Bjorn

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Everything posted by Bjorn

  1. This interview explains soooo much about FEAR for me. I always felt really mixed about that game, like there were two seperate games there, one that I loved and one that I hated. Hearing the story behind production makes it pretty clear how that came to be.
  2. Show me your desk/gaming space

    It bugs me that the darkest one is in the middle. They should be stacked by grade. And that is a very nice collection! Yellowing plastic aside.
  3. I actually remember most of the controllers for PCs being awful through the 90s and early 2000s, except for some flight sticks. Now we have amazing keyboards, mice with a million buttons, groovy half-keyboards with programmable macro buttons and a generally good controller (the 360). I remember how hardy any games supported gamepads, drivers would be broken and rarely updated and I had to program the controller for most games myself. It's been an improvement from my previous experience with controllers and the PC.
  4. Limited run podcasts

    I went looking for it when I posted that, and couldn't find it. Though a bit of searching now makes me think I may have just been mixing up multiple podcasts in my head. It may have been the Oxford general philosphy lecutres I was thinking of, though it ran for 24 episodes, not 12. About 2 years ago I got really obsessed with listening to philosophy podcasts for a month or two. Would be surprising if I mixed a few of them up.
  5. Quitter's Club: Don't be ashamed to quit the game.

    You eventually start hitting long, epic runs in RL the same as Spelunky, at which point the 30 seconds to restart is by a tiny fraction of the whole time you are playing. And the amount of gold you're raking in spikes way up as well. And with the ability to lock down the castle, you can make short runs to go get chests that are likely to have diagrams in them, or the gems you use to enchant equipment, which makes the game exponentially easier. That said, I think the game does have some very deep flaws that keep it from transcending to the level of something like Spelunky. The genetic trait is ultimately more gimmick than mechanic. And it needs a bit more variety. While each of Spelunky's words feels unique versus the others, the areas in RL mostly just feel like a change in decoration to me. Though there is supposed to be a patch/expansion coming out that is adding a bunch of stuff to it. It might already be out, I hadn't bothered checking for awhile. Edited to add: Yeah, in an interview back in September they said they would be patching in more content, but nothing new since then.
  6. Dark Souls(Demon's Souls successor)

    On my very first playthrough, I must have gotten lucky, as I got past the archers on the very first try. That was with a tanky warrior using a great shield. I never understood what the big deal was. Then I went back through with a hybrid dex/faith build. And I understood exactly what the big deal was.
  7. Life

    I have a fondness for western Kansas, but couldn't imagine ever living there again. In a lot of ways, it gets a bad rap. There's actually some gorgeous country out there, you just have to get off the interstate to find it. I agree that Lawrence is pretty much the bomb. Though from what I've seen, most towns of that size with a good college tend to be pretty cool. You get the energy and stupidity of all the college kids, and the adults who stick around tend to be pretty awesome people. Plus lots of interesting events that are free or cheap, even if you're not a student. Got to see Max Brooks talk about zombies a few days before Halloween.
  8. Gone Home from The Fullbright Company

    One of the brilliant things about GH is how encompassing it is in its ability to draw in the player. There are enough themes that most people could latch onto one of the hooks, and be drawn along for the ride.
  9. Tone Control is a Podcast!

    Just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed both of the TC podcasts so far. Keep it up!
  10. Terminal 7 1: Tiny, Tiny Meta

    That's good to know, as I would likely start playing with my wife, so just having to buy one set makes it more likely that we'll pick it up.
  11. Life

    Grew up in western kansas, middle of cattle country, and now live just outside of Lawrence (home of the Univ. of Kansas).
  12. Limited run podcasts

    I can't remember the name, but I found a British philosophy podcast that was a limited run. It was kind of like a philosophy 101 course in podcast form. Each episode covered a philospher or theme, and it was designed to just run 12 episodes or so. Seems like it was sponsored by the BBC. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History is not limited per se, as he's still doing them, but he often has series that span 3-5 episodes and are completely self-contained. These things are epic in lenght, which each episode often spanning several hours, and a full series being a dozen or more hours. I highly recommend it though, he spends months researching each topic before delving in with a depth that is almost unheard of in consumer grade history. It's probably my favorite podcast that's not news/gaming related. A Life Well Wasted is functionally limited, as he only released 9 episodes, but each one is pure audio gold. He applies the This American Life model of radio to gaming related themes. It's really wonderful and I wish he would have continued producting them.
  13. Licenses That Demand A Game

    But RL acknowledges it through the idea of playing on as a descendant. Whereas DR doesn't acknowledge it at all, but there is a definite Groundhog Day thing going on in the background. I can't think of anything that does it in a more overt manner. I suppose you could argue that some rougelikes do, like Binding of Isaac. But it's not really the same thing.
  14. Spelunky!

    An epic and appropriate start to spelunking if ever there was one! Welcome to the fold.
  15. Life

    I've spent the last week finishing some of the trimwork in my house, which I've been procrastinating on for awhile. It's a 113 year old farm house that's been remodeled and added onto multiple times. The words "square" and "level" will not oft be used to describe my frankenhome. It'll look great once it's done, but I've wanted to pull my hair out mutliple times this week, particularly fighting to get the windows looking good.
  16. For some reason that made me lol hard.
  17. Spelunky!

    Okay, so I actually am good enough to use the ghost to farm diamonds in the mines, but it doesn't do me much good, as I'm not really skilled enough to capitalize on it yet. But I'm not afraid of the ghost anymore! I ain't afraid of no ghost!
  18. General Video Game Deals Thread

    I got Expeditions as well. I've wanted it for awhile, but not at $15. I also got I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream for $1.93, which I am super stoked about. That's one of my favorite sci-fi short stories of all time, and I've always wanted to try the creepy game version of it. I got those two within the first 15 minutes, and then promptly quit watching, as I realized I was just going to keep spending money.
  19. PL4YST4TION 4

    10.5, but on what scale? HOW CAN WE COMPARE IF WE DON"T KONW WHAT IT"S OUT OF!??!
  20. Spelunky!

    It's hard for me to fathom being good enough at Spelunky to reliably be able to Ghost the mines.
  21. Licenses That Demand A Game

    I own the DFRPG source books, but haven't delved super deep into them. What I have read has been worth buying them though, just for entertainment. Bob the Skull provides commentary and side notes on the explanation of the game. I would totally play that! On the subject of Dune games, I remember quite enjoying the very first Dune. It was more of a sim than RTS, with managing your growing influence on the planet while keeping the Emperor appeased and undermining the Harkonnen. But it's been 20 years since I've played it.
  22. Terminal 7 1: Tiny, Tiny Meta

    Okay, you guys sold me on the game when you said it's great because it's just fun whether you are winning or losing. I find that both Dominion and Small World are two of my favorite games to play because of that. The mechanics and choices always feel relevant and engaging to me, even if I don't ultimately win (or aren't even particularly competitive). Until I get around to playing it, I don't know that I'll listen to many more episodes. I enjoyed this one for the newness of it, but felt too lost most of the time to want to listen to more.
  23. Spelunky!

    The internet must make this happen!
  24. There are multiple podcasts devoted to the Souls series? The internet is a strange and wonderful place.
  25. Quitter's Club: Don't be ashamed to quit the game.

    That's funny. As I've gotten older, I actually have favored shorter and shorter games (or games with a very long metagame like Dark Souls). I love games that you can play through start-to-finish in a single evening.