about R&C, and you're defending that ludicrous statement by declaring that your ignorance is Sony's fault because they didn't make the series compelling enough for you to NOT be ignorant of it. It's laughable.
You don't seem to know much about discourse. Having a completely baseless example that displays egregious ignorance on a matter DOES call into question the legitimacy of the rest of your points. You're further digging yourself deeper by doggedly defending your ignorance and blaming it on Sony. You're certainly giving me a much bigger reason to question your statements now that you're being so stubborn in defending it.
It doesn't require "great lengths", you only need a cursory glance at a gameplay video to see how unlike R&C and Mario are.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Perfect, a Mass Effect vs Mass Effect 2 is brewing just in time for a new page!
