mikemariano

Yup: EDIT: Let's remove the image posted from my iPhone. Plus even though our surveyed demographic is exactly as stereotypical as you'd expect, I'm glad that we don't act as stereotypically as you'd expect (or at least not in a way I can't tune out).

Lock this thread NOW. [Yours is actually a cool story and I'm glad you told it! But we're playing with nuclear weapons here...]

For what it's worth, I can't imagine a better "First Person Metroid game" than Metroid Prime. The studio nailed so much of what I considered essential to a Metroid experience.

i can't believe that only has 46,000 views. I am responsible for at least 500 of them.

I'm a proud Quitter's Club member of Metroid Prime. I went back to collect all those Chozo artifacts and still couldn't figure it out with YouTube Let's Plays right in front of me.

I declined to back it after watching one of the videos—the pixel art characters are just too anonymous for the atmosphere they're going for. They are also too small for the Castlevania-type action to be comprehensible. I will probably end up being completely wrong about all of that, though, because the designers have definitely spent a lot of time thinking about setting and atmosphere.

I've only heard good things but have no experience at all with Ultima Underworld II.

Fury Boy, you are going to make me dig this game back out. The only reason I stopped is because it was impossible for me to jump gaps using my laptop trackpad. Ultima Underworld deserves its sterling reputation.

I replied over in the Shadowrun thread. Short answer: Silver Angel 2050!

I'm going to drag this over from Recently Completed Games to respond. My favorite Workshop mission was Silver Angel 2050, which had well-realized characters to recruit—in this respect it was miles ahead of Dead Man's Switch. The last time I played the mission, though, it was still unfinished, ending abruptly after a pretty wild fight. I also liked A Lost Lamb, a backer-created level that got featured even before the launch of Dead Man's Switch. It was simple, but well-crafted. Similarly simple was Hauntings, a short trip through a haunted house with a few easy battles, but some weird things they did with the engine. I somewhat enjoyed Spetsnaz 2045, but it had an extremely narrow path—you had to guess what the designer wanted you to do and then follow it exactly. I haven't played a Workshop mission since before Dragonfall came out, so there might be improvements to these levels or newer, better ones as well. Post here if you find anything good!

Out of State is DEVASTATING. I can't believe Wyoming is the best we can hope for in life.

Yeah, Wario's name is clever because of the consonance. Waluigi's name is not as clever, but it's not as pointless as it first appears.

I beat Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall last night. I fought the final battle a few days ago; my character receiving a killing blow during the last round of combat. My team defeated everyone, but combat did not end and I wasn't revived. Since none of my characters had BuMoNa revival kits left, I skipped through two rounds and let my character die, losing the game. Then I found out that my game autosaved after that last round of combat. Since I was dead, one of my teammates walked up to the last NPC standing and had a conversation with them. After the conversation was over, the YOU DIED screen immediately popped up. Last night I played through this final battle again, my character barely surviving. There are a lot of interesting choices to make in this game, even after the final battle is over. Now to get back to playing Steam Workshop missions for this game!

Ha! Except you can actually drive a Tachikoma if you get inside it.

As awesome as that poem was, I am still a committed Waluigi hater. He has no reason to exist beyond Wario needing a tennis partner. In the 14 years since Mario Tennis he has yet to justify his appearance. There are other Nintendo hangers-on with just as little personality—Daisy and Captain Falcon. At least they got some artificial desirability as unlockable characters in Mario Kart DS and Super Smash Bros. No one wants to unlock Waluigi.

Hi all! I am going to Chicago this weekend. (Fri–Wed 5/30–6/4) I haven't been there since I was a child. I am staying downtown near Navy Pier and am mostly just seeing a lot of theatre and trying to find good vegetarian food. If any of you are nearby let me know!

In addition to not releasing Half-Life games, not releasing any other games, and not giving Diretide, Valve is also now not releasing Steam Machines or Steam Controllers. At least not this year. Remember that Dorkly "Message from Gabe Newell" in which their fictional Gabe excoriates Half-Life fans? We're an innovative company and you whiners just want a rehashed sequel! At this point I just want anything at all. I wouldn't be surprised if they get bored and abandon Dota midway through the International.

I finished the podcast on the train tonight, stifling my laughter as it descended into Super Noah's Ark 3D nonsense. I must not have stifled it enough because a woman sat in the seat next to mine and asked: "What are you listening to?" I answered: "A podcast." "Oh, I love podcasts. Which one?" "Idle Thumbs? It's a video game podcast." "Oh, are they like a hardcore gaming podcast?" "Not really; right now they're talking about a Super Nintendo Noah's Ark game." "I remember that game! You said this podcast was called Idle Thumbs? I'll have to look them up." So hopefully I did right by all of you...?

They're talking about Nick Herman, but that just means ol' Breckon is left out completely.

Chris asks why we don't see more coverage and interviews about a game following its release. But we do! That's when the studio gets shut down and we get a Polygon article about it!

Elite's charm is different than Wing Commander, etc. Dr. Wookie's video was just him buying some tea off of a menu, leaving a space station, flying to another space station, and selling the tea. That's everything a classic Elite player could ask for! That and crashing into the side of the space station or getting shot down by space cops.

Talking about lives make me think of how weird some of the Mario deaths are. If Mario loses a Blooper race in Sunshine or Galaxy, he just holds his head in his hands—but it's counted as a death! It makes the concept of "lives" even weirder.

The writing tries too hard—Guybrush has to have a response to everything Elaine says, funny or not. They are also reverent to a fault to the earlier games. But Charity James is much better than I remember. She was extremely chirpy taking over for Grace in Gabriel Knight 3, a quality that I thought was inappropriate for Elaine. But she isn't all that chirpy and underplays a lot of the more desperate-sounding dialogue, making a decent straight-man to Guybrush's antics. So far I think syntheticgerbil's summary will play out.

Navigation-wise Guybrush doesn't bounce off invisible walls as badly as Manny did, but he has more verbs than Manny and I can't figure out the buttons. I keep pressing "O" which immediately exits me from buildings or sends me to the Melee Island map! Did you speak to the Voodoo Lady? I bummed around her shop and couldn't figure out how to summon her.

Finally, a remake of Sewer Shark.