Inspired by a similar thread, share your random thoughts here.

If a thread like this exists already in this board, feel free to lock the thread, mods.

Keep it civil.

I was thinking of DKC2 a few minutes ago and decided to looked up some videos of a few of my favorite levels based on music and level theme. (I like the spooky themed levels). as I watched them, I came to the realization that I may not have the same skills I had as a kid. Mainly my reflexes and difficulty concentrating.

I got to applaud speed runners. I like watching them even if I don't have the time and patience to practice to their level.
I use some of their techniques in older games. Especially in GoldenEye.

As much as I like Resident Evil Code: Veronica, I find it too scary to play through. The only way I was to play through it back in 2000 on Dreamcast was using a GameShark which broke on me a year after purchasing. Haven't played it in over a decade. I have it on Dreamcast, GameCube and PS2.

Is RE scarier than the Silent Hill series? Nope. Both are fictional but RE has it based on science with biological weapons and SH is on the supernatural.

Is the title suppose to be Resident Evil Code: Veronica or Resident Evil: Code Veronica?

 

Classic RE also relies more on jump scares (and more importantly, the dread of anticipating the next jump scare at any time) disorientation, and claustrophobia for its horror. Silent Hill focuses more on use of atmosphere, slow buildup of tension, and double-edged decisions (tools that detect monsters also attract them, examining the wrong item or playing the game wrong can change the story, etc). Both also use resource scarcity and occasional pursuit by unkillable monsters.

 

Why are there so few open world horror games? I get that it's kind of hard to pull off, but it shouldn't be more difficult than any other open world type game. Is it because the audience for it is so niche? Or is there just not enough money in it to be worth doing? Either way, I wish there were more, because they can be amazing (this is mainly based on my experience with Darkwood, which I'd classify as open world).

 

Because the traditional way for crafting scares is curated. You want to set up the optimal levels of atmosphere and anticipation, and that gets all shot to hell when you can anticipate the ambush and circle around back to knife the bad guy in the spine.

I remember watching my brother play the morgue section of the original Bioshock, when you're following the shadow of the surgeon as he ducks around corners and then ultimately vanishes. Then I piped up as I noticed that it looked like the cadaver drawers had a double-ended access. So instead of the ambush the doctor was hoping for (and the jump scare the designers intended), he jumped straight out into the barrel of a loaded shotgun (and a solid several minutes of my brother and I rolling on the floor with laughter instead).


Not to say Open World and horror don't mix. If you restrain the player a bit, as in caves and catacombs and such, then games like Skyrim can achieve a horror-type atmosphere quite easily. Or you craft a more existential, dreadful horror that doesn't rely on jump scares to do all the work.

It's just typically harder, and doesn't mesh with conventional horror methodology.

 

Other scenarios where common "open world" features make horror difficult:

• When the player is allowed to farm supplies until they feel ready for anything.
  
• When the methods for dealing with monsters are open-ended, and the player is allowed to do whatever they're most comfortable with.
• When the player can run away in pretty much any direction at pretty much any time.
  
• When the player can indefinitely avoid going to especially frightening or difficult areas.

So yeah, it really works against a lot of conventions not just of horror, but of open world games as well.

 

I still think that the biggest mistake the Silent Hill series ever made was returning to the silly 'evil cults and dark gods' shtick after 2. The premise of the town itself as an eldritch, twisted location that draws out and manifests the psyche of the protagonist is a great framing device and it doesn't need that clichéd cultist nonsense spoiling it.

Also, Konami should be shot for mishandling the series so badly.

 

Why, did they forget to make a pachinko of it?

 

I am curious how my generation will be like once we're thrown into old retirement homes. Will it be nonstop gaming, or will arthritis impair me.

 

Games like Gears of War, Halo, and plentiful others, often feature your good ol' evac choppers, dropships, whatever big flying vehicle is carting our heroes around, getting shot down like flies. But fortunately for us, it's never the one the heroes are on. You'll go through every game watching about a multitude of flyers getting blasted, crashed, generally destroyed, but it'll never be the one that has the main character on it or one of their beloved buddies on it.

Heck, even if our hero is on a flyer that gets brought down, rest assured it'll manage a secure enough landing and stay on one piece long enough that they can just waltz out and carry on kicking ass. Long story short, the drama of seeing your allies getting exploded to oblivion across all manner of ships kind of loses its drama knowing full well it'll never have anyone you truly adored on them  

Gears of War 2 had a particularly funny example towards the end; as two choppers come down to save Marcus, one of them is smashed to pieces. Marcus is horrified, because his friend Baird was on it! No, wait, he was on the second one. Veeeeeery fortunate.

I know, games wouldn't be fun if our hero was subject to that same unfortunate probability of being on the unlucky dropship, but it does make you think just how lucky they are  

 

FTFY

 

Gamers, as the most oppressed class of people in this bitch of a world we need to rise up.

Don't mind me just waiting patiently for Metroid Dread.

 

Deltarune talk

Spoiler

So finding out that Determination can create dark worlds and that even LV 1 humans can do it, and if enough dark worlds are created leads to the Roaring, perhaps the end of the Undertale genecide route where you see nothing but darkness and hear the winds blowing is just the aftermath of the roaring in that world?

I mean, gaining LV was the whole point of the genecide route, and I imagine the stronger you are, the wider area you cover with the dark fountain you've unleashed.

There are seriously some neglected franchises that need to come back.

 

On that note, I'm not Nintendo fan/player, so I didn't watch the Nintendo direct stream, so seeing that there's a new Actraiser remake/expansion out really caught me off guard:

And SquareEnix has been dusting off a lot of their old and forgotten franchises for HD remasters in the last several years. One of my hopes is that one of these days they'll find and dust off Dewprism/Threads of Fate from their old PS1 catalogue. Such a fun and cute and charming game, and the ending left room for a sequel that never came to pass.

 

So… just thinking about Mighty No. 9 as I often do, I’ve always felt that MN9’s design was too detailed & busy. In their effort to make him Not-Megaman, they deviated from MM’s classic, clean lines as often as they could. His canon arm isn’t just a simple canon- now it’s lit up with diamonds and circles and rings.
His arms and legs are segmented AND have diamond patterns all over them.
His chest has so many things going on, from the 4 circles with stripes that draw the eye, to the weird, black stripe down the center that almost makes it look as though he’s wearing an open jacket, the black panels on his sides, which seem to be there in case the two gray stripes didn’t break up the color enough, to the weird donut/high collar thing that looks like a robo-turtle-neck, choking him out.

But perhaps the worst design element are the weird robo-bicycle shorts. Clearly, because Megaman wears briefs, Beck has to wear boxers. But they go one further and this is where it gets bad. There are two lines that connect to his blue cod-piece, making it look as though he’s wearing a robo string bikini bottom. And shots from behind only reinforce the thong-appearance.

I do like his helmet, gloves and boots. But damn could his design use some streamlining.

 

There's this one thing that's been bugging me lately. When I watch videos of games online, there's usually some gameplay of the game running while the presenter speaks, and said gameplay is usually really poor. I can't help myself when watching these videos. Every time I see the player make a mistake, I just want to pick up the controller and play it myself. Now, It doesn't get to the point that I can't watch the video. It just gets under my skin occasionally. I don't get this way when someone is playing in the same room with me either. It's like on some level when I'm watching the game in video form, it feels like me playing it, and I want to correct the mistake.

 

@Roger Semerad
Lol especially if the person is complaining about how bad the gameplay or controls are. Like, maybe you just suck, bro! Gimme that controller!

 

Why do game devs like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Blizzard and Bethesda get a free pass for producing mediocre bug ridden games but devs like Rockstar, Naughty Dog, CDPR, and others could release a product that is a bit sub part and underwhelming causing people to say the devs have been ruined forever. Now for recent examples Last of Us part 2 and Cyberpunk 2077.

Last of Us Part 2 had some questionable story decisions but the game itself is full of quality.

Cyberpunk 2077 was a buggy mess that didn’t meet up to standards that the media hyped up. In the end the game was no worse than a Bethesda or Ubisoft game at launch. Yet a game like Fallout 4 will be seen more as a success.

What I’m saying is yeah all of those companies deserve some flak but it seems like there is a double standard. Activision is finally getting flak but for it’s mismanagement of employees.

 

Spoiler: Ghost of Tsushima ending

Why do people keep classifying the ending choice in this game as good/bad? I noticed a ton of people referring to Shimura's death as the "bad ending", which I find to be sort of ignorant of the games central theme. While it critiques Bushido, I don't necessarily think it discredits it. It also without a doubt doesn't portray Jin's honorless ways as purely good. To anyone who played the game, what is your preferred ending to the game, and why? I think it's just interesting to hear people's opinions on the subject, especially as someone who just finished playing it and is eager to discuss.

 

Believe me, none of those developers/publishers got off scot-free for games released as incomplete messes

EA was lambasted for the mediocre ending of the third Mass Effect and the disaster that was the launch of the most recent SimCity didn't help their reputation. Or their bottom line. No, seriously, I got free games and DLC for those screwups.

Activision and Blizzard caught flak for the equally disastrous launch of Diablo 3.

Ubisoft caught hell for releasing the buggy, Assassin's Creed Unity. They say the image macros of the half-textured character models still haunt Steam Chat rooms to this day.

Hell, Bethesda's release of Fallout 76 was a legendary mess that didn't improve for 2 years. And they've yet to release a new single player Fallout or Elder Scrolls title in two entire console generations

 

Despite all of those series having issues that are still seen as beloved franchises that fans look forward to.