Patrick R

DING What is Binding of Isaac?

Omikron: The Nomad Soul is free on the Square-Enix store in honor of David Bowie's passing. Coupon code is "omikron". Gets you a Steam Key. I never played this, but I do remember staring at the ad for it on the back of the Deus Ex manual and imagining what it'd be like. Now I get to know!

Move back. This town ain't big enough for the two of you.

Well, it's hard for me to say. Like I said, I was in a hurry and couldn't squeeze the moisture from the spinach like I should have, and the noodles didn't make distinct layers the way they should because I couldn't get them to line up right in a circular slow cooker. But it definitely cooked correctly. The cheese melted like I like and the noodles were the right consistency.

Deus Ex is the perfect heady evocative title for that game.

I made a slow cooker spinach lasagna from a recipe my partner's father sent us. I had trouble getting the rectangular noodles to layer correctly in my round slow cooker, so it all immediately fell apart when we took it out. And I had to rush to get it made before I left for work (and, in fact, got to work 30 minutes late) so I couldn't squeeze the moisture out of the spinach like I wanted, so it was too wet. Still, as far as spinach and noodles and cheese melted into a slop go, it was fine.

Mustang is an incredible movie. It's like a war movie where the soldiers huddle together and desperately bond in the trenches because the invading army is approaching the border and a stray mortar shell could take anyone out at any time. Except the soldiers are five sisters, the invading army is Men, and the mortar shells are weddings.

As someone who thinks audiobooks are not the same medium as written fiction, I will at least agree that this argument about what constitutes adaptation would get hella pedantic.

I played SO MUCH Bushido Blade at my friend's house. The only right stage to play on is the bamboo forest.

Yeah, I think a lot of literature would do well being adapted to Twine. My only point is that it would be an adaptation, not preservation.

It is, however, on numbered pages that must be read in a certain order, yes? I think it was on an early episode of the new Idle Thumbs where they talked about how "non-linear" means something different in games than it does in other forms of fiction.

In my opinion this is not preserving the original text at all.

How does one turn Moby Dick non-linear while still preserving it's original text?

I'm not dismissing anything. I'm saying I don't think video games are the same medium as written fiction (or literature, which I mean as just that), and I'm saying that I think Twine is the former, not the latter. Moby Dick and Ultra Business Tycoon III are different mediums.

That's what happened to Ragnar.

It is a good* way to forget your problems. It takes away inhibitions, which can make one more social, freer, friendlier. It makes country music sound better. It makes dancing much more fun. It makes it easier to deal with being around family if you don't particularly get along with them. I think all intoxication, whether from alcohol or drugs, provides some sort of perspective outside your understanding of subjective experience that can be useful in a very broad sort of way. I think hallucinogens or even weed are more applicable there, but I definitely learned some things about existence the first time I got drunk. There is nothing you really lack in not drinking. Which is to say, if you are the kind of person who reaches the age of, say, 23, without ever having been drunk, you are not the kind of person who "needs" alcohol. Also some people will say they like the taste of it and develop a palate for fine liquors and beers and wines. I'm not saying I don't believe them, just that I've never personally seen the appeal in that. And if you want to get into something like that, fine dining or even fine coffees will serve you just as well. *In some contexts, and very very bad in others. Use sparingly. Or, do as I do and say "fuck it" and lean into it and drink until your liver is sore to the touch.

Well, I mean, if you think Twine games are literally the same medium as books your argument makes more sense. I definitely don't agree at all, but it makes more sense. At any rate, I feel the answer to your initial question of "Why do people do this?" is "People don't view Twine as literature."

"Why do films use editing? It's like it's telling me how to watch the drama unfold. I prefer theatrical productions, where I can decide what to focus on at my own pace. Movies should only have edits in between scenes, the way plays do." "Why do poems have line breaks? Why can't I just read the poem as I would any other sentence?" Twine uses the convenient options of commas, semicolons, and periods. AND it uses pages breaks as well. Different tools for different uses for different mediums. Twine is not literature, Twine does not benefit from a slavish devotion to the trappings of literature. And again your "interrupted flow" is .5 seconds of transition time by default. Less if the author chooses. EDIT: That isn't to say that all or even most Twine games use page breaks thoughtfully. But it doesn't strike me as any more thoughtless than the way most entries in any given art tend to take form for granted.

I find all the talk about "The first [thirty minutes/hour/two hours] of Undertale is terrible" really odd because I loved every second of it. Obviously everyone has their own taste, but I find it strange that even proponents of the game trash the opening. Am I the only one who likes the whole thing straight through?

There are times when Dan's simplicity (in basically every facet) drives me up a wall, but I find it so refreshing during GOTY. He doesn't seem interested in politicking at all, doesn't take it personally when something he likes gets knocked off, and when he does dig his heels in it results in Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze more than filibustering over why a game only he likes simply MUST be on this list. GOTY wouldn't be interesting if it was all Dans, but I think his approach cuts through a lot of bullshit.

Are you a speed reader? Because switching from one Twine page to another takes .5 seconds. And sometimes nothing at all, if the writer changes the transition time. I just don't see that much of a slow down unless you are used to zipping through books as a speed reader. And again "One choice per page" is a harsh limitation for a medium that isn't books and doesn't have to be. It's interactive. People like to interact. If I started a Twine game and was greeted with a huge page of text I wouldn't continue because it would say to me that the person doesn't understand the medium.

Because it is a tool to be expressive within the form? Why do movies break scenes into different shots? I'm not saying all Twine games make good use of it (there sure as shit are a lot of movies and shows that don't make good use of editing) but I think saying "Don't make me click unless I'm making a choice" (which I'm assuming you mean?) is very limiting.

Hence Knick Knack and Tin Toy before Toy Story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSD_zp8yZFo I changed my mind. That baby is way creepier than Sid's sister.

I only just started listening to Giant Bomb, who is this Dave Lang they keep mentioning? Is he an industry person or a friend or an inside joke or what?