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Bissell's review of Skyrim contains a fantastic breakdown on the weird adherence to lore in some games. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7290527/one-night-skyrim-makes-strong-man-crumble

There's always a man and a bus stop.

I actually just had a similar conversation with a bunch of coworkers about how insane the meta-narrative of Black Flag is. It's got to be at least somewhat tongue-in-cheek considering you overhear board meetings discussing the very same things you guys postulate on like the modularity of the franchise. "Something something pirates are trendy therefore: let's make a pirate game! Ninja's are so last year etc etc." It's fucking insane. Unfortunately there aren't many meaningful interactions in the space besides hacking into coworkers computers via minigames in order to watch weirdly boring fanservice that delves into the terrible lore that was also mentioned on the cast.

I have so much fun with the boarding fights that I try and avoid using the swivel guns wherever possible. The fights are definitely one of the highlights of the game precisely because, as you mentioned, there are multiple ways to approach it every time.

I definitely did not finish it and explained my reasons over the last few pages. But I did get a lot of value out of it and would love to see more games take such bold stances in their design.

I don't know that seems like a perfectly reasonable approach to the game. I personally had a ton of trouble being stealthy even with silenced weapons so I applaud your ability to do so. Also Clint Hocking address it in Tone Control, the gun degradation is only an issue if you never use fresh weapons, so basically a non-issue. Though I may have had a few of fresh guns lock up on me IIRC.

I was also confused. But I was just going to buy Risk of Rain for 9 dollars instead of 10 dollars so... FUCK THAT PRE-ORDER CANCELLED.

Turn of the UI (excluding map and ship stuff) for maximum piratey immersion levels.

I think I'm done with my first prison: The bottom 4 blocks are for max prisoners. I finally started integrating them now that they bring a bonus to my grant funds. It's been an interesting and illuminating 81 days. For one, showers are where riots start. Prisoners are at their grumpiest in the morning and even the slightest provocation or delay in access to hygiene can cause them to snap. Once they go off they quickly overwhelm any guard unlucky enough to be in their vicinity necessitating riot police and paramedics. Once you get to a certain point it really becomes more of a slave labor simulator than a prison simulator. The main way to make money in the game is through the workshop. You need money to expand your prison and eventually to sell it at a profit so you can start a new one with extra capital. So the more prisoners you can support working the longest hours without sacrificing food/comfort/recreation/sleep the better you will do in the game. I think that's a super interesting takeaway. In the end it's not about the rehabilitation whatsoever. I'm wondering if that will come in in later patches. I'm really hoping they bring in mechanics like education, religion and group therapy. Elements that - properly implemented - might possibly round out the simulation.

Only if it's starring a lesbian ghost.

I'm dying

Man, I hope I can find some way to watch his special tomorrow. Will it be streaming (internationally) anywhere?

You don't need hardware to express something new. It's a mistake to think (as most console manufacturers and AAA game devs would like to argue) that increased graphical capacity will lead to more interesting subject matter.

Man, going from a half-empty sack of marbles to the Greatest Chair Ever Designed has got to induce some massive culture shock on your hindquarters.

I've been watching this video about the game's historical authenticity. Didn't realize just how many characters in the game had been plucked from real historical events.

Yeah, same here. (about it being the best game of a series I mostly dislike) I think the main distinction from earlier AC titles is that so much of the game takes place on open water. Sailing around and getting in gun fights/boarding fights with other ships, hunting sharks, diving for treasure; it all coalesces in an incredibly well tuned and engaging gameplay loop that's kept me occupied for many more hours than I'd care to admit. The stuff on land is standard assassin's creed fare, though the fact that it's not ALL you do makes it that much easier to bare. Stealth has thankfully been retooled to be a bit more accessible. And the design of stealth missions is much tighter than I've seen from the series (though some story missions still cause a bit of the grating of the teeth) ps: had that glitch happen in my game in the same place. didnt stick around to see the boat magically rise up, however. Reminds me of when chunks fail to load in minecraft resulting in an improbably huge negative space physically at odds with its surroundings.

Yeah I took a several week break after B2 before trying Minerva's Den. It helped that Battlefield came out during this break. I can totally see how the immediate repetition of the mechanics could get you down.

Minerva's Den. It was great to finally play this and see the Hand of Gaynor at work in an earlier project. I had a blast playing through Bioshock 2 and this DLC kind of took all the good stuff and squeezed it into a tighter experience. The new additions to the default toolset made for some super fun combat encounters. My favorite such one was putting a gravity well trap near a spike trap then forgetting about and getting in a fight with a big sister. Out of nowhere an electrified splicer launches from out of nowhere and slams into the big sister, killing her. Took me a second to understand what had happened. So much fun to play through, coupled with a touching narrative about finding closure and moving on.

I only just realized you could get grants in this game. The tutorial is atrocious. Now that I've got an actual prison going and not just a closet full of 30 angry men, it's become a super interesting experience. It's like an ant farm, watching the tiny bits of script react to the walls I shape for them. I get strong civ vibes from the constant push and pull between placating and brutalizing my population. Entertain them to keep them happy, give them phone calls, family visits, tv, and when that's not enough and they inevitably become violent: send in the guards and the medics (and the janitors to clean up the mess). It's both sickening and oddly distant. Similar to how you get satisfaction out of the mechanics from Paper's Please while also feeling discomfort that those mechanics led you to send a fictional character to their deaths.

It's the 2013 version of pressing start on Luigi's controller right as Mario is mid-jump.

The main difference between the card enclosure brands is size, energy usage, and heat management. They should all fit into your average (recent model) mobo slot (but it's always good to double check). The biggest compatibility issue is usually your PSU. You want to make sure the voltage is high enough and it has the right cables for your particular card. The card should have voltage requirements on its description page and the PSU should display its max capacity. I have the ASUS 660Ti and it's great. I had an EVGA GTX 470 before and it was decent if slightly loud. They're both fine enclosure brands, I'm definitely a big fan of ASUS as my current card tends to be quiet as a mouse.

This was really fascinating to read. The idea that submerging systems so that they don't appear as systems results in players therefore not interpreting them as systems and slighting the game for it. The idea that we WANT a mechanical experience that doesn't treat us like babies but are, as a group, yet unable to properly take advantage of it. Of course, if the story is bad, the story is bad; but I didn't think the stories for Heavy Rain or even Walking Dead are stories I'd read and enjoy if they were books. It's the manner in which the systems and mechanics effect a traditional narrative that interests me most about these types of games. Judging from that piece, there's plenty of interesting systemic play going on in the game (albeit buried deep beneath the surface) and I'm now much more inclined to drop some bones down and play it.

Yes please! I've been meaning to check out the campaign. If only to reacquaint myself with the multitude of inputs I've forgotten.

Looks awesome. Definitely getting vibes of the Supergiant aesthetic. Speaking of superbrothers (by way of Capy games) would love to see some actual gameplay footage of Below at some point. Wondering how the gameplay loop compares to this.

I keep forgetting about SpyParty.