Chatterbox: Video Games

Skyrim is an awesome game, bugs notwithstanding. It definitely deserved all of its awards. So did Portal 2. Although if you were to come up with a video game equivalent of the Razzies, and award an annual "buggiest AAA title that went on to win major awards", Skyrim would win hands down.

edited 28th Aug '12 1:42:38 PM by Fighteer

I've noticed there are certain settings in video games I just plain love. In fact, such settings alone can really increase my enjoyment of the game, or get me more interested. Anyone else feel the same way about certain settings?

In my case, it's these:

• Houses and mansions — Not sure why, but I just like these kinds of settings. I tended to explore any house I find in Half Life 2 and other games, and I like the look of Luigis Mansion a lot.
• Anything similar to the poconos — My family has a house there in Pennslyvania, and I love the scenery there. Forests, mountains that are grass and trees as opposed to rocky mountains (though those exist too). Deadly Premonition takes place in such a setting, and got me nostalgic for the poconos. Amusingly, when I was visiting the poconos again while on vacation with my family, I couldn't help but be reminded of that game.
• Snowy forests — Skyrim has quite a few of these, and I have to say, that game's setting, while more on the "rocky" side of things, is great. Forests, snow, mountains. And snowy forests.
• Forests — Probably related to my love of pocono scenery.
• Mountains — Again probably due to my love of pocono scenery.

Anyone else have personal favorite settings?

Oh yeah, I saw some of Skyrim's glitches firsthand, watching my brother play and seeing him fight a vampire that suddenly lost interest in attacking him, falling through the floor of a house and being teleported back onto safe ground, and I forget the other glitches. On my end, I witnessed only one flying elephant, but I did have that glitch where this one town suddenly tries to kill you even though you have no bounty on you.

And yeah, I agree that Japan's industry is stagnating. While they do come up with new ideas, it seems like they're coming up with the wrong ideas.

I look at New Super Mario Bros. U and the tablet controller, and I think "level editor". Nintendo thinks "create blocks that float in the air for other players to walk on". Really? Give me online play and/or a level editor - better yet, give us both, like Little Big Planet did. That game may not have sold Mario-calibur sales, but it did sell a couple million.

At least Mario Kart 7 did do a lot to move the series forward. I was surprised by how good it was.

Big 'ol open plains, at least the first time >_>. It does become annoying to walk through, but the first time seeing that vast open space is neat.

Apart from that, mostly indoorsy stuff. I like ruins settings, as gives a sense of treasure raiding and avoiding traps. Also, futuristic secret bases, espically when they're a high-tech version of ruins.

Futuristic secret bases and/or ruins? Makes me think of Portal 2's setting, as well as Aquatic Base in Sonic 2006, and the underwater base in Phantasy Star Online Episode 2. I like those settings. Not a whole ton, but I like how they look, and their atmosphere.

I love forests, myself. No real reason for that, I think. But I also happen to be a big fan of Slippy-Slidey Ice World levels, because they often remind me of my favorite holiday (Christmas). I also have a love of more Southwestern-style levels, with big red cliffs and austere plains, for the same reason you like places that remind you of the Poconos: I grew up in the Southwest, and I have a great fondness for the scenery.

I also love Level Ate levels, because hey, food is yummy. Not surprisingly, Gourmand Land in Rayman Origins is one of my favorite worlds in any game ever because it's an ice world mixed with a food world. And incredible upbeat jazz music.

I have a problem. I liked Street Fighter II as a kid, like the comics, and find the characters interesting. But I find IV to be frustrating and boring, and looking up the endings would feel like cheating.

I like upbeat snow levels, but not bleak ice levels. The snow levels in Super Mario 3D Land have charming, pleasant music, and I like their look. I tended to look forward to going to them.

But snow and ice doesn't automatically mean cheerful. It depends on how they're designed and what kind of music is used. Levels that are more ice than snow-themed tend to be less cheerful, but even snow levels can be bleak sometimes.

I played Slender. Was rather underwhelming. The creepiness of walking alone in a dark forest couldn't really make up for the boredom of trying to find pages in a monotone enviroment. It got a bit better when I found one and the background sound set in, but not much.

After a short while, I was already about to quit, when the screen distorted. I was even thinking "Finally, I meet him!" So I looked around, got a little (really only a little) jump scare by Slendy and that was it.

It was neat, but not really remarkable. And not something I'd play a second time. It would probably be much less scary, but just as boring then.

A game about the Slenderman? Is it a free indie?

Level Ates, Womb Levels, and Eternal Engines, I think, are among my favorites.

Womb Levels have always been Nightmare Fuel for me. How come you like them? For that reason?

No, I actually get pretty squicked out with most inner-body-like stuff, but most Womb Levels I've seen have a sort of... "clean" (?) design and look cool, I guess. Also, I think it would be kinda cool to travel the insides of someone (I blame things like the Dot Hack games and The Magic School Bus show for this ).

I like urban/industrial levels.

I prefer or desert levels or a snow level. If the Dev team makes a great job with the scenery. Those are the levels I like to play.

I like even bleaker ice levels, truthfully. Like Phendrana Drifts in Metroid Prime, or most ice levels in the Donkey Kong Country franchise.

I'll say one thing about New Super Mario Bros 2 - the level design is very imaginative. World 1 didn't impress me too much, but things began to pick up, and became pretty crazy afterwards.

The gameplay itself doesn't innovate (the gold flower is unique, but not anything major), but the level design is some of the most original the series has had yet.

About twenty minutes into Earthbound, and already I'm reminded of why I didn't like Mother 3. Can't the game please make up its mind about if it's gonna be serious or funny? I'm finding it really hard to appreciate the story it's trying to tell with the sense of humour the game is working with, and vice-versa I'm having a real tough time getting the humour when it still tries to play certain serious bits perfectly straight.

Conclusion: I don't have a sense of humour. No big surprise there.

edited 31st Aug '12 9:20:01 AM by Lemurian

Had the ability to try Super Mario 3 D Land. It's quite a thing. It is distinctly like some sort of fusion of New Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Galaxy. I miss the ability to do a backwards somersault, though.

Yeah, if you don't like the quirky humor of the games, you're not gonna enjoy the game, let alone the entire series. You might as well stop, I guess.

It's not that I don't like the humour-style, it's just that I feel that it jars with the rest of the game at times. Like in Mother 3 when you learn that Lucas' mom dies from that guy who does bad Good News, Bad News. That pretty much turned me away from the whole game, simply because it felt like I was having the humour forced on me while I was trying to play.

The series likes to shift between serious and humorous at points. It's one of the things that make the Mother series, well, mother.

And I believe Itoi said he put that particular scene in to set the tone for the game. Lighthearted, with some serious moments. I think it was to avoid making the game too serious as well at that moment.

Well, can't say I enjoy the execution. To me it makes it all just more...tragic, really.

...hmmm, perhaps it will be easier if I just think of it as straight tragedy.

It is supposed to be tragic, that scene, but if you try to mentally force yourself into thinking of the Mother games as serious, you're only going to make it worse. If you're not one for quirky humor or dramedy, then you're probably just not going to "get" the series.

...maybe you're right.

'sigh' And I was looking forward to finally enjoying this game I've heard such a lot of good things about too...