Patrick R

Holy cow! That Build the Nublar FMV intro was insane.

Yeah, that totally makes sense. I don't watch any sports so it never even occurred to me.

If I recall, that training course has way more close quarters sneaking than you basically ever have to do. Skip it.

Wow, I forgot there was even a training section. I don't know if I ever bothered to finish it. There is never a "Mission Failed" scenario if you're seen and generally if you break stealth you'll still be able to make your way through it, so I don't know if I'd even recommend that training.

Deus Ex is my favorite game of all time but depending on how you approach it I can see it being one of the most frustrating on this list. A lot of what makes it remarkable is how it's levels and worlds are designed to tackle problems in a lot of different ways, and that doesn't quite open up until you've played through the same levels multiple times. My only suggestion is that you should slow your approach to this game way down, revel in the environments, and do most of your moving in a crouch. The first level is all about training you to be careful and pay attention to your surroundings. Also: tranq darts and the stun-gun are way more effective in the early game than the pistol. One dart will knock a guy out, while trying to line-up multiple pistol shots can get you killed. And one stun gun hit to the back of someone's head instantly takes them down. Though by that same token, one point-blank headshot always kills.

I saw . Don't watch Gooby.

In regards to the Tarkovsky email, it's not quite the same thing but the first thing that came to my mind was Proteus. On the second night of that game I guess I hadn't done the specific thing I needed to trigger the lights in the sky, so I spend nearly an hour just wandering around, frequently stopping to look around. I knew eventually the lights would show up because they did before, but the delay (which may have been a bug for all I know) definitely ended up having something resembling that Tarkovsky effect.

Loved to recycle. Hated to fly.

I guess it's just one of those things I don't get, then. I'm in a very different place in my life where none of that really applies to me, or at the very least, certainly doesn't outweigh the idea of spending 5+ dollars a drink, which is insane to me.

Every bar I see is mostly full of 20-somethings in groups. I don't know why they don't save a shitload of money, be more comfortable, have control over music, not have to deal with potential assholes, etc. by not meeting at one of their homes.

I think the entire notion of bars only exists because people don't want to clean up their homes for guests.

So that must mean you haven't seen this

Despite the delightful and friendly music, this game is tough!

Got stuck in the room after the shotgun. Great premise and I love that Streets of Rage inspired music.

Cibele is a really cool game, though I kind of wish it's story wasn't so small in it's scope. I related hard to the characters, but think the format could have been applied to a richer and more interesting story, especially if it were just half an hour longer or something. Still pretty cool, though.

A day late, but I finished my Twine game A Person Shaped Thing Is A Person. It's a sci-fi story about depression and suicide and takes about ten minutes to play. It's kind of personal but hopefully some one else might get something out of it. You can play it in your browser here.

Sure, whatever. More than anything I just want this conversation to be over. I already stated exactly how I felt and then stated why I stated that.

Given I was one of the people who listened and commented to Keyframes for several weeks, I'd hope you'd give me more credit than that? Or at least not insinuate I'm part of the reason the message boards are bad lately? I was explaining that, accurate or not, describing something as "anime" means something much more specific than just "dumb" or "over the top". That's it. Right or wrong, the reason I dedicated so many words is specifically so no one would think I was being dismissive of anime or people who like it.

At the same time, I think there is a definite sensibility to much anime that is very off-putting to people who haven't grown accustomed to it. I say this as a die-hard fan of slasher movies, so I understand loving and understanding something that most people write off. But my many attempts to get into anime (which have included many shows I collected by reading dozens of "Greatest animes of all time" lists and not just Adult Swim shows) have all been thwarted by a loose collection of traits such as: overreliance on completely nonsensical mythology and magic McGuffins a manic and childish sense of humor an emphasis on children and adolescents obnoxiously loud color design an immature and occasionally misogynist approach to sexuality characters who speak in philosopical vagueries instead of actually acting like human beings characters whose faces explode into weird contortions for comic effect a stubborn refusal to take place in any kind of world I could suspend my disbelief for absolutely abysmal pacing fate and destiny as essential plot motivators Now I obviously wouldn't say that all these apply to all anime I've seen, and I bet most don't apply to most anime that exists. And I'd venture to guess that for anime fans, some of these are actually attractive instead of repulsive: in particular the sense of humor. But, as someone who has not watched a lot of anime as much as he's tried a lot to watch anime, when someone describes something as "anime-ish" some group of these traits is what I think of. It's more specific than "over-the-top" or "dumb", though both of those apply. No matter what medium, genre, art movement, whatever, from the outside observer it will boil down to a certain set of traits. Imagine a music you don't listen to or like much. I imagine the same way I bounced off anime, someone could bounce off slasher movies because of a loose collection of traits such as: overreliance on completely nonsensical psychology two dimensional characters who only exist to be murdered emphasis on adolescents an immature and often misogynist approach to sexuality an immature and often misanthropiic approach to violence bad acting predictable plots to which I would say "Yeah, some of that is true of some of it, but that's only the surface of what's going on, there's more to it, there's nuance" but to which I would not say "Whhhhhhhat. Slasher movies aren't like that! Look at these two outliers, Psycho and The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears!" Also, I re-read the thread and unless someone edited their post, no one used anime as a literal one-to-one synonym for dumb.

Remember this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI9eAF_4uBU

There's no alcohol allowed under Sharia law, so this is a Salty Dog minus the vodka.

I was actually going to ask this same thing today, for an entirely different reason.

A Giant Dog is a good band.

The new Narrative Humble Bundle basically only consists of games I wanted and didn't own. Pretty great. Cibele, Her Story, 80 Days, Broken Age, and more. https://www.humblebundle.com/narrative-games-bundle

Cars, man. No one wants to watch Cars. I WILL TRY. Ratatouille will be worth it.