Gaming Confessions & Blasphemy

As a fan of Demons' Souls who was later introduced to Monster Hunter (via Monster Hunter 3/Tri for the Wii), I absolutely recommend checking out a Monster Hunter game or two! As mentioned, it doesn't have as much of the story or exploration aspects of DS. However, it does share the methodical, skill- and pattern-based combat style that punishes button mashing (sometimes with a fireball to the head). One other note is that the MH games are usually much less dark (in terms of mood) than DS, even throwing in some humor (while still keeping the focus on hunting monsters and crafting items).

Regarding the tail chops, I've found them to be much more fair and enjoyable in MH than DS -- Kalameet in the DS DLC is a prime example of how maddening a DS tail chop can be. They're still challenging in MH, but for most monsters they can absolutely be accomplished solo and without cheese. Also, on the up side, there's the advantage of being able to re-fight a monster as many times as you want to try for its tail. On the downside, you don't always get the drop that you want, and you will need to grind on monsters to get all the necessary parts for that awesome armor or weapon that you're looking to make.

gore wrote:
master0 wrote:

Well if you consider how big Mario used to be, compared to now nothing comes close really. It's sort of the same affect as music celebrities. Compare the reach and popularity of Michael Jackson at his height to modern celebs, and he just dwarfs them. I personally see this as a results of there being so much more competition for your time, that no one can ever be that big again world wide again. Same with Mario, I'd be damn surprised if any video game character became popular enough to have their own show again.

Except that video games are huge now, with a market many times what it was when we (well, my peers) first encountered Mario. While it may be that Mario is known to a smaller percentage of video game players today, I have a lot of trouble believing that Mario's brand awareness is somehow smaller in absolute terms (especially given how omnipresent Mario is in Nintendo marketing and the obscenely massive install base of the Wii and DS).

Of course this isn't really a question of whether games hold up, because the Mario these kids see is not the Mario we ever saw. They see New Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario Kart N, Mario Land U, or whatever the heck they are now. Sure, that character design dates back to the original Mario games, and the basic design elements of the platformers haven't changed much, but although they may be derivative, they're not... old... in the ways that make old games frustrating to play now.

I think it's absolutely true that we cling to old video games more from nostalgia than from any concrete qualities that made them "better." They become personally significant, even as the state of the art marches forward and has long obsoleted them. It's only when I actually sit down to play them again that I realize how my brain has smoothed over all the flaws, and how the game in my mind is not the one that really exists.

I would say more along the lines that Mario's presence is diluted really. It's true video games as a whole reach a much larger base, but at the same time their are much more of video games period. At Mario's height Nintendo was the undisputed king of video games. Mario was the game that everyone who played games knew. With so much more stuff in the video game industry, even with reaching way more people, the overall influence is less. Think of it in terms of the internet and music. You can reach an audience the size of which nothing in the past compares too, but now your also competing against more people then ever before as well.

Grenn wrote:
Rykin wrote:

I hate WASD controls. In the rare event I play a PC game without a gamepad I always remap WASD to the arrow keys.

I'm an ESDF guy.

ESDF as well. It's also a pain when a game's tutorial hard-codes WASD controls and/or WASD prompts.

Example:

Game: Press 'E' to throw your grenade!
Me: Oh no, 'E' is move forward, where did I remap the grenade button?
Game: You are dead. Why can't you follow a simple tutorial?
Me: *sigh*

I find the trials and tribulations of people who remap everything very entertaining. Keep posting these please Watching "The Color of Money" many years ago, Paul Newman's character says something about always playing with a house cue, never bring your own cue when you're hustling. That piece of advice really resonated with me, and I've applied it in many areas of my life; use the controls/tools provided, and learn to adapt. I sympathize with people who have different challenges, small hands, or differently shaped fingers etc, but everyone else amuses me with their special requirements.

That said, Cheesycrouton, I feel your pain, especially with MMO games, as remapping is a must for peak endgame performance.

Dakuna wrote:

I find the trials and tribulations of people who remap everything very entertaining. Keep posting these please Watching "The Color of Money" many years ago, Paul Newman's character says something about always playing with a house cue, never bring your own cue when you're hustling. That piece of advice really resonated with me, and I've applied it in many areas of my life; use the controls/tools provided, and learn to adapt. I sympathize with people who have different challenges, small hands, or differently shaped fingers etc, but everyone else amuses me with their special requirements.

That said, Cheesycrouton, I feel your pain, especially with MMO games, as remapping is a must for peak endgame performance.

In console-world, I couldn't agree more (except for flipping the Y axis). But one of the things I love about pc gaming is customization. Most of the time, I can tweak a game's controls to my preference that makes the overall experience that much more enjoyable. Why be frustrated by a fixed control scheme if you can simply change it?

The only issue I occasionally run into is when I remap controls before I've really played the game. If it's a game that is a little more involved than the basic move/jump/shoot it some time takes a while and a bit of re-remapping before I get it quite right.

You know, it's not really a "gaming" confession, but it's gaming related so it sort of fits? I just remembered this fact today when trying to spell the word ludicrous.

I discovered the rapper Ludacris only because of his intro song to Madden 2000

I love discovering new artists through licensed music in games.

The latest treasure trove would be Forza Horizon. The set list was curated by a well-respected British DJ, Rob Da Bank, and it shows through the continuity of the three stations (Rock, Dance/Alt., D&B-Dub Electro).

Horizon Pulse is far and away my favorite, with Electric Guest's Awake being the breakout hit for me.

Aaron D. wrote:

I love discovering new artists through licensed music in games.

The latest treasure trove would be Forza Horizon. The set list was curated by a well-respected British DJ, Rob Da Bank, and it shows through the continuity of the three stations (Rock, Dance/Alt., D&B-Dub Electro).

Horizon Pulse is far and away my favorite, with Electric Guest's Awake being the breakout hit for me.

I tend to find more music from trailers and advertisements these days than almost anywhere else. Not sure what that says about me or my taste in music though.

Aaron D. wrote:

I love discovering new artists through licensed music in games.

Oh, wow, if that's a confession, then I too am guilty as charged! I will forever be grateful to the good folks at BioWare for using Faunt's "M4 (Part 2)" in Mass Effect's credits... I think I have all their CDs now...

Jayhawker wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

In console-world, I couldn't agree more (except for flipping the Y axis). But one of the things I love about pc gaming is customization. Most of the time, I can tweak a game's controls to my preference that makes the overall experience that much more enjoyable. Why be frustrated by a fixed control scheme if you can simply change it?

The only issue I occasionally run into is when I remap controls before I've really played the game. If it's a game that is a little more involved than the basic move/jump/shoot it some time takes a while and a bit of re-remapping before I get it quite right.

You've pretty much summed up why I generally hate PC gaming anymore. This inherent notion that everything is customizable creates crappy gameplay experiences that the user has to continually fix.

When I made that transition back to being a primarily console gamer, trying to use a gamepad to plat Halo and other shooters felt so unintuitive, I got motion sickness from the constant movement of the screen in the opposite way of my intention. And even once I got that down, it was hard to feel in control. But I decided that if 100's of thousands gamers could not only play, but enthusiastically enjoy Halo, I could learn it, too.

The nice part is, now I have a base to enjoy every game. I'm not trying to get every other game to fit into my narrow construct. Far more than I ever did on the PC, I just play and enjoy games now.

TOTALLY AGREE DUDEBRO OF DUDEBROOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PaladinTom wrote:

In console-world, I couldn't agree more (except for flipping the Y axis). But one of the things I love about pc gaming is customization. Most of the time, I can tweak a game's controls to my preference that makes the overall experience that much more enjoyable. Why be frustrated by a fixed control scheme if you can simply change it?

The only issue I occasionally run into is when I remap controls before I've really played the game. If it's a game that is a little more involved than the basic move/jump/shoot it some time takes a while and a bit of re-remapping before I get it quite right.

You've pretty much summed up why I generally hate PC gaming anymore. This inherent notion that everything is customizable creates crappy gameplay experiences that the user has to continually fix.

When I made that transition back to being a primarily console gamer, trying to use a gamepad to play Halo and other shooters felt so unintuitive, I got motion sickness from the constant movement of the screen in the opposite way of my intention. And even once I got that down, it was hard to feel in control. But I decided that if 100's of thousands gamers could not only play, but enthusiastically enjoy Halo, I could learn it, too.

The nice part is, now I have a base to enjoy every game. I'm not trying to get every other game to fit into my narrow construct. Far more than I ever did on the PC, I just play and enjoy games now.

Rykin wrote:

I tend to find more music from trailers and advertisements these days than almost anywhere else. Not sure what that says about me or my taste in music though.

You know, that's pretty much how I find music, too. Between that and friend recommendations, that's about the only way I hear about bands/songs

CptDomano wrote:
Rykin wrote:

I tend to find more music from trailers and advertisements these days than almost anywhere else. Not sure what that says about me or my taste in music though.

You know, that's pretty much how I find music, too. Between that and friend recommendations, that's about the only way I hear about bands/songs :lol:

I can say that my 15-year-old daughter thinks the music in Forza Horizon is oddly awesome. I've been going with custom soundtracks though. I like some new music, but it mostly needs to get off of my lawn.

NPR's All Songs Considered podcast is a good place to find good tunes, though.

Jayhawker wrote:
CptDomano wrote:
Rykin wrote:

I tend to find more music from trailers and advertisements these days than almost anywhere else. Not sure what that says about me or my taste in music though.

You know, that's pretty much how I find music, too. Between that and friend recommendations, that's about the only way I hear about bands/songs :lol:

I can say that my 15-year-old daughter thinks the music in Forza Horizon is oddly awesome. I've been going with custom soundtracks though. I like some new music, but it mostly needs to get off of my lawn.

NPR's All Songs Considered podcast is a good place to find good tunes, though.

My music tastes are probably way closer to a 15 year olds than they should be

Spoiler:

Waiting for the drop.

I think the Civilization series is boring.

Vrikk wrote:

I think the Civilization series is boring.

We're not birthday buddies anymore.

This thread destroys relationships.

Vrikk wrote:

I think the Civilization series is boring.

I don't agree, but my blasphemy would be that I still prefer Civ III over IV and V. I wasted so many hours and Civ III (including too many nights that ended when I started to hear the birds chirping outside), but I have not been able to stay interested in the last two.

I wonder how many people call Civilization "Civ" because they kept the habit from civ.exe in DOS days.

Jayhawker wrote:
Vrikk wrote:

I think the Civilization series is boring.

I don't agree, but my blasphemy would be that I still prefer Civ III over IV and V. I wasted so many hours and Civ III (including too many nights that ended when I started to hear the birds chirping outside), but I have not been able to stay interested in the last two.

That is the worst feeling ever.

Jayhawker wrote:
Vrikk wrote:

I think the Civilization series is boring.

I don't agree, but my blasphemy would be that I still prefer Civ III over IV and V. I wasted so many hours and Civ III (including too many nights that ended when I started to hear the birds chirping outside), but I have not been able to stay interested in the last two.

I'll go the other way: Civ V is the first game in the series that I really enjoyed playing. I'm a big fan of the hex grids, and it being so darned pretty didn't hurt anything either.

The first Civ game I played was Civ Rev. And that's also why I call it Civ.

I'll just go now.

Slacker1913 wrote:

I wonder how many people call Civilization "Civ" because they kept the habit from civ.exe in DOS days.

o/

CptDomano wrote:

You know, it's not really a "gaming" confession, but it's gaming related so it sort of fits? I just remembered this fact today when trying to spell the word ludicrous.

I discovered the rapper Ludacris only because of his intro song to Madden 2000

I'd never heard that song before although I've been listening to Luda for years.

'Word of Mouth'. Classic.

sr_malo wrote:

I'd never heard that song before although I've been listening to Luda for years.

'Word of Mouth'. Classic.

I preferred Back for the First Time, but then again, it was shortly after that album that I started to get out of rap all together, so that could have something to do with it.

My free time has gone from laughably minute to no longer existent.

Not for games, and apparently not to talk about games. I've posted a few times in this thread, only to learn -days later- that there are some people interested in picking up the conversation, see no reply and move on to the next confession. Sorry about that, I'll do my best to pick up the conversation about not putting up with FPS anymore.

Maybe I'm ranting because I'm working at freaking 2.38am in the morning. I did manage to squeeze some Xcom earlier this week.

1: I liked Phantasy Star Universe more than Phantasy Online
2: I actually really liked Too Human

I know I'm a bit late to this party but I just re listened to the podcast about this thread and it inspired me to dig it back up.

I would marry Morrigan even though I would be dead by morning.

PRG013 wrote:

I would marry Morrigan even though I would be dead by morning.

No one will fault you for that.

I don't like the Nintendo 64. I think it's a crappy system with, at maximum, 5 good games for it. Hell, I think that the Saturn AND the Sega CD are better platforms.

Also? The controller is stupid... but that's pretty common knowledge.