Smart Jason

I don't think that's a totally fair analogy - Alien's influence is defined more as a genre (space/science fiction horror) whereas Twin Peaks (and remember, this is just my perspective as some who's not seen it, I'm not claiming to be correct - just explaining why I've passed it over) introduced and, in effect, permitted the specific tropes of weirdness for its own sake and an almost authorial-referential disregard for traditional narrative conclusion. It actually took me a very long time to see Alien/Aliens, long after I'd played many of the games they'd inspired, but that wasn't a matter of deliberately avoiding them - even though I recognized the tiredness of the genre in games. In that case there was even an element of interest in seeing the seminal work, because I expected it to be satisfying of its right.

All right, I'm in. I've never seen the show before and have been purposefully avoiding it because I actually dislike the influence it's had on pop culture (from my perspective); i.e., the prevalence of the surreal without any sort of explanation, closure, or catharsis. This is especially frustrating with games that have been inspired by the show (with an obvious pass given to Deadly Premonition) because their writing is often categorically less sophisticated than other medium's. So, I don't know if finally watching Twin Peaks will change my mind about the show or its descendants, but hey, I'll take some backwards-talking nonsense in exchange for more Chris and Jake in my life.

That's fair, my answer to most problems in life is to send death threats.

Right game, but this is one time that I'm going to have to be strict about the name as I'm not seeing the track by that title anywhere. Possibly my fault, but you'll have to indulge me. Not yet correct, but very close! I had a feeling you'd get number four, atte, from the box art, actually. Something about the crop I chose just screamed to me. And yeah, my track choice from game ten - I wanted it to be unique, because my first instinct was to go with the title theme because that's probably my favorite piece of music from the game. Along the way, I realized it was also an homage to the song you chose from its predecessor in your quiz: both the creepiest, most haunting tracks in the game. This seems to suggest that there's a consensus about the title, but I still can't find it under that name anywhere else. And sorry, elmuerte, I do my best for you! I try to get as wide a sampling as I can without also being too obscure, and there may or may not be some PC games left ... You know what, you're completely right. I originally had the song as Conker's Drunk, but then Horse Bag gave that title and I saw it cited way more often and it initially sounded the same to my daft ears so I figured it was the canonical one. Listening again, though, yeah, they're clearly different songs. Technically, Horse Bag identified the game first and then you got the song, so history will see you share the credit (and no one will ever know of this shameful blunder of mine). You've all surpassed last year's quiz already! Yay!

Very well done, very precisely titled! Just one off from the record! And yeah, I hope there was not too much confusion about number twelve - murkiness such as that is going to be endemic when dealing with the games I've not personally played. Ah, damn, I feel personally bad for the timing of this, since the new quiz is attributable to you bumping this thread! Really good effort, and all were correct, just bad luck! Maybe you'll catch another one before the end! And, haha, congratulations about your time spent with game fifteen. Own that shame.

Well done! Number eight is a real favorite of mine. Amazingly, no one's actually complained about that sensation yet. I've wondered if it's been affecting anyone. No shame in it, of course - it just gives you reason to keep checking. Getting one, which you did, is still totally respectable!

You've set a new record for most answers by one person! All correct, great job!

Overzealous insecurity alert! A great year for video games, 2001 is also my sophomore music quiz effort. I feel like the bell curve is a lot larger on this one in terms of difficulty, so as ever, feedback is appreciated. I hope you enjoy. Looking for titles as well as games. Like before, the twentieth game is the final boss. No one got last quiz's - let's see if we can conquer this one's!

Are you sending death threats? They're par for the course for me - I ensure everyone in the army has a red X over their head just as consistently I have intel on all of them. That increases their power by a not insubstantial amount.

As promised, here are the answers: Overall, the board reached 13/20, a perfectly passing 65. Congratulations! The 2001 Quiz is coming soon.

From above, so below: Look, obviously I don't care what the rest of your opinions are about VII and which Final Fantasy games were good or if any of them ever were or whatever. I'm sure you're all wrong, and I'm right, and that's all there is to it. It's just not up for debate that in 1997, getting to the final boss of a game and suddenly hearing an orchestra followed by Latin chanting was not only going to blow your stupid kid brain out through your head, it was legitimately groundbreaking. Sure, maybe One-Winged Angel isn't the most sophisticated song ever written (Bach probably had something slightly better, maybe), and perhaps some PC games had Latin in them before Final Fantasy VII did, but this was a time when it wasn't absolutely - tediously - expected for your endgame to include epic chanting and dead language-resurrecting apotheosis on the part of the villain. It wasn't astonishing because I was twelve, it was astonishing because they were doing something unparalleled in scope, mood, and production. It was iconic, and it couldn't have been achieved but for that music. This was real good too.

Oh wow, I'd never heard of this game or its developer, but this video is incredibly charming (shit, Noyb used this exact word!) and both are now definitely on my radar! This looks awesome! Snake Eater was absolutely on my mind when I created this topic and was on a longer list of "honorable mentions," so to speak, that I nearly etcetera-d but didn't embed in my first post, but I reconsidered and got rid of that list because I didn't want to deny anyone the privilege of linking those songs themselves. Now, Calling to the Night is a great example! It's actually my favorite of the Metal Gear Solid credits songs (possibly blasphemous since Portable Ops is of dubious canon), but more than just that, the fact that Snake has his iPod in Metal Gear Solid 4 means you get Calling to the Night, Snake Eater, and all these other tracks to listen to during any given moment of that game and I think that's actually a really powerful piece of design! You can override the Harry Gregson-Williams score of any action set piece with that iPod, or make stealth sections all the more nostalgic and contemplative; I think it's a great addition given how fond that game is for its history. I've spent the last couple of days thinking of more examples to post when I came back to this thread and I'd figured that, at some point, every single game with an original song that I'd played had crossed my mind and it would just be a matter of remembering them all when I actually sat down to do so. I absolutely cannot believe I forgot about this scene in Kentucky Route Zero! It stands as, in my mind, possibly the most definitive thesis statement for the game itself to date and as what games and narrative song can do with one another interactively. Absolutely beautiful choice. This is another I had in mind! Thrik is totally correct, Remedy used music brilliantly in Alan Wake - the soundtrack songs between episodes were great, the diagetic music was super evocative, and the original songs were not only good (I actually really like The Poet and the Muse, even if I feel self-conscious saying so because it sounds like the kind of song people with better taste than me in high school would make fun of me for liking) they were knowingly etched into the plot. It is a uniquely Remedy experience to play an action set piece in a game while characters in the game sing a song written for the game about the lore of the game: This is such a fantastic choice to point out. Even though Still Alive became a phenomenon, and I actually think Want You Gone is genuinely touching and a great song, Exile Vilify stands absolutely supreme among original songs in games as something you can just listen to free of context if you so choose, while also feeling the emotional weight of Portal 2's hidden-in-the-cracks backstory (if your own current emo pain isn't sufficient). It's the only song mentioned in this post that's in my iTunes library, certainly. Which is to be expected, being commissioned by a real band and all, but that just makes its use in Portal all the stronger. I actually didn't know that this was an original song! I love Beyond, I'm a huge fan of Quantic Dream, actually. And while one of my only major complaints with the game would be that I thought the homeless section was too sentimental and dishonest, the presence of this scene was doubtlessly its high point for me. What a lovely, heartbreaking performance - and I guess it's here I should point out that I could make an entirely different thread that would read almost exactly the same called "Winter and Snow in Games." So, someone singing on guitar on a snow-covered city block is basically my idea of a perfect setting for any piece of art, particular a game. Thank you for shouting this out! These are all awesome examples! I was definitely worried after I made this thread that I didn't explain myself well enough or that the topic was too similar to the myriad other music topics on this or any other video game board, and both are still probably true, but I love what's being linked. Let me try to add some more: First off, there are a few purer (man, that's a loaded word to use in conjunction with this game) examples from BioShock Infinite, and its DLC, than what I chose in my first post. There's a point in the original game where you travel through a childhood educational facility and are treated to the peppy, catchy . (Side note: Having never heard before playing the game, I naïvely and blithely assumed it was original for the game and - if it were - it and the sniper fight it poignantly proceeds just before the Hall of Heroes would be my sole example from the game, because it was such a perfect game moment, in my eyes.) With a particular nod to Bucking Bronco, there's also the in Burial at Sea. I especially love how they weave in and out of earshot as you explore the space, ever-present, ever-advertising this utility you're using to brutalize the maniacs in your path. But, what I choose to highlight is the lone protest song of Rapture. I hope and imagine everyone playing Burial at Sea stopped and sat to this not-quite-Guthrie. What a wonderful, passionate way to color life in Rapture through a lens like never before! It makes audio diaries seem so horribly dry by comparison. I almost feel like this one is cheating. Wolfenstein: The New Order just recently received so much praise for its world-building skill in developing the Nazi-ruled 1960s and arguably the most critical part of that was its incredibly clever use of music. As you can read on Wikipedia, for the score of the game, the team eschewed Wagner and classical Nazi sounds, deciding that the tone of the game would be better served by analogue equipment and a soundtrack that is "a tribute to all things guitar." (To say nothing of J being the greatest character in any war game ever made.) Along the way, three stylistic parodies also made it into the game - of which my favorite is Mond, Mond, Ja, Ja by Die Käfer (or: Moon, Moon, Yeah, Yeah by The Beetles). What even makes the song more than just a catchy German take on Twist and Shout with a premonitory title is that you can find more news articles detailing Die Käfer's place in world of Wolfenstein in the environment, even suggesting they have a role in the resistance. Like The Pie Song above, an excellent use of environmental storytelling, with a musical twist (ünd shout; sorry, I'm really tired). Payday 2 is a game that gets unfairly overlooked in intelligent gaming forums such as this one, in my opinion. I'm rather addicted to it, for one, and its developers have a real flair for keeping alive the live action trailer. The above one is rather long, but the first minute, cut to the original song Drifting written for the game, is a wonderful introduction to its main character. Again, the theme of song being a hallmark of developers who seem to truly love their IPs is held true to pattern here (and this is far from the first Overkill has commissioned, perhaps more in a later post). The song isn't just a listenable country number, it harmonizes with the visual Easter eggs of the trailer and you know from its very first line that it's for Payday. Is there a limit to how many videos you can embed in a single post? Oh God, forgive this faux pas (post pas?) To be sheepishly continued.

I'm certainly not tapped out on making them, just didn't want to be seen as overzealous or anything. I'll release an answer key/answer video in the next day or two - along with a 2001 Quiz, unless Tegan wants to do it for real, then I'll gladly clear the space. (Also, there's nothing saying you need a video - my friends and I used to do them with just a .zip file of .mp3s of the clips. It's not nearly as user friendly, but requires no video editing skill - not that mine required "skill" per se either.) Last call for answers to my 2000 Quiz, in the meantime.

It does supposedly have cloud saves, although I'd never want to be in a position to have to rely on them, no matter the game.

She doesn't stream that much, but seeing as how this topic happens to be on top right now, Anita Sarkeesian has a channel on which she and Carolyn Petit are currently playing Gone Home. JP LeBreton's channel should also be mentioned, certainly.

I finished the game last night (and got every achievement, cheers) and I'd say the closing set of story missions were a very mixed bag for me. There were some moments, both scripted and - more impressively - as a result of the nemesis system that were highs of the entire game. However, the narrative also fell back on some damsel business and really didn't know how to end: got to have a sequel, can't shake up Lord of the Rings canon too much. Just my thoughts on the story, though; I loved the game overall. I anticipate going back in and messing with orcs a little more. I'm even slightly tempted on that DLC, just to play as Celebrimbor.

I think it's hugely underselling the game's combat (even if we're reducing it to the narrowest definition of just the melee mechanics) to call it mediocre. I'd estimate I'm about halfway through the game now in terms of completion, and just venturing into a stronghold presents such an organic and emergent experience. I was originally going to attempt to write about my experience just playing one extremely rewarding (and ultimately failed) mission in a stronghold earlier, where every system just flowed together so dynamically that I really did stop and say "Oh my God," but it just comes off as overly fawning. I love the way the systems in this game interact, though, and I think you have to go a little deep (although not unreasonably so) to see them all. When, in a single mission, you are crafting a dance of explosions, poison, animal domination, melee combat - then moving into stealth to regain the advantage (I could go on about how smart the Brutality kills as a mechanic are) - and in that time killing two captains before finally dying at the hands of some up-jumped grunt of a third, that's a run-on sentence of a great time. Anyway, while I was writing this post, I can see that Gwardinen replied and said what I was trying to say more eloquently, so instead I'll just go out on (very early spoiler):

I am right with you as having never enjoyed Assassin's Creed and I was slightly worried by the comparisons. I just sunk five hours into this game (only stopping thanks to a Steam Big Picture crash) and I can assure you the game, from both combat and stealth standpoints, is far more Batman than Assassin's. The stealth is predatory and empowering, just as the Arkham games' design philosophy dictates, whereas in Assassin's Creed I am constantly lost, clumsy, and frustratedly unsure of how to approach my target. The piles of leaves are just ground-level gargoyles. I'm also satisfied with how the game's holding up technically. I ran numerous benchmarks in the beginning in order to optimize my settings (I really appreciate games including this feature, BioShock Infinite did it very nicely as well) and I have every setting (besides the anomalously burdensome textures) at high or ultra on my modest GTX 680 and the framerate's been staying at a very smooth sixty.

There's still the element of the personality quiz endings that will, ostensibly, be unique to you.

It's been a very long time since I've picked up a Humble Bundle, either on account of disinterest or already owning the majority of its titles, but I grabbed this week's solely because I'd never before heard of The Cat Lady and its premise just seemed to hit me squarely on target. I ended up finishing it in three nights and really rather loved it, tearing up by the end. I'm actually amazed that the game went so long under my radar, as I'd consider myself one of those fairly educated consumers aware of the general zeitgeist of indie game titles at all times (only waiting for saturation of acclaim to actually purchase). That's a shame, because The Cat Lady goes a long way, in my opinion, to widening the landscape of games which not only tackle but whose raison d'être is to address depression, suicide, abusive relationships, and so on. More so, I believe (and, of course, this is merely my perspective as a man) that the main character is an excellently written woman whose gender is clearly identifiable* but not a fictional liability. At this point I should mention that most of the puzzles in this point and click adventure game center around life or death altercations with very thin psychopathic antagonists, creating the crux of the games moment-to-moment confrontational drama, so it isn't all thematically divine, but if you enjoy the game's crude, grim art style, even this is enjoyable. The game's writing feels extremely authentic when it comes to mental illness. I suppose I got the normal ending as opposed to the perfect ending, but honestly, looking it up afterward, the former felt more honest anyway. I am extremely sensitive when it comes to games evaluating and rewarding story choices I make subjectively and possibly at a role-playing level, and The Cat Lady does commit that sin once or twice but ultimately not in a way that ruined my overall experience. Suffice it all to say (and this post has been a real struggle, keeping my head together at three in the morning; sorry if I've rambled), I loved it. *I make a point of this because I'm still on about arguing over Quiet in the new Metal Gear game being a sexist character and being shouted down as I was told that Hideo Kojima was excused of such accusations for being the creator of The Boss - "the greatest female game character in history;" The Boss, of course, just being a yet another ostentatious Metal Gear Solid soldier character who for once happened to be a woman.

I've been using Green Man for years and have always thought their vouchers were single use. Good to know. And yeah, I can't argue that GMG has reputation, and it took me a while to be comfortable ordering on Nuuvem, but now it's the first place I check. Nuuvem - where prices come to party!

It may have been poor form of me to pick a game with such repeating melodies! You're on the right track, but neither of those are quite it, I'm afraid.

Not to undercut you (literally), but Nuuvem has the game for the next three days for a (converted) USD $30. That's where I'll be getting it from; plus you can save GMG's September coupon for something else, if you like! If anyone's unfamiliar, Nuuvem's a Brazilian site that frequently has great new release prices on account of conversion rates. Game keys aren't region locked unless specified and they accept PayPal; no VPN or anything is required to purchase, and I swear I didn't only register on this forum as a viral marketer for Nuuvem. Nuuvem - catch it!

Aw, and I thought this quiz was a loving tribute to game music. I am normally quite cynical about video games, but at least their soundtracks don't generally have the potential (barring extreme edge cases) to be culturally offensive or intellectually insulting (although I can see how, if you're musically literate, a game's soundtrack can be just as, as you said, derivative as its actual story). Maybe it's because I'm not personally learned in music at all, but that makes relatively starry-eyed about that one facet of them, I suppose!