Gaming Confessions & Blasphemy

Well, take a game like the Mass Effect series, where the story boiled down to OMG EVIL COMING SHOOT SHOOT ENDING SUCKS NOW. The story was just plain stupid. However, the narrative was carried by interactions with lots of really great characters, plus being part of an incredibly well-realized gaming universe. Story can be carried by other narrative elements.

I can't stand most games that have "good" narratives as defined by critics and popularity. 90% of them are just an overblown case of the teenage sads. Most of them also have most of the sads and most of the narrative completely contradicted by shoehorned game mechanics.

Aaron D. wrote:

It just strikes me as odd when people poo-poo writing in games when you have blockbuster summer movies like Iron Man or whatever essentially doing no better.

You act like the writing in summer blockbusters never get poo-pooed? Call of Duty is like the Transformers of videogames.

I don't care whether a game has narrative or not so long as it's fun.

That being said, and in the interest of getting back on topic, I really REALLY didn't like Gone Home and tend to think it's, at best, overrated.

But then I beat Duke Nukem Forever twice, so what do I know?

Zudz wrote:

I'm having a hard time thinking of a good "non-optional farming" example.

Harvest Moon. Lots of non-optional farming in that.

Zudz wrote:

I'm also certain that games have money gates, but I can't come up with a good one off the top of my head.

That's because there are no good money-gate games! Actually, in all seriousness, Rusty's Real Deal Baseball for 3DS is a perfect example of a money-gate game (and it also happens to be a pretty decent little game). It's a game entirely about buying games with real money. You start the game for free, but eventually you hit a point where you can't progress further without buying one of the games.

My confession is that I have nothing to add to the discussion on story. I love the good ones, don't care for the bad ones, enjoy the stupid ones and still consider the Metal Gear series' story to be one of the most entertaining stories in all of creation precisely because it's horsesh*t crazy.

MechaSlinky wrote:
Zudz wrote:

I'm having a hard time thinking of a good "non-optional farming" example.

Harvest Moon. Lots of non-optional farming in that.

Made me giggle...

MechaSlinky wrote:
Zudz wrote:

I'm having a hard time thinking of a good "non-optional farming" example.

Harvest Moon. Lots of non-optional farming in that.

I'm rolling my eyes so hard at this. Also, just realizing that my SNES and copy of Harvest Moon are both within arm's reach...

I really like harvest moon, currently having a bit fun with a new beginging on 3ds

Harvest moon made me angry after I finished my years on the farm only to find that running a successful farm wasn't the objective if the game. Turns out you're supposed to have some kind of social life.

Guess I should have read the manual closer.

Confession:

Loved every minute of bioshock infinite, haven't played more than five minutes of Bioshock 1 & 2 combined. The weird part is it doesn't even bother me.

2nd Confession:

Just started Assassin's Creed 4, also have AC game play combined total of around 15 minutes. (Though if AC counts for Asheron's Call, the number of game play hours goes well over 1000)

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

Harvest moon made me angry after I finished my years on the farm only to find that running a successful farm wasn't the objective if the game. Turns out you're supposed to have some kind of social life.

Guess I should have read the manual closer.

The first Harvest Moon isn't really a game I play to beat, partially because the game has such lag issues once you start filling up the cow barn. Just milking and feeding all the cows takes up more time than simply standing outside and letting the daylight pass by.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

Harvest moon made me angry after I finished my years on the farm only to find that running a successful farm wasn't the objective if the game. Turns out you're supposed to have some kind of social life.

Guess I should have read the manual closer.

Harvest Moon is a dating sim disguised as a farm sim.

Demyx wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:

Harvest moon made me angry after I finished my years on the farm only to find that running a successful farm wasn't the objective if the game. Turns out you're supposed to have some kind of social life.

Guess I should have read the manual closer.

Harvest Moon is a dating sim disguised as a farm sim.

Does it count as blasphemy if I have to ask, "So...what's Harvest Moon?"

(like when i lived in the U.S. and people started talking college or pro sports of any kind, and when they looked at me as if I'd have something to contribute, I would ask, "Is that the one with the ball thing?")

Roo wrote:
Demyx wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:

Harvest moon made me angry after I finished my years on the farm only to find that running a successful farm wasn't the objective if the game. Turns out you're supposed to have some kind of social life.

Guess I should have read the manual closer.

Harvest Moon is a dating sim disguised as a farm sim.

Does it count as blasphemy if I have to ask, "So...what's Harvest Moon?"

(like when i lived in the U.S. and people started talking college or pro sports of any kind, and when they looked at me as if I'd have something to contribute, I would ask, "Is that the one with the ball thing?")

IMAGE(https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/996849_480514958695911_1183190923_n.jpg)

Where can I find that stand up?

*edit* Found it. Nathan Anderson.

Roo wrote:

Does it count as blasphemy if I have to ask, "So...what's Harvest Moon?"

(like when i lived in the U.S. and people started talking college or pro sports of any kind, and when they looked at me as if I'd have something to contribute, I would ask, "Is that the one with the ball thing?")

It's a dating/farming sim :p

I... I've never been kissed...
Oh wait, gaming confessions, right.

So I've never played a Zelda Game.
Never finished any Mass Effect and I don't get the hype.
I don't like the Walking Dead (in any incarnation, actually) (p.s., I do like zombie games, just Walking Dead isn't doing it for me).
I will play just about any MMO for an exceptionally long time and like it.

Taharka wrote:

I... I've never been kissed...
Oh wait, gaming confessions, right. :-)

IMAGE(http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Never-Been-Kissed-mf01.jpg)

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Taharka wrote:

I... I've never been kissed...
Oh wait, gaming confessions, right. :-)

IMAGE(http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Never-Been-Kissed-mf01.jpg)

Hey! Where'd you get by high school yearbook picture from?!?

Taharka wrote:

I... I've never been kissed...
Oh wait, gaming confessions, right.

So I've never played a Zelda Game.
Never finished any Mass Effect and I don't get the hype.
I don't like the Walking Dead (in any incarnation, actually) (p.s., I do like zombie games, just Walking Dead isn't doing it for me).
I will play just about any MMO for an exceptionally long time and like it.

I don't think you liking or not liking zombie games has anything to do with your dislike for walking dead if you don't like mass effect.

Should I assume you didn't dig dragon age either? Try 2, it's very mmo esque. Almost feels like you're running a full instance group in an mmo (with a pause) button at any time.

Pikey26 wrote:
Taharka wrote:

I... I've never been kissed...
Oh wait, gaming confessions, right.

So I've never played a Zelda Game.
Never finished any Mass Effect and I don't get the hype.
I don't like the Walking Dead (in any incarnation, actually) (p.s., I do like zombie games, just Walking Dead isn't doing it for me).
I will play just about any MMO for an exceptionally long time and like it.

I don't think you liking or not liking zombie games has anything to do with your dislike for walking dead if you don't like mass effect.

Should I assume you didn't dig dragon age either? Try 2, it's very mmo esque. Almost feels like you're running a full instance group in an mmo (with a pause) button at any time.

Actually, I liked 1 more than 2. I think they simplified 2 way too much. Looking forward to 3.

Speaking of Dragon Age, I watched the new trailer for Inquisition, and I'm pretty sure that if you took the cinematics from all the major Western RPGs of the last few years and ran them together, I wouldn't be able to tell the games apart.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm pretty sure that if you took the cinematics from all the major Western RPGs of the last few years and ran them together, I wouldn't be able to tell the games apart.

The same could easily be said about JRPGs for those of us who don't play them.

And for the record, I'm not at all saying that the DA:I trailer is good or better than any other trailer. (I haven't even watched it.) I'm just saying that clockers gonna clock.

MeatMan wrote:

The same could easily be said about JRPGs for those of us who don't play them.

Totally. And don't even get me started on military shooters.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
MeatMan wrote:

The same could easily be said about JRPGs for those of us who don't play them.

Totally. And don't even get me started on military shooters.

I'm pretty sure that if they ever made a western military RPG, Clock would fall asleep from boredom, 5 seconds into the trailer.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
MeatMan wrote:

The same could easily be said about JRPGs for those of us who don't play them.

Totally. And don't even get me started on military shooters.

There's more than one?

Taharka wrote:

Actually, I liked 1 more than 2. I think they simplified 2 way too much. Looking forward to 3.

2 is more complex than 1 in most aspects of play.

Garden Ninja wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
MeatMan wrote:

The same could easily be said about JRPGs for those of us who don't play them.

Totally. And don't even get me started on military shooters.

I'm pretty sure that if they ever made a western military RPG, Clock would fall asleep from boredom, 5 seconds into the trailer.

isn't it what Fallout is?

Fastmav347 wrote:
Garden Ninja wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
MeatMan wrote:

The same could easily be said about JRPGs for those of us who don't play them.

Totally. And don't even get me started on military shooters.

I'm pretty sure that if they ever made a western military RPG, Clock would fall asleep from boredom, 5 seconds into the trailer.

isn't it what Fallout is?

BLASPHEMER!!!

I didn't enjoy any of Fallout 3.
Tried to pick it back up about 3 times now, easily had over 20 hours of playtime, it just makes me feel depressed.