Roderick

Don Quixote II is the Citizen Kane of Far Cry 2.

Yes, it is. I believe I have expounded upon the virtues of Rango in this very topic.

This text made me so sad when I read it yesterday. First off, I don't really understand what this guy's motive is. If he's trying to convert people who at this point 'still' read YA fiction, it's a miserable attempt since he's insulting them in a rather crass and unnecessary way. I don't disagree with the statement that adult readers will get a lot more out of literature than they would out of Harry Potter, but the way this is put is just heinous and misinformed. I would've backed any argument along the lines of: You should read adult literature, because it'll challenge you in ways Harry Potter will not. It will more often than not speak directly to you about events and thoughts that matter to you in this phase of your life, and enrich you in the process, deepening your insight into the human experience. But what do we get instead? A troll shouting BLARGHARGHARGH, thou shalt not read Hunger Games, because it's inferior crap, embarrassing akin to being caught watching pornography, and oh yes, also films are crap and games are just a waste of time! I would be sad and baffled by this line of reasoning, if it didn't already make me upset and insulted and desiring this person's exile from any publication henceforth. This text is a vile piece of trash and the worst advocate adult literature could ask for, hurting its cause instead of promoting it, dividing and alienating groups instead of bringing together.

I'm so happy the carbonite is gone.

You gotta give the man props for that video. 'Hi, I'm legendary adventure game designer Tim Sch-- Al Lowe.'

Carice van Houten is one of the best actresses in the Netherlands, which is why I'm so stumped at how mediocre this performance seemed. Maybe I'm reading too much in it though! It's also entirely possible she was asked not to sound too 'American' and let her natural accent shine through. I'm still interested if for non-Dutch people it was fine and really just a 'typical fantasy affectation'. I also tried to watch RuPaul, but got blocked.

I loved being back in Westeros. It's very pleasant! But tell me, did anyone else feel that Carice van Houten (who plays the witch, Melisandre or something? Her name isn't mentioned) had a terrible Dutch accent? Maybe for non-Dutch people it's 'exotic', but for me it's just a person speaking English with a bad accent. Carica is usually delightful, but this was off-putting. I had to very quickly turn the TV audio way down .

Why morality systems are a mistake What can games like Mass Effect and Fable learn from Starcraft II about player choice and story interactivity? a. I’m sure both have their own unique charm, let’s not bicker and argue. (+10 Good) b. Starcraft II has nothing on those games! Burn in hell! (+10 Bad) The obvious reaction to this juxtaposition is to chuckle at Starcraft II’s linear storyline and extremely limited player choice compared to the rich interlocking of decisions and character moments, not to mention morality systems, in the RPG’s mentioned. But like those games (and many others that have followed in their wake), you’d be making a huge mistake. Good or Good The interactive story elements in Starcraft II can be counted on a single hand. There is some choice in the order of missions, which is nice, but not really what’s important here. Rather, there are two or three moments in the game where a self-contained storyline and a clear, binary choice are presented. In the example I’d like to look at, the player is approached by two parties. On the one hand we have a Terran doctor whose colony has been infested by Zerg. On the other a Protoss commander who has spotted the infestation and plans to destroy the colony. Both request the player’s aid for either protection or destruction and have their own, unique level to play depending on the decision. It seems like a straightforward choice the likes of which you encounter a million times in the average ‘moral RPG’, if I may call it that for the purposes of this piece. The way it plays out in Starcraft II, however, couldn’t be more different. Starcraft II wants the player to be a hero, so it alters itself to accommodate their decision. If the player sides with the Terran doctor, the Protoss are repelled and the colony survives without a trace of Zerg infestation. Should they hitch along with the Protoss however, the colony turns out to have been entirely infested all this time and the doctor a Zerg mutant. In both cases, the player made ‘the right call’. None of the two options was the ‘bad’ one, the ‘evil’ choice, and there are no real in-game repercussions. Is this facile? Is this a childish way of treating the player; a non-story where mistakes can’t be made and there are no moral conundrums? I’d like to posit that it is actually more liberating and more ‘free’ than any of the choices made in moral RPG’s. Nullifying story The big problem with franchises like Mass Effect and Fable is that they have systematized the choices. You are either good or evil (Paragon or Renegade). The choices you make reward you with points counting up to some apex of holiness or depravity. You are rewarded for being consistent: reach the top and your avatar grows horns and starts looking demonic, you’ll unlock special quests and regions, not to mention the achievement proclaiming you to be Lucifer himself. This means that you are at the same time effectively punished for not keeping to any one side of the morality coin. It’s not hard to see where this leads. These franchises, that are built around the titillating promise of choice, choice, choice, only really have one for the player to make, and it’s all the way at the beginning of the game. The player’s first decision locks them tightly into an ever-constricting vice that rewards consistency (i.e. always being either good or bad, regardless of the situation) and punishes wishy-washiness. This pulls the rug completely from under their carefully crafting stories and universes. It doesn’t matter how intricate the storyline is, how ingenious the moral dilemma - I'm getting ten extra Angel Points if I just do the same thing I’ve always done. The moral RPG’s aren’t completely blind to this and in a bid to give the player some semblance of option they slack the requirements for reaching the top of the moral experience bar a little. This does nothing to aid the problem that the player is still thinking about moral choice in the wrong way: they’re strategizing how to maximize their points for the digital carrot on the stick, rather than focusing exclusively on the (hopefully interesting) story problem at hand. Even worse, oftentimes players would like to do what their heart (or gut, or any other thinking part of the body) tells them to, but feel obliged to stick to the path they chose earlier because of the reward/punishment systems in place. The game becomes an oppressive god, monitoring and checking your actions. Have you been good? No? Then I’ll just subtract these points from your Cherub Bar and you won’t get that badass armor. Let choices stand on their own Let’s check back with Starcraft II. How was it again? A simple choice in which no answer is the wrong one and you’re not judged by the game in any way. This allows the player to be fully immersed in the setting, without worrying about artificial tracking systems and contrived morality meters. If I may speak from my own experience, the decision I made in Starcraft II was genuinely more frightening and tense than most of anything I did in Mass Effect or Fable. This was because there was no clear right or wrong answer, no guiding hand or gameplay coercion. I was completely free to decide what to do, based only on elements present in the story, without judgment for dessert. Please note that the purpose of this article is not to imply that the player must at all times be made the hero of the story, nor that the story has to warp itself around them. Though Starcraft II’s willingness to alter itself was interesting and a fun direction for Blizzard to take, I equally enjoy choices that have real consequences and actual effect in the game. The take-away of this rant then is not to systematize narrative choices. Story interactivity is hurt deeply by systems that reward or punish the player for deviating from a set course, or being capricious and changeable. Story choices should exist in a nebulous context without clearly defined gameplay mechanics latched onto them. Sporting good or evil choices is fine, as long as there is no extrinsic motivation to choose one over the other, or one exclusively. As soon as the player sniffs out any encouragement to take one choice over the other, it becomes a non-choice and might as well not be in the game at all. Worse, players feel trapped in their own decisions. The fun of choosing becomes a cell with the game as Big Brother looming over them. It might be in game designers’ nature to want to systematize every element of their game. This instinct must be suppressed here. If we want narrative choices to have actual, moral, emotional meaning, they must be kept far, far away from reward/punishment gameplay systems, tracking bars or even achievements. That’s the lesson that Starcraft II offers, in all its storytelling simplicity. Roderick Leeuwenhart

You're right, now I see the Koepel! I always pass it by in the bus when I'm in Haarlem. Haarlem is the best city in the land. I'd love to live there.

Ysbreker, why is your front door six stories up? Is there a deathlike plummet down when you step out? Also, which city of this! I was trying to locate something familiar but it could be anywhere in the Randstad, basically.

Interesting apology at the end of that link, by the way. It sounds quite sincere. Those tweets were still in very poor taste (particularly because they had a mocking tone to them), but I'll believe the guy isn't essentially awful, after his letter.

For millions and millions.

Correct, Microsoft Japan originally conceived the MSX, but it wasn't so much a console as it was a standard for computers. The one I had was manufactured by Philips.

Like I wrote in the other thread, MSX2, baby! Popular in pretty much only Japan and the Netherlands, but as result we did get a lot of cool Japanese games Booting screen:

WE'RE STARTING OUR OWN SECRET FORUM, THUNDERPEEL.

No, the interesting thing about success is that it seduces bad people to show their true colors.

WHELP, that calls for a protest uninstall. Let's get really knee-jerk on this jerk.

Looks really cool, what a nice art style! The name is a little strange though, it seems silly or even too self-referential for the genuinely attractive world it represents. On the basis of the name I expected comedy, not a Viking drama. Still, very impressive!

For all you Dutchies out here, the new Dick Maas flick Quiz is really good! It's typical Maas fare with the movie wildly veering off into the world of cheese and bad acting several times, but there are moments of real brilliance too in the way it draws inspiration from The Dark Knight and pulls off a few really amazing scenes. One of the Netherlands' best actors, Pierre Bokma, performs the hell out of his role. I'm seeing this again as soon as I can.

N-noooooo...

Hypnotic. Do I spot Noel Fielding in the back row?

Veering off topic, as a general rule, I think video games need more songs. Musicals are a valid storytelling genre, but the amount of VG musicals can be counted on one hand. Epic Mickey 2 is exciting for that reason. You have the Curse of Monkey Island song of course, which shows how wonderful and memorable a diegetic song can be.

I am probably not Phaedrus I didn't get to upgrade my Kickstarter thingy so my payment fell through. Had too much on my mind with getting a new job to allocate brain space to doing the credit card tango. Well, have fun on your exclusive forums! (I'm glad I did get to enjoy at least the wonderful Amnesia story from the earlier progress cast. And like I said, the earliest opportunity to donate some money via other means such as PayPal, I'll make good and then some.)

Guys guys guys, PAJAMA SAM is the best. Even though I was a little too old to appreciate those titles fully. I mean, I grew up with MSX2, so my childhood favorite was the game where you had to jump to the top of a huuuuge tree as a little Indian.