Griddlelol

Is the original civ rev any good? I've only really heard hardcore civ fans (of which I'm not one) complaining about it. But those guys complain about everything. Going on holiday soon, so an ipad game might be worth it.

It's interesting hearing people talk about most qualified, because in reality, what does that even mean? I had a minor crisis when I was accepted onto a PhD program years ago. I told myself it was because I was the best candidate, but I couldn't help doubting that maybe it's because of what I am rather than who I am (that later turned out to be bullshit, I'm awesome). I was up against a lot of women which really didn't help my insecurity. Fortunately the institution I did my PhD at was extremely diverse - I think in my department it's about 60:40 ratio of women:men. However... I seriously think that being chosen for something because I'm a white dude, rather than because I'm super good would destroy my soul. Can't think of anything worse in that situation, I'd much rather be told "you're not good enough, go get better" than "you'll do because I have a bias."

I've never really given a shit about Sonic, Mario on the other hand is cool.

Griddlelol

I wish I could do that. I tend to be playing 2-3 games at a time, each that fits a different mood. Right now SM3d world fits my, I'm happy I wanna play something fun (but also frustrating - the last levels are damn hard). Xcom too, which fits my I'm watching crappy TV and want something to engage me while this boring show is on. I go back to games a lot though. I must have 100+ hours on Xcom, but I've never finished it. I just get the urge to stop once I've completed something, and want to have something new to refresh me. It's just expensive! Although when I find a game I do put 100+ hours into, I have no qualms in saying it's one of my favourite games ever.

The group of people I'm envious of are the people who can play one game over and over and over for hundreds of hours. I need variety in my life, but variety is costly. Also just the fact that these people know everything there is to know about this one thing is really cool.

Cannot wait to play MGR:R. Looks like my exact type of game. Dumb fun action. How long did it take you?

I got Radman Legends last night. We played through the first world and it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately/fortunately I was playing on the game pad while my girlfriend was playing on the controller. This lead to some frustrating moments because she was struggling with the platforming in some places. It was pretty cool when we managed to do it though! There seems like there's a lot to do in this game. Pretty happy about it.

But I love Charlie brooker. If he had actual voice over in it, it would be fantastic.

Is that a black guy wearing a red shirt? If movies and TV have taught me anything, he won't be surviving for very long.

I did it because I'm bored at work. Apparently I'm the "Next Generation Left" with strong leanings towards a liberal stance on social issues, but also hold core conservative beliefs like personal responsibility. Not quite how I'd describe my political ideology (I don't associate myself with the left), but close enough. I'm more like SAM in that I'm pretty much apolitical. Edit: This is my favourite fact from that site: Bystanders like the outdoors: 66% think of themselves as an “outdoor person."

I just find that part pointless. Just let me hunt the next big monster! I also dislike that once I kill boss X, it doesn't drop gear, or the resources for me to craft gear. It just drops part of it, meaning I have to go search for the rest of the stuff after. Just feels like a huge let down after I've overcome that troublesome monster. Edit: Man, I've been incredibly down on games in my recent posts. I should talk about the ones I like rather than going on about the ones I don't.

But it controls like ass on the 3ds. I even bought a circle pad pro for it (urgh). I think I'd love MH if there was less grinding. The actual monster fights are so much fun, but all the other crap just feels like filler.

Is the MH4 coming out on WiiU? Or have capcom decided to go back to playstation with that?

Holy shit, I just looked that up. How is that even a thing? Looks pretty gross. Made me think though, why are there no photography games like Pokemon snap?

GET THE WONDERFUL 101. So much fun. Monster hunter pretty much demands coop, and it takes around 20 hours before the game is really fun. That's a lot of time input!

Maybe it is the content, I like the story to be about a character who I'm playing as. Rather than being about a bunch of people who (in the most part due to poor or culturally different writing) I don't care about, as I am essentially all of them, making me feel like I am none of them. Although I still think the tales of... Games wouldn't get much further if they just added dialogue choices. It's still blasting me with information and failing the basics of not only game, but film where the audience should be shown/do rather just just told. The Mass Effect games may have some "interactive cut scenes" but they also have little bits that make them feel interactive and important. For example stabbing an engineer in the back to make a boss weaker. The fact that some have small consequences makes you feel like they all might have. I also have the inclination to skip most of the dialogue in bioware games. Want to know more? No thanks, I'll be on my way to talk to someone more interesting!

That's pretty much how I justify spending £50 on the sale. "I got 4 games for the price of one brand new game! Aren't I the savvy consumer." It makes me feel like I've beaten the system. I also will play all of them. August will be a very anti-social month for me.

I find Elder Scrolls lore to be incredibly boring too. It's so bland and cliché. Mass Effect was interesting to me because I'd never really seen a game or movie that had a universe as fleshed out as Star Wars. IT gave me the sense of discovery too. I, and the protagonist (who is essentially me in game) were discovering most of this stuff for the first time. Exposition didn't feel out of place because the protagonist needed to hear it. Plus I like aliens and space. I would love Elder Scrolls/Mass Effect/Dragon Age/KOTOR style game (basically any RPG) set in Feudal Japan. Or ancient Rome. Or Greece. Or Egypt. Or Carthige. With real(-ish) world lore to read about and play through. I'd never stop playing that game. It'd be educational AND fun! In my head I'm imagining Crusader Kings where you play as a soldier and/or a general. I tried FF7 late, in the late PS2 era. What put me off the most was 2 things: 1) What character am I? Am I Cloud? (I fucking hope not) Who's the main character? This is a very Japanese thing to do and as someone who grew up immersed in western culture, the idea of there not being a main character was weird and I couldn't get past it. It's actually an issue I have with a lot of Japanese games. 2) I fucking hate Cloud. All he does is moan. As someone who grew up in western culture I couldn't empathise with this asshole. Oh and the obligatory 3) It was hyped and talked up so much that I was only going to be disappointed.

Probably a miss for me. Shame. I'm sure I'd love it for the first 20 hours then I'd feel obligated to play and end up getting frustrated leading to me quitting 40 hours in. That is the JRPG cycle. I don't like not finishing games! I'm sure it is to do with RPGs being the story games, but western developers have made fantastic RPGs that don't rely on cut scenes - look at the Mass Effect trilogy. I loved the first one so much that it convinced me to go read those long codices! No JRPG has done that, but then again, I've never played a JRPG that was about space exploration rather than magic. Technically The Last of Us is an RPG, and that manages to do both environmental and cut scene story telling. Also as Jon puts it - JRPGs suffer from loading exposition on you, right at the start, when you don't know and don't care. Compare that to the classic western design which involved a character escaping a prison. For whatever reason, that's far more compelling that being told the world is about to end and your character is the only one to stop it before you even know the name of the character. I also have some weird thing that I find the mysticism found in Japanese games to be dumb and boring, but a mage in a western game is cool. I don't know why, but Arthurian legend is cool, but all other forms of magic/mysticism are lame.

I love Fire Emblem, however that's more of a strategy game. I've completed the 3DS one twice and I'm playing it again at the moment. I think there is a difference in that it has story that isn't told through cut scenes. A lot of the story comes from making a decision that leads to an heroic win or a sacrificial death of one character. That stuff gets you strongly attached to the characters. The characters also develop personalities depending on their skills. On my first play through I had two horse"men" one of whom was an absolute tank (Stahl) and I could set him up on a choke point so that he'd just have enemies bouncing off him. Not always killing them, but stalling an enemy advance. The other was Sully, she was a machine for putting out damage. She could kill almost anyone in one hit, but wasn't great at defence. It made me care about the characters because they had personality in their roles, and that made the anime cut scenes far more interesting. Sort of like Xcom, but with more individual personality. I've not played Bayonetta, but I'm very excited for it to come out on WiiU. I love The Wonderful 101 and Metal Gear Rising is a good game as far as I can tell (only played like an hour so far).

Yeah those anime tropes really don't sit well with me. The writing on most JRPGs is awful even if the story is acceptable. P4G is outstanding in those areas though. It's such a shame that I got bored of the long dungeons and repetitive combat. I also find that many JRPGs do that Japanese thing of telling you a story, rather than letting you play it. The Tales of... games are the worst offenders in that respect. The little "skits" that are just full of exposition make me wonder why I have to sit there and read, when they could let me play the damn game. The Souls games do this fantastically, so it's not like it's a Japanese design philosophy, more just lazy or uncreative writing. I've actually got 50+ hours of Bravely Default played already. The combat is great, I really loved the brave/default system, and combining classes to blaze through enemies was so much fun. The story was ass though, especially when you get to chapter 5. I think I made it to 6 and was like "fuck this." Thanks! I'll definitely give it a go. I want to like JRPGs, I just don't think 100 hour dungeon slogs are for me.

I'm 99% sure it does! It has a Wii emulator on the menu. The worst part is that I like pretty much everything about JRPGs, they're just too damn long. Half Minute Hero might actually be my cup of tea. Most JRPGs have awful stories, P4G had a fantastic story. I dunno, I've tried so many, but I've only ever finished Pokémon.

How is Xenoblade? I pretty much hate all JRPGs so I doubt I'd like it, but a lot of people outside the usual JRPG fans seem to enjoy it. The fact it's getting a sequel makes me interested. Looking at metacritic, all the reviews say "best JRPG..." which unfortunately means it's still a classical JRPG.

I don't find the staff to be obnoxious, but I do find them pushy. I don't like being sold to by people, especially being pressured into something, it just makes me want to not buy from them and leave as fast as possible. Also how their bundles cost like £30-50 more than amazon because they shove a bunch of unnecessary crap in there. No I don't want the screen protector, extra stylus box, extra charger, carrying case and other crap that has your brand on it. I just want the console and a game. They can't take them out the bundle either, so off I go to ebay or amazon. The GAME where I lived as a teenager was actually pretty cool, there was a guy and girl who always worked there on weekends and would happily chat to you about games, without pressuring you. Not that I'd stand around and talk for ages, once I had the game clutched in my hands I was out of there so fast. I'm rather annoyed that the white PS4 is a GAME exclusive.