Skirlasvoud • Comments
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The quest for Shadow of the Colossus' last secret
Introducing the secret seekers and their eight-year quest
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Sid Meier's cultural victory
"If there's anything in reality that's not fun, we will change it."
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The Novelist is what happens when Ghost Trick and Majora's Mask have a baby
I can agree with your example of the ammo and the boss, but I do belief we're in two different camps when it comes to what a game is supposed to do. The "gamey" remark misses the goal when it comes to this game in my opinion.
For me, gaming is mainly defined by two powers.
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First there's the game: As in, giving the player a challenge to overcome towards mastering the system. This is defeating an enemy army in an RTS, building a city without congestion in a citybuilder, or overcoming a tyrant's evil minions in an RPG with skills. Etc.
Now, you have a valid point that if there's an "optimum" "min/max" way of beating this system, that the obtainment of this ultimate solution might get in the way of an interesting experience. It becomes a grind. The game has been beaten when the optimum is found and you'll have taken the challenge, and therefore my definition of a game out of a game. You're not playing it to be challenged anymore, you're playing it for some other reason I can barely understand. This is why I hate DOTA's and MMO's.
However, the way a proper game alleviates this, is to put in random variables to keep you on your toes and the challenge strong.
"The Novelist gives life to a unique experience each time you play."
It seems to me that they're going to do that. There's no min/maxing unique experiences. Not just random, but unique. Now, I'm a bit sceptical ever since Bioware raped my expectations with the same gig, but I have a soft spot for indies.
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Second of all, software like these aren't just games. They're storytelling media as well.
In fact, the way this game describes itself, its primarily about the story. Story? Well, there's simply no min/maxing that. There doesn't even need to be a challenge.
Now, I might read into it too much, but there are going to be multiple consequences.
In a game that's not focussed on the story, concequences simply translates into either victory or defeat. In a game that is focussed on storytelling however, the consequences are likely to be emotional events.
Well, I love emotional events. Especialy when they stack. I'm going to see if I can reinact the shining in one walkthrough, produce a master novel at the cost of the family in another, and keep the entire unit together in the last.
That's not min/maxing. That's not even gaming. That's self-enacted storytelling. Sure, there's a maximum way of getting to each consequence, but that's not the point. A storygame is about experiencing the outcome of situations, rather than achieving goals.
If that's the kind of game it is, I'm still more than happy to buy it and "gamey" becomes an ineffective term. Reply +3
And for me the best games are build around my choices having a meaningful consequence. Far too few games do that, and do it badly when they do. *Cough*Me3*Cough*
Figuring out what those consequences are and then coming up with the ideal series of actions is the best part!
If you really want a confusing mess of things that rarely pan out the way you'd expect, with consequences that are left vague and you rarely see fulfilled, then real-life has you covered. I don't see the point in turning it into a game.
And seriously, a game being too gamey? What does that even mean? Reply +2
Aliens: Colonial Marines managed 1.31 million sales
Yeah, you're right. I forgot about that. Honestly, I haven't bought a magazine in two years now. Nostalgia got the better of me. Maybe I too am the sort that breeds this sort of behavior.
On the plus side, I always wait at least a month before buying any new release. ME3 was the very last time I got burned and I kept my money pocketed during the SimCity crisis.
I'll only pre-order for developers I really want to support, like CDProject. Reply 0
No, this is your fault for not subscribing to and supporting independant journalism by browsing free internet sites instead of buying magazines. (Not that Eurogamer has a subscription plan.)
Eurogamer can't help the publisher influencing you! They rely on advertisement to stay alive. Reply 0
Chinese World of Tanks clone so similar it allegedly copies even historical inaccuracies and fictional tanks
Now it's the direct opposite. It's like the chinese learned their lesson and simply reversed fortunes on us instead. Reply +6
Zeno Clash 2 review
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut review
Its like a Seinfield episode set in a X-file universe, starring the thinner brother of TF2's Heavy and directed by Tarantino.
Its like a carwreck I can't look away from. I must have this game! Reply +10
Next Xbox won't require an internet connection for single-player games - report
Sticking my head in the barby here, but tell your budy to buy his own copy and you yourself could support gaming by purchasing at retail price.
That's the trade off. They're not going to be arses about being always-online, and you're not going to be an arse about nickle and diming them. Reply -1
Respawn game is reportedly an always-online Xbox exclusive
Hawken has done well, but that's more of a FPS than it is a mech simulator. They could go for something like that.
I'd agree that something like Mechwarrior Online will flop though. That's a stand up Simulator of its own genre. It will demand way too much savvy and tactical thinking of the mainstream audiance. Reply 0
Eve Online TV series announced by CCP
CD Projekt Red: "There is no place for multiplayer in so strongly a story-driven game as The Witcher 3"
Easy on there. Let's see how well they manage their lisence to present their world and mechanics in an SP experience. Let them focus on that first.
When that's good, I'll second you. Reply +3
Stealth Bastard coming to PS3 and Vita this summer
That made me genuinly giggle. :D Well done!
Never felt much for the original title. I don't know what was so funny about it and someone has yet to explain it to me. Reply 0
Lune preview: The moon is in your hands
Will buy/donate just to encourage thinking outside the box and focussing on style and atmosphere. I hope their students end up somewhere at the top of the industrie in the near future. Reply +3
The funny bugs of SimCity - post update 2.0
SC4's bugs were visually failed representations of a more or less competent spreadsheet based engine. If you saw a fluke, the city continued to run fine since what you see is just an illusion conjured by underlying mechanics that are simple enough to remain solid and appear complex.
SC2013's bugs are extremely competent visualizations of a failed sink-agents based engine. If you see a fluke, than thats enough to ruin the entire city, since what you see is a realistic reflection of mechanics so complex that everything collapses in on itself when the simplest thing goes wrong. Reply +6
Few people know that its actualy a type of squirrel producing these noises. Reply +16
Vector review
Never heard of Canabalt, but then again, I don't play on IPhone. Reply 0
Mind-blowing CryEngine 3 tech demo simulates real-life urban development plans
Edge developer celebrates as Tim Langdell trademark finally cancelled
Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall review
Hehe, yeah. You're right about E.G.'s discrepancies.
In their defence though, I'm seeing this happening a lot on review sites. There's still a big difference between a gamer and a reviewer.
In essence, reviewers are still equally concerned - if not moreso - about writing a good piece of journalistic text as they are about presenting the game.
I'm willing to give mr. Martin here the benefit of the doubt and just agree with him that "responsible for Corvo's downfall" and "blink in mid-air" just make for much cooler sentences than explaining it thoroughly.
Hell, I'm simpleton who knows he's simple. I'm just here to to read what I already know to be true: Dishonored is awesome and so is it's DLC. Which gives me a warm feeling and makes me want to pollute the comment section with the likeminded and maybe try not to downvote those who think otherwise. Martin's text was just a matter of pandering to my need to have my beliefs acknowledged by a higher authority, in between the advertisement.
Won't let E.G. get away with it when it comes to new releases though. There's got to be some standards. :P Reply +1
My question was retorical. :P Kind of a dead give away when I answer my own retorical question naught but a sentence later. Read the post.
Nice summary though.
Pilfering Daud's belongings in the original is a treasure trove of information and this DLC was the most neccesary one. Of all the characters in Dishonored, I thought that Daud was a bit misplaced. Almost glaringly so.
His composure, guilty conscience and peacefull acceptance of his own fate, sets him far above the other villains as a far deeper character, but with a sore lack of backstory.
Glad I get to play up on who the man is. For me, that would tie up Dishonored quite nicely for me. Reply +3
Normally I'd agree with you on that when it comes to many other games. They all have these epically glorious set ups that fall a bit flat on the heroic tale I'd then expect.
Not Dunwall though, because Dunwall is not designed to be grand or glorious. The people are ugly, small minded, conceited, self-absorbed, pitiful and worried. Even the outsider feels a bit like an excentric weirdo with Aspergers. The streets are crooked, filthy and claustrophobic. The entire world lacks true aspiration, majesty and grandior. It just makes up for that with incredibly credible depth, detail and richness.
I also thought that the game's twist, initial villains, final villains and final scenes were a bit anti-climactic, but unlike you I never felt any mystery or menace.
When I was lying in a leaky boat halfway through the game, half poisoned, half-assed and having suffered through yet another assinine betrayel, all I could think after the innitial confusion was:
"Yep, pretty much Dunwall in a nutshell. This would SO be happening to me too if I were Corvo. I don't know why I expected anything different from this bloody city. This fits just perfectly."
And oddly enough, it does fit! That's why I love the story so much. I can relate to Dunwall. It didn't raise my expectations of how awesome things were goin to turn out and instead of toddling me, it forced me to get into it and really immerse myself.
I'm beginning to love games who do this. I think that's also the reason why I liked the Witcher 2, with its whoring hero, bastard kings, icy heroine and unlikely heroes.
More! Reply +7
When you access and charge Daud's blink, it freezes time and suspends you mid-air until you let go and teleport.
This means that you can sprint, jump, leap through the air and THEN stop your fall until you've slsected a destination for blink.
Its handy for those little ledges that Corvo would miss while clumsily falling to his death at terminal velocity, freeze time or no.
I like it. It allows me to actually use those powers in the thick of things. Reply +5
Well he was at least one of the conspirators... or at least a high-payed henchman...
Come to think of it, did anyone actually, premeditatively plot Corvo's downfall in advance? Guy returned home 2 days early and it was others than Daud that actually managed to frame him for the murder by dumb luck.
Oh Dishonored, I love how your all-too-human villains are complete screw ups. Reply +2
Saturday Soapbox: The high cost of free-to-play
This is the razor's edge between past-time entertainment and having no life.
There's two extremes when it comes to gaming. You're either far too busy doing something that's more useful to you and don't have time for entertainment such as gaming, or you're passing the time because you can't think of anything better to do with your spare hours. In between that, are people like me who do priorities other activities that are more useful to me, but I still value gaming highly on the ladder as a valid time sink and a leisurely mental/emotional excercise.
F2P like the one Dan describes, are definitly the latter extreme. If time equals money and you pay to play games of this type, then you really can't think of anything better to spend both of life's most precious recources on.
Now maybe I'm getting ahead of myself and F2P gamers really aren't too different from me. Maybe they too derive some mental/emotional health and pleasure from it that they really need, and this far outweighs anything else they could spend time or money on.
But... come on. There's a point where you're losing quite a lot of dignity as a human being. If there's no real challenge to be had in F2P games like this - they are not designed to really stimulate anything - then what is it that attracts you to it, over all the other things you could be doing?
I can remember very vividly, after traveling to Scandinavia for my education and not having an internet connection yet, a guy at the public terminals of the library - tired, ill-groomed and weary - slumping over the monitor like a junky, playing a F2P game. His girlfriend stopped in to get him to come with, but he wouldn't stop. What was he escaping?
That mental image and reading stuff like this makes me feel bad to be a gamer myself. What am I doing with my time and money? Sure its "deserving" titles and not F2P, but damn. And what if there is no difference? Who am I to judge how others spend their time? Why is there still a chill flowing down my spine?
I'm not saying I will now donate gaming money to charity or gaming time in a soup kitchen... but maybe just for today, I should an hour of my time longer in the lab working, or buying slightly better cooking ingredients for a really good meal I've been wanting to try out.
Somehow that makes me feel better about myself after scaring myself with this subject.
Thanks Dan Reply +1