Video Games...Discuss Them

[Rowland]

Indeed, while when I was younger I'd generally be thrilled for any game to last as long as possible, being as obsessed with "value" as so many gamers are, now I find myself hyper-critical over pacing, variety, and what have you, enough so that I find any game that even stretches beyond the 10-hour mark has to really prove to me that it has earned my commitment. Recent examples some may find blasphemous include GTA: SA, Red Dead Redemption, and Zelda Twilight Princess, all three being pretty great games that I felt overstayed their welcome in proportion to the ingenuity of storytelling, aesthetic imagination, and variation in gameplay mechanics they provided over their expansive play times. For the record, as great as those games were for the most part, I never finished any of them, though I wish in retrospect that I had at least soldiered through the latter two.

[Winston*]

Valkyria Chronicles II, which is a tactics RPG, is the RPG I've enjoyed most on the system.

Was disappointed when the sequel ended up on PSP. The first was of my favourite games.

[Winston*]

Loved Red Dead Redemption to begin with, but had lost all good will for it by the unncessary Mexico section and gave up. Gave up on L.A. Noire too after the umpteenth interrogation scene, the repetition of which steadily revealed how stupid the dynamic was. Rockstar is really guilty of stretching out a game until the seams show.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Loved Red Dead Redemption to begin with, but had lost all good will for it by the unncessary Mexico section and gave up. Gave up on L.A. Noire too after the umpteenth interrogation scene, the repetition of which steadily revealed how stupid the dynamic was. Rockstar is really guilty of stretching out a game until the seams show.

Completely agree with both of these opinions. Never finished the Mexico section and gave up after my promotion to.. Vice, I think.

[D_Davis]

Rockstar's games are pretty much always far, far, far too long.

[D_Davis]

I loved watching Let's Play videos for Dark and Demon's Souls. I think it was those two games that got me into watching those kinds of videos on YT. I've been watching some for Dragon's Dogma, and I'm not enjoying them as much, even though some of them are being made by the same people. I think it's because the Souls games are always the same for every player, so while watching them I think, "hey, I've been there in that exact situation." It was fun to see how many different players approached and experienced the exact same thing I was going through; those games never change. The enemies, items and traps are always the same.

On the other hand, open-world games like DD rely more on random encounters, and so I don't have the same connection with other people who are playing.

[Scar]

Completely agree with both of these opinions. Never finished the Mexico section and gave up after my promotion to.. Vice, I think.

I came very, very close to quitting Redemption while in Mexico. I'm glad I did not, because once the Great Plains open up, and you see the heard of buffalo, it made it all worth it.

LA Noire, on the other hand, I gave up in a hurry.

[Ezee E]

Gave up on Noire too. But mostly because it just felt like GTA in the style of a cop. Also disappointed that botching an interrogation versus doing excellent on one really did nothing to the story.

[EyesWideOpen]

40 inch computer monitor FTW

We've had this discussion before so I'll just sum up I have zero interest in playing PC games. I'm a console man and that's what I'm always going to be.

[Spun Lepton]

Only got the opportunity to play Dragon's Dogma for about 2 hours last night. Lots of fun. Looking forward to playing some more tonight. For some reason I was under the impression we got to create 2 pawns instead of just the one. Oh well.

I like the scale of the monsters and how long the battles take. Fighting the hydra was fun as hell.

[D_Davis]

Logged on today and my pawn had made over 6k RC. Not bad.

[Biff Justice]

Huh, my pawn has made.... a flask of oil. I thought making a short, tubby guy would make him stand out amongst all the very similar, sometimes even identical, pawns everyone else makes. I guess people really just want big tits and chainmail bikinis. :P

[D_Davis]

I keep seeing loli-girls. It's actually kind of sick.

[Dukefrukem]

Motorola and Microsoft have been tied up in a patent battle for a while now, over some Motorola WiFi and video codec patents used in the xbox 360.

U.S. Judge David Shaw has recommended against the continued sale of the Xbox 360 in the United States until the matter is resolved.

[D_Davis]

Something really cool happened with one of my hired pawns last night. I was doing a quest and it took me to some old castle ruins out in the middle of nowhere (and most of the world is the middle of nowhere, as the game's world is pretty bland). Anyhow. I was doing one quest when my hired pawn Agnus, a mage, told me that, if memory serves him, there was a treasure chest on top of a certain tower in the ruins.

I climbed to the top and sure enough there was a treasure chest there. Inside the chest was a book that I needed for another quest. I then looked at Agnus's stats and saw that he had knowledge of that book quest.

That is awesome.

[Dukefrukem]

[youtube]fGQVkKB4lLU[/youtube]

[Irish]

(CNN) -- Is the overuse of video games and pervasiveness of online porn causing the demise of guys? Increasingly, researchers say yes, as young men become hooked on arousal, sacrificing their schoolwork and relationships in the pursuit of getting a tech-based buzz.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/23/health...uys/index.html

I'm curious what the doc would make of Davis and his newfound "pawn" fetish.

[megladon8]

I suppose I could have come to the same conclusion the second I read "CNN" at the beginning of that article, but man, what a load.

I especially love that blurb stating only guys are affected.

[Dukefrukem]

Well if it said the majority was males would you not tend to agree?

Two guys at work stayed up for 24 hours last Tuesday playing Diablo so they could level their character to 60. Like... is that really worth it?

[Morris Schæffer]

Great trailer Duke. Barring terrible reviews, I'm getting Metro: last Light.

[Dukefrukem]

Great trailer Duke. Barring terrible reviews, I'm getting Metro: last Light.

It's essentially Fallout in Russia, but Metro 2033 was fun as hell. You should play it if you haven't. It's STALKER only a more condensed linear story that is explicitly atmospheric.

[D_Davis]

I suppose I could have come to the same conclusion the second I read "CNN" at the beginning of that article, but man, what a load.

I especially love that blurb stating only guys are affected.

A load is right. A gigantic load of horse shit. I thought we were moving past the demonizing of video games? What is this, 2003?

What's next, rock and roll? Rap music?

Just the ramblings of an old has-been psychologist trying to make a last grasp at relevancy. Guess he needs a paycheck or some TV spots to sell a new book. Maybe Jack Thompson will come back.

[Dukefrukem]

I don't know why you guys are so defensive here. There's a reason why that WoW South Park episode was so funny. The truth is the video game industry is bigger than ever and there are millions of gamers out there that play games 40, 50, 100 hours a week.

Go take a stroll through PAX or E3 and look at the pale men, yes men, who are completely inept to adapting to social events, fashion, hair styles and hygiene.

That said, the violence portion of the article I definitely don't agree with.

[D_Davis]

The rock and roll and rap industries got really big, too, and society didn't completely crumble.

It's the same old shit.

[Dukefrukem]

The rock and roll and rap industries got really big, too, and society didn't completely crumble.

It's the same old shit.

I don't think they're saying it's crumbling. I also think they're completely different. One of them is a social movement, the other is (arguably) anti-social. The anti-social one will clearly have a bigger affect on relationships and behavior.