BigJKO

I think that's just absolutely wrong. I don't think any permadeath game would be better without permadeath. It would be intolerably worse, in my opinion. Roguelikes are not meant to be finished. They re indeed played similarly to pinball. How far can you go? How long can you hold out? Every playthrough is different. Give players the option to skip the permadeath and you muddy the value it has for the players that spend time getting better at the game. Pinball would be meaningless if the next player could just flick a switch and have infinite balls. And the reverse is true as well, like you've pointed out. Games without permadeath would almost always be worse with permadeath. Half-life, a game meant to be finished, would be no fun with permadeath. Thank god both types of games exist so both you and I can enjoy video games the way we want to.

Latest door conundrum: Walking out of a small mall, a guy on the other side of the glass door pulled to hold it open for me, failing to realize it was an automatic door. The door proceeded to push him out of the way. I guess the robots won that one.

Well.. Roguelikes (the most poplar Permadeth genre) are also about getting a highscore with limited resources (your health/hearts/lives)

Fell for it again! Aargh!

That's more likely. Edit: ok, yeah it was just a buggered up Korean localization. Damn, I actually believed it this time.

What is this? I'm gonna say it.. Did a HL3 ARG just start?

Amazing!

Or Battlestar Galactica's "Here's a quick preview of what is in THIS episode before you actually watch it".. God, that was the worst thing ever. The Mad Men Next Week's are completely (and perhaps deliberately) useless. They just string absolute nonsense together, showing the least exciting scenes of people saying random, meaningless sentences. It's useless, but doesn't really spoil anything.

Not that I'm going to see WWZ ever, but you should maybe spoiler tag that ending stuff for the few in here that might actually care.

dartmonkey, you've yet to add me: 4184 - 1780 - 6592

Yes, please. Just do a "The Big LucasArts Playthrough" thread. Dump it all in there. I might even join in on some of the games, even though I've played them.

Don't dig too deep into the Sierra ones. There are some fun ones, but nothing that comes close to LucasArts in the writing department. Maybe don't play through Maniac Mansion right away after MI2, it's really dated compared to most LucasArts games.

You're on a roll.

I visited teg's town yesterday and it was amazing. So many sharks and fishes in the museum. Teg also generously donated almost all the different fruits, so now I have them all planted. As slow as it feels to have to go through the dialogue, wait for a connection, just to see if ANY of your friend's towns are open, it is sure worth it once you actually get to visit. It was much fun, Teg. Thanks!

Yes, I'm so happy that the animation is choppy so it feels like stop-motion. I'm sold!

Ah, thanks teg. I haven't unlocked the island. Also my town has a sweet new flag:

You guys keep mentioning a box you put all your fruit into? What and where is this? Only storage I could find was a file cabinet I bought and put in my house. Also, that fake art link was amazing! That is a wonderfully simple way of indicating falseness. Lastly, of course you should keep watering the flowers, unless you are some kind of a WEIRDO that doesn't like shiny flowers! Duh!

That's a god damn bargain, if you ask me..

Ok, there was apparently a Mii mask in City Folk and if that mask was another skin tone your hands and feet changed to match it. But why it isn't just a choice when you click your picture in the inventory, I just don't understand..

Wow. That is a weird thing to never include. "Customize EVERYTHING! Except you're always white with brown hair." Or can hair color be changed?

That is pretty weird. Didn't earlier versions let you choose a skin color? I seem to remember that being the case..

Yes. Permadeath isn't something that can be applied to any game. The times it works is when the game is designed for it. When every playthrough is designed to be meaningful and not just a retread. Where death has meaning and purpose. Obviously playing through The Walking Dead every time you die isn't fun, but that's because it's not designed to be played like that.

I've gone from three 3DS friends to 20 or something, due to AC:NL coming out. Still haven't got it, though. I WANT TO GET INTO TOWN!

It's not ridiculous. It's just, with my salary and a kid I could never justify spending that amount of money on two consoles and an Occulus Rift. I'm jealous. But.. I'm also never going to be as excited about a new console as any of you. I don't see the appeal in buying at launch and having to select between a handful of games. I bought a 360 a year ago, for a cheap price, and with it is a huge library. Just feels like more of a bargain.. Weirdly, though, I'm the opposite of everyone apparently, because I'm suddenly excited enough about the Wii U that I might buy one some day.

Wait, Play Coins can be used in Animal Crossing?! I gotta start saving up. I keep using them up on stupid Mii Plaza stuff. I've been playing Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D! for the past week, waiting for my AC:NL copy to arrive. It's pretty god damn solid. Absolutely feels like a DK Country game but new, fresh and incredibly polished (so far, at least.) It makes me pretty excited and confident that Nintendo will pull off other retreads like the Link to the Past sequel.