sclpls

I remember Megaman 3 was the first game in the series that I managed to complete as a kid, although I think that was in no small part due to certain cheats you could exploit with a 2nd controller.

Claiming censorship (despite a complete lack of any sort of government intervention) when you get called out on your bullshit is the last refuge of scoundrels.

With the release of the Bureau I've got the idea of strategy games that make the leap into other genres. Do the worlds we occupy in strategy games have a place in other formats? What would it take for a non-strategy game to enrich the strategy title?

The F2P stuff for PvZ2 is pretty bad, but it was actually the Mario structure of the world that killed the game for me, because it reminded me that I enjoyed the game play of Super Mario Galaxy way more than a tower defense game. So I went back and setup my Wii which had been gathering dust, and man is that game good. It was like Chris going back to Far Cry 2... there are just so many aspects of that game that are excellent, and it's just a joy to play. It is so great when that is the experience of an older game that you've played before.

Oh man, speaking of explody bits, Nick accidentally blowing up the truck with the explosive crossbow was so good.

I also complain a lot about the use of audio logs in games which often feel like a huge crutch. Of course they are totally appropriate in Gone Home, although it is too bad that the game has to overcome an awkward structure before the player really understands why these audio logs are playing. Argobot's point about this being a modern game is on point. I was thinking the other day about the use of text in Gone Home is similar to how T.S. Elliot recalls fragments of things in "The Waste Land". Also, to continue this strained comparison, both works are focused in an intensely personal story, have texts that constantly shift points of view, and contain many allusions and references.

One thing I really enjoyed about the stream was how Chris played Far Cry 2 the same way I did when I started out, and Nick's style was what my play style evolved into over time. When you reach that level of familiarity with the game where you can just get away with doing ridiculous stuff all the time is so good.

I suggest you pick up Badland and Letter Press.

Although the point that it would be inadvisable for a grand strategy game to get too deep into the weeds of rebellion is well taken, I always find it unfortunate when you have a game like Civilization where there is a lack of specificity to rebellions. Rebellions ought to have different sorts of characteristics depending on what is the source of discontent. U.S. anti-war protests in the 1960's have a different flavor from the FARC in Colombia, that are different from the so-called "Arab Spring", etc. Strategy game factions don't necessarily need a lot of flavor, but as a game like Alpha Centauri proves it is really nice when they do. I feel the same is probably true of rebellions. Nonviolent protests are quite a bit different from guerrilla warfare, and it would be nice to see a game that captures these nuances without getting too granular. I also think it is really nice that GMT seems to be single-handedly ushering in a bunch of high quality counter-insurgency board games. Andean Abyss is a game that has endlessly fascinating results, and does a fantastic job of capturing a national government that is more powerful than the pretenders to the throne, but it is at an information disadvantage, and is much less nimble in its ability to perform operations that advance its objectives. It's the perfect David vs. Goliath scenario. I'm very much looking forward to other games in that series. More games from the point of view of insurgents would be welcome too.

If you look at the Polygon article it looks like the reason they ditched the 1st person mode is because there were a bunch of design problems they ran into that they weren't able to solve. So I'm not so sure it had anything to do with some people complaining about it.

Damn, so good!

I played this yesterday. So far my impression is that a lot of the reviews seem very reasonable and fair to me. However, I do think the way the game fails in a lot of really interesting ways. It is such a tonally bizarre game, but it does have these moments of very Phillip K. Dick style insanity. I'm also really glad I read that Polygon piece before playing the game because I feel like the underground bunker you operate out of in the game acts as this interesting metaphor for the difficulty of the game's development process.

I'm fine with critics and reviewers discussing the length of a game as long as it isn't in some "bang for your buck" context. How much a game is worth will depend on a person's economic status, and you can't make that judgment for someone else, but talking about things like the flow and pacing are obviously important. On another note, I listened to a few podcasts Steve Gaynor was on talking about the game, and I hope he appears again on Idle Thumbs one of these days. I love listening to his perspective on things.

That is part of why I was saying playing the original System Shock might not be such a great idea regardless of which game is "better". System Shock 2 is a little archaic too, but I think it has an interface that is more in line with where games are today.

I respectfully disagree, but I also think it would be very difficult to play System Shock 1 nowadays for a variety of reasons.

I'm glad the question of genre has come up with the context of Gone Home. I think when a lot of people are complaining about how Gone Home isn't really a game, what they are really complaining about is that Gone Home isn't a genre game while most video games are. It was a bit like playing Thirty Flights of Loving in the sense that what you get is just this really cool experience rather than a game where what is important is the types of actions you are engaging in. Gone Home does that using mechanics that are very specific to video games (exploring an area in no particular order), and TFoL does it by borrowing some of the language of new wave cinema, but they both have this playfulness that absolutely goes against the purpose of genre. Which is totally sweet, and we could use more of that in games.

Tycho's right that you should play the System Shock games (especially 2!)

Especially since it sounds like the expansion will make the game a bit more mod friendly, the PC version is definitely the way to go I think.Hopefully there will be another Steam sale between now and when the expansion comes out so you can grab that game for cheap.

SHODAN sounds pretty sci-fi to me!

Gone Home has technology where written diary entries that you will read in the future are converted into audio logs that you listen to when you interact with certain key objects. Sounds pretty sci-fi to me!

For what it's worth I think the person saying you guys should have streamed Gone Home was joking. I'm all for seeing more Spelunky streaming.

Truer words never spoken

Spelunky twitching was so much fun to watch!

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe there is a 2nd wave option that makes the campaign longer.

That's the designer of Twilight Struggle! I'm seeing a bunch of dismissive comments about this on Neogaf, but dismissing something that Gupta is designed is a fool's errand in my opinion. I am not so psyched about leaving the final mission in place, but all the changes I'm reading about are very exciting!