Video game stuff

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MrMaster51
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by MrMaster51 »

I liked the South Park game - Stick of Truth. That's the last thing I played that I thought was cohesively designed and entertaining as well as good gameplay and great consistency. I'm a fan of the GTA series for those same reasons.

ShogunRua
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by ShogunRua »

MrMaster51 wrote:I liked the South Park game - Stick of Truth.


That was a funny game, yes, and felt like a long, amusing episode of the show.

MmzHrrdb
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by MmzHrrdb »

ShogunRua wrote:It had better be pretty, considering it's not actually a game. (And as such, watching a Youtube video of the playthrough is exactly equivalent to "playing" through it) The aforementioned TotalBiscuit had a good take on it;


I enjoyed Dear Esther, and generally I take issue with the "it's not actually a game" knock. It's true that a lot of games lack the necessary qualities to meet the accepted definition of "game," but that's a frivolous and disingenuous argument. The fact remains that, even if it's a linear and choice-prohibitive experience, it's still interactive. You are doing, rather than watching, so seeing someone play it is, in fact, not the same as playing it yourself. By simply watching, you're not inhabiting the space or taking the responsibility. In the specific case of Dear Esther, there's an important moment near the very end of the game where you are required to make a drastic and deeply consequential move, even if that's literally all you're doing: moving.

Proteus and Gone Home are similar games that have been nitpicked because "they aren't games." Okay fine, call them walking simulators if you wish, but they're still great experiences that wouldn't have the same impact were they not interactive.

(As an aside, I actually find myself less impressed with Gone Home the more I think about it, but not because it's "not a game")

MmzHrrdb
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by MmzHrrdb »

As for people that I think are doing good, reliable, and generally insightful game criticism, Giant Bomb is my main squeeze, but I also like Gameological (The A.V. Club) and Polygon.

paulofilmo
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by paulofilmo »

Robert Briscoe on inspiration for Dear Esther.

[–]RobertBriscoeHumble Bundle - Dear Esther 183 points 1 year ago

From an art point of view, I guess many things. I realised early on that I wanted to go for a style that took elements from impressionist painting, where you have this kind of line between detail and perceived detail (useful when dealing with the limitations of the Source engine at the time. I was also highly influenced by the careful attention to detail found in Andrei Tarkovsky's movies (Most notably Stalker). Both have ways of communicating so much through their imagery, not just in mood and atmosphere but also in an unspoken narrative which adds much depth to the story being told. I also loved the video game, Stalker, and more recently Metro 2033 which has been an influence in my work since day 1.

Full thread.

Spunkie
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by Spunkie »

I've been an avid gamer since childhood. Would be too much to list, but out of my more recent plays I can reccomend Divinity:Original Sin, Wolf Amongst Us, Shadowrun Returns, Transistor, Stanley Parable, Kentucky Route Zero (the last two may be of interest to Dear Estherers)

ShogunRua
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by ShogunRua »

-BigEvil- wrote:
ShogunRua wrote:It had better be pretty, considering it's not actually a game. (And as such, watching a Youtube video of the playthrough is exactly equivalent to "playing" through it) The aforementioned TotalBiscuit had a good take on it;


I enjoyed Dear Esther, and generally I take issue with the "it's not actually a game" knock. It's true that a lot of games lack the necessary qualities to meet the accepted definition of "game," but that's a frivolous and disingenuous argument. The fact remains that, even if it's a linear and choice-prohibitive experience, it's still interactive. You are doing, rather than watching, so seeing someone play it is, in fact, not the same as playing it yourself. By simply watching, you're not inhabiting the space or taking the responsibility. In the specific case of Dear Esther, there's an important moment near the very end of the game where you are required to make a drastic and deeply consequential move, even if that's literally all you're doing: moving.


You can define a "game" however you want. I can define a "game" however I want. By my definition, "Dear Esther" is not a game. There are no real "facts" here, just the way we choose to view the medium.

-BigEvil- wrote:Proteus and Gone Home are similar games that have been nitpicked because "they aren't games." Okay fine, call them walking simulators if you wish, but they're still great experiences that wouldn't have the same impact were they not interactive.


Never played or heard of Proteus, but it's inaccurate to say that Gone Home gets nitpicked for that reason. My problems with it were of a completely different sort;

1. It's a first-person exploration game, of which there are literally hundreds of on various Flash sites, all for free.

2. But they want $20 for it, which is even more than the $5-$10 indie games usually sell for on Steam.

3. It's a 90 minute game, at most.

4. Compared to those free Flash games, it looks much better, but lacks many of their interesting puzzles and mechanics. For that reason, I would prefer the free games.

5. A shitty high school romance story between a girl and a guy doesn't become any better simply because one of the genders was changed.

Would anyone give a shit about this game if not for that incidental gender switch, which doesn't alter a thing in the story? No, of course not.

-BigEvil- wrote:(As an aside, I actually find myself less impressed with Gone Home the more I think about it, but not because it's "not a game")


You should play The Stanley Parable. It's very artistic, straddles the line between game and non-game (although I would actually call it a game, unlike Dear Esther), but does so with genuine humor and cleverness, gives you a lot of interesting environments, real challenge (including losing states), as well as over a dozen endings to uncover.

Edit-

Saw that Spunkie mentioned it, too!

Ag0stoMesmer
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by Ag0stoMesmer »

Some good recommendations guys, thanks everyone.

I finished walking dead s1 the other day. That probably isn't a game either -and gets less gamey as it progresses -interactive film? what interests me more is the near the end I think it became a piece of art. Most of it was just ok, some cool little moments but there comes a moment where I had to choose a dialogue that gave me such a feeling of release and relief, truth. The ending is pretty strong too.
[spoiler]The moment was telling kenny to go fuck himself before we went after Clem, he'd had that coming for a looong time :D[/spoiler]

I don't like 'walking simulator', First-person-flânerie ?, Dérive-em-up?
I always wanted these kinds of games:

In Fable I sold all my possesions and in only my underpants and a large beard; danced for children, 'gleaned' in graveyards and worked the fight club circuit to give any money I could to the unfortunate. A Chickenchaser Christ or slightly less loud this guy perhaps. Zoe Wanamaker has a nice voice and eventually the game got me to murder everyone and fulfil it's cheesy-revenge destiny though.

I roamed the streets of GT: IV looking for real adventure, I'm not shooting pigeons and murdering prostitutes. There'are no cycles or pleasantries with strangers, no serendipity. I wanted it more; go to post a present but stop and buy a vegan cupcake from a lesbian who invites you to a circus after which you end up in the basement of a south london squat watching documentaries about prison with polish anarchists then in the morning get a juggling lesson before visiting your friend and their mum in hospital. That is, to be more realistic. All it's got's are guns and cars type bullshit. I tried glitching into buildings and parkour too but it seems so hollow.

Shouldn't npc's in this day and age have conversations?, they could use the internets, have them talking tweets or stuff.

What kind of games would Debord make?

I quite liked Proteus; If you replace all the animals and trees and stuff with women? (hint: lisagirl's mini-review). Ok, the link's tenuous but I liked them both, a warmth.

MmzHrrdb
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Re: Video game stuff

Post by MmzHrrdb »

ShogunRua wrote:Never played or heard of Proteus, but it's inaccurate to say that Gone Home gets nitpicked for that reason. My problems with it were of a completely different sort;

1. It's a first-person exploration game, of which there are literally hundreds of on various Flash sites, all for free.

2. But they want $20 for it, which is even more than the $5-$10 indie games usually sell for on Steam.

3. It's a 90 minute game, at most.

4. Compared to those free Flash games, it looks much better, but lacks many of their interesting puzzles and mechanics. For that reason, I would prefer the free games.

5. A shitty high school romance story between a girl and a guy doesn't become any better simply because one of the genders was changed.

Would anyone give a shit about this game if not for that incidental gender switch, which doesn't alter a thing in the story? No, of course not.

-BigEvil- wrote:(As an aside, I actually find myself less impressed with Gone Home the more I think about it, but not because it's "not a game")


You should play The Stanley Parable. It's very artistic, straddles the line between game and non-game (although I would actually call it a game, unlike Dear Esther), but does so with genuine humor and cleverness, gives you a lot of interesting environments, real challenge (including losing states), as well as over a dozen endings to uncover.

Edit-

Saw that Spunkie mentioned it, too!


If you don't think that a regular criticism of Gone Home has been its status as a game, just read some of the negative reviews on Steam. And, I hate to just keep butting heads, but I also think judging a game by a dollars-to-hours ratio is really shitty. Quality over quantity, after all.

I think Gone Home has a lot of strengths. Firstly, it does an amazing job capitalizing on a subversive aesthetic. A dark stormy night, an empty and thought-to-be haunted house, an unhappy family. It uses horror tropes to build expectations, and then sweeps the rug out from under you.

The lesbian storyline gets a lot of criticism as well, usually in the same terms you put it ("it wouldn't be so special were it a girl and boy"). But the game deserves credit for its genuine feminine sympathies, which - at the risk of sounding like a social justice warrior - is something all too uncommon in this particular medium.

It's also a nice dose of 90s nostalgia.

The one thing that, I think, holds Gone Home back is its entire mode of past-tense storytelling. The whole thing is less effective because it's the story of what has happened, not what is happening, and even moreso that it has happened to other people. The player character is passive and uninvolved in a way that robs the game of some immediacy.

As for The Stanley Parable, I have played it. It was one of my favorite games from last year, and I like it better than both Gone Home and Dear Esther. It's a wonderful little meta-commentary on the relationship between developer and player, and of choice-and-consequence gameplay. It's hilarious. So at least we can agree on this one!

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Re: Video game stuff

Post by MmzHrrdb »

I really wish I could find a site similar to Criticker for video games, with the same strong cataloging capabilities, the same focus on community, and a decent recommendation engine.

Just to get a sense of what we all like, what are some of everyone's favorite games from the last console generation? Not restricted solely to consoles of course, but just from that general time frame (and try to keep it to a reasonable number). As for me:

- Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (my Call of Duty, my DOTA. The multiplayer game I have dedicated myself to and have continued to play practically every day. Other than this, I only fiddle around with fighting games)
- Dark Souls
- Skyrim
- Journey
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- L.A. Noire
- Hotline Miami
- Dust: An Elysian Tale
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- Rayman Origins (still haven't played Legends)
- Gunpoint
- The Swapper
- The Last of Us
- Fallout: New Vegas (better than 3, imo)

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