Irishjohn

Phaedrus' Street Crew
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    981

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Irishjohn

  2. Posted

    It's time to say goodbye to Red Dead Redemption, I think. It's damn lovely - it still looks great, but GTA is so clunky. I went to buy the deed to a hut for some dude and when I returned there was a bird circling above then nearby rock. I aimed my gun and the guy went crazy, started shooting at me. I failed the mission, was told my outlaw status had changed or something. Nuts to this.

     

    That's a real pity! Try and stick with it! It's a fantastic game.

     

    Having said that, I am very close to giving up on Assassin's Creed Black Flag. I'm not that far in, but I just ignored a mission to go off exploring and have fun, and when I logged back in the next day I was back at my checkpoint as if nothing had happened because I didn't plunder 70 metal.

     

    I am considering persevering, but Jesus Christ on a bike I find this infuriating. Maybe I've become more of a PC guy or maybe it's just that I don't have much time to play games but it really seems like Assassin's Creed games expect about twelve hours of tutorials before you're allowed to just play. It's very aggressive in laying out those parameters too. I just want to play a game. I gave up on Assassin's Creed III early despite the fact I was interested in the theme. May do the same thing with Black Flag, despite the potential promise of piracy.

  3. Posted

    Amplitude Studios are amazing. They just released an update for the year-old game. Some rather minor things, but as I'm obsessed with the game I'm very happy. They also said that a big free update is coming soon, a new ship and character and gamepad support.

     

    Counting the posts it seems the game flew a bit under the Thumbs radar. Why, I ask you, why?

     

    It's my favorite game of the last year, my favorite game since FTL. You people should play it!

     

    Yeah, Dungeon of the Endless is pretty awesome. I have become a bit of a fan of Amplitude, which is the first time I've had a "favourite developer" in... a long time. They've had a pretty fantastic couple of years.

  4. Posted

    I think this conversation is missing examples from non-digital games, which have always had a loose definition that is mostly built around a philosophy of "play" and not systematized challenge or complexity.

     

    I still recall waiting for a train at the L near DePaul and hearing a couple of students complain about their game design professor having them read about and discuss ancient games and the evolution of chess. Seemed to me it was an interesting approach (though I wasn't in their class, I do know someone at DePaul that teaches that stuff; if it was the person I know the approach would have been very well thought out). 

    In sports history, which I write about, the concept of "play" really comes into it when debating whether or not something is a sport. I really need to write an article on eSports soon, but in essence I find the question of what IS a sport, or a game, fascinating but I don't really care about what an outcome of such a debate would be. Basically, I want the debate because it gets us thinking, but the debate doesn't need a resolution.

     

    I actually did not like Gone Home all that much. I admired it, and I liked what it was doing. As a historian, in particular, I loved their recreation of a very specific 1990s vibe. I grew up in Ireland, not the Pacific Northwest, but that world-building felt very real to me. I just found the central story disappointing. However, the idea that Gone Home should be criticized because it's "not a game" (I know that's not being said here, but that narrative is unfortunately implicit when we bring up Gone Home as an example) is just plain silly.

     

     

    You like to through around words like 'ludic' in favour of your argument, so I think you should read Huizinga's Homo Ludens before arguing that 'a game' is historically some clear cut thing that's now being violated by these pieces of software with silly authors who use the word for their creations. The only reason to define it so strictly is to claim ownership and power over what's accepted and what's not.

     

    Yeah, also this. Homo Ludens is interesting. Also consider, although it's about sports specifically, From Ritual to Record by Allen Guttmann, particularly the introduction.

  5. Posted

    Played my first game in ages last night and had an obnoxious teammate that snuck in a weird insult as we were gging. Thanks, dude!

     

    On a related topic, I always appreciate someone taking the reins and giving people advice but I might start immediately muting people who single my character out and tell me to go mid or whatever. Despite all this guy's protestations, we were pretty useless at soaking and two near team wipes cost us the game. 

     

    I read about people who love Dota 2 who just don't bother playing it with strangers. I might get to that point eventually with Lords Management.

  7. Posted

    So I broke a long run of pleasant or silent teammates last night. We had two guys doing the whole "STICK TOGETHER YOU IDIOTS" while running off on their own. I actually muted them both.

     

    Frankly, the team wasn't really coming together in that weird way pub groups sometimes do. Still, though, it doesn't help being chewed out by some dick who doesn't seem to understand that when I'm dead there's not a lot I can do to get to that boss.

  8. Posted

    Yeah I'm surprised there is no post-game lobby while people are on the results screen. I guess you can individually message people or add them to party from the buttons next to their names on the scoreboard. Also looks like I added you a while ago, Irishjohn. I live in Australia so our play times might not line up very well, haha.

     

    Hey! Cool. Maybe on a weekend if you're up in the morning. :) I played a quick game with Bagelmage last night, we had fun. Part of the reason I've always been diffident about getting together online is that I tend to play in short bursts. Also why I quite like HoTS.

  9. Posted

    I'm LawSheng #1739. Just added a couple of you. I muck around with dailies and I like playing support.

     

    Just had a close game a little while ago actually. Seems like I'm usually on a team stomping or a team being stomped but this went back and forth, swung from two levels behind to one level up, and both teams were in the 20+ range with some really fun teamfights. We lost in the end, but it was pretty great.

     

    One tiny thing that might have been mentioned before: HoTS is usually unobjectionable but now and again I play with nice people, and it's a bummer there's no little mini-lobby after you win or lose just to write "that was close!" or "to be fair, I have no fucking idea what we were doing and I say that as someone that was clearly part of the problem" or things like that.

  10. Posted

    Someone in the HOTS thread mentioned that they feel like the laning phase in Dota 2 felt superfluous. This video of Purge analyzing a 2K game does a pretty good job of explaining why I don't think that's the case (or, at least, why I'm not bored during the laning phase) 

     

    That was me! I was actually being harsh, as an inexperienced player I actually like the laning phase. I'm not making the most of it I'm sure (I'm looking forward to watching that video) but I at least feel I can be of some help to the team (hold off the other team, not feed). 

     

     

    The only thing with charges that's worth worrying about (and probably avoiding for now) is the Black King Bar, since it's expensive and each use causes it to decay. Since you like support, I'm guessing you're thinking about either the Drum or the Magic Wand. For the Drum, just hit them at the start of a team fight, don't worry about it running out of charges as it's still decent even when empty and can be recharged by re-buying the 875 recipe (I just learned that last part myself for the first time.) For the Wand, it's best used as a surprise during or running from a fight. The heal isn't big enough to be useful except as a lifesaver or maybe for the extra mana to just barely give you enough to hit your Ulti.

     

    As for getting duplicate items, I wouldn't worry about it at lower levels. Having an extra wasted aura isn't a big deal when it's hard to even get 5 player corralled in the same place.

     

    And then Wards I guess, but no one really buys them at lower levels.

     

    Thank God no one buys wards. That's a step too far for me at the moment. I actually thought if I bought an item then nobody else could. That's how little I know.

     

    Oh also when you find someone cool or who wants to help, ask if they want to play together.  I did a bit of that when I started and aside from playing with a friend, it was the best thing to help me learn.

     

    Thanks, that's a good idea. I am very weird about that. I need to just be nice to people and chat to them. I am weirdly awkwardly nervous about text conversations with strangers.

  11. Posted

    The forum changed my use of Lords Management to Lords Management, hence the "Lords Managements" above. I didn't realize that was happening. Awesome.

     

    EDIT: Obviously I can't make my point because it won't let me write out the incorrect four letter acronym that begins with m.

  12. Posted

    I'm lucky enough to still only had a couple of those experiences in my hundred or so games.

     

    Are you using the recommended builds list? They're not perfect by any means, but it can give you a general idea what you should be purchasing.

     

    Edit: Also, I played HotS last week. It's a pretty good game.

     

    That's really good to hear. Actually, when I had my little burst of ten games last year I was really very surprised at how little crap I got. The only time I've received the sustained awfulness people talk about in Lords Managements was during a short stint with Heroes of Newerth quite a few years ago.

     

    I do use the recommended list, but I get nervous about taking something someone else might actually be able to use. Stuff that has charges and needs to be paid attention to seems like a lot to keep track of, but I am cool with Mekanism and stuff like that with a useful active. I also like playing as a healer in these games. 

     

    HoTS is actually taking up a bunch of time now. The daily quests that push you to play different roles work really well.

     

     

    There are a bunch of community curated guides with titles like "6.84 Axe Lane" by a guy who's name is basically Tortellini that are recognized as being good. That's what I use.

     

    Cheers, I'll have a look, thanks!

     

    You guys are making me want to play more DOTA.

  14. Posted

    I've played a bit more now and I can see myself getting used to it. It's definitely not the Mad Max we need, maybe it's the one we deserve for buying all that Assassin's Creed? Yeah, it's definitely full of those elements, although they don't fill up the hud in this game. I don't even think the Assassin's Creed / Far Cry 3 way is a bad way to structure an open world, but it's a bit obvious in this one when looking at the map. It doesn't even feel that off. I don't know, I heard some say that the world is too little populated, you're just driving too much. I think it's too over-populated with stuff to find, convoys etc. From an interpretation of Mad Max I would expect something that stands more on it's own than follows a set path established by genres. Max occasionally feels more like a Guybrush Threepwood in the "I wanna be a pirate!" sense, rather than someone who is already knowledgeable about the wasteland. But then, I guess he is in a new corner of it he hasn't seen before. The game looks good, sounds good, the visuals are right what I would expect most of the time (map excluded). My sound problems disappeared after reinstall, but one review also mentioned similar problems so they might come back. Max speaks more than I expected. Chumbucket is weird, a cross between gollum, the grave robber from Red Dead Redemption, and someone else I can't recall. I kind of like him as a character, but not the way Max often responds to him. Doesn't feel like the Max from the movies. In general, there's a lack of characterisation in everything. Visually most things look about right, but the overall game-tone is more "Far Cry 3 (clone) in the waste" than Max "Mad Max" Rockatansky.

     

    Damn, I almost want to delete this post, I know the above isn't very coherent. Anyway, it isn't a bad game, but probably wait for the Winter sale.

     

    No, it's pretty coherent. I found it helpful!

  16. Posted

    Christ, this game is so broken if you play as a complete asshole. Episode 5 turns from weak storytelling to complete and utter nonsense.

     

     

    I don't know, that makes me want to go and do a replay! I'd do it too, just for the lovely colour palette and the overall vibe.

  17. Posted

    I find that in HotS, people are hesitant to start talking, until someone breaks the silence. Then it's a pretty constant stream of (mostly friendly) banter between team-mates. The pings in this game are pretty useful and more user-friendly than Dota 2 pings, imo, so often I'll not say anything and rely on those. Stuff like "stick together" is usually the most seen chat message for me, and occasionally there will be some commentary about who to watch out for on the enemy team. Of course I've had the occasional person yelling at everyone else, but because they are such a small minority, it usually ends up being one person yelling, and four other people just laughing about how they shouldn't take the game so seriously. So that's pretty all right imo.

     

    Yeah, I have a lot of fun with HoTS that way too. I don't really like being told I'm an idiot and that I'm ruining the game for everyone. Having said that, my limited DOTA experience was helpful with the one regular idiot HoTS player, that staple of the genre: the guy who keeps dying and then complains nobody is helping him.

     

     

    On the character selection screen if you mouse over a hero it'll give an estimated difficulty. As for actual suggestions, Raynor's a pretty straightforward assassin, while for support... Li Li perhaps?

     

    I love Li Li, she's great. She's very simple (only one basic attack even needs a target) but she can be very useful and you can get your licks in. Also, Shrink Ray is awesome. I was playing some Kerrigan the other day for a daily and after having some trouble with her I found her to be lots of fun. I've only ever played support in these types of games, but she seemed a bit "carry-ish" from how I understand that role... she dies very easily early on but once you're past level 10 and she has an ultimate she can tear things up.

  18. Posted

    I have been playing HoTS the last couple of weeks and really enjoying it. Last year I played a bit of DOTA 2 and liked it but it was just so time consuming. I don't have the gaming habits I used to; I'm a dad and I just don't have all that much time to play unfortunately. I did boot up DOTA 2 the other night and man, I had forgotten how many dickheads play that game and hang out in the limited player pool giving new people shit. I still had fun, though after HoTS the laning just seemed so superfluous!

     

    Completely different games of course. For me, knowing a game will almost certainly wrap up in 25 minutes and often less is huge. Real life affecting my gaming habits. The DOTA 2 itch won't die either... who knows. Maybe I'll end up getting to the same point in terms of finding it limiting and I'll become the 3 match/week DOTA 2 player I was always meant to be.

  19. Posted

    So last night I played my first game in a year, and it was interesting. One guy was very friendly. He had tried to start a chat in the lobby and I had joked with him that my only real goal was not to feed. He was chilled out. No one else says anything.

     

    We start the game, and things get rolling. Turns out the friendly guy is using voice chat (I don't use it). Thanks me for grabbing the courier, seems like a nice, polite dude. After a few minutes it becomes apparent the person playing Sven is either insane or doesn't know how to play Dota. Like, at all. He is just running deep into enemy territory and getting destroyed. He comes on voice chat and it's apparent he's about twelve. He also owns up to it being his first game. I should probably point out at this point it's the Limited Player pool, which I understood as being newbie-friendly. Meanwhile, the remaining two players are giving him horrendous shit that doesn't ease up after it's obvious he's a kid and after he shares that it's his first game. Go play the tutorial, we'd be better off with a bot, just quit, that kind of thing. 

     

    After a while the Bounty Hunter (who is the best player on the team but deeply unpleasant) starts giving me grief for having terrible gear. I have no idea what to buy and know so little about items I'm scared of taking something that should go to someone else. I have Mekanism and Aghanim's Scepter. I'm also at this point wondering why I liked Warlock so much last year... I'm not sure I'm helping, I just gank a dude with a golem every now and again and otherwise try not to feed. We manage a couple of pushes here and there, despite Bounty Hunter rather hilariously saying things like "WE NEED TO PUSH" and then not answering queries as to where we should push and going off on his own instead. Meanwhile the fifth player, who is not quite a big a jerk as Bounty Hunter but basically feels the need to pile on is passively aggressively wandering the jungle and not helping.

     

    We win the game.

     

    It was the most Dota Dota that I've Dota'd, I think. I like the game a lot but this experience just makes me want to go back to HoTS. I'd have finished two, maybe three HoTS games in the time the Dota game took (it went almost an hour) and people there are actually reasonably nice. Who knows. 

  20. Posted

    I played literally my first ever DOTA match last night, first as Lion and then as Sniper.  It was chaos.  I had no idea what anything was, how to do anything, or what the point of anything was.  I bought everything I could from the courier and then didn't pick up my gear.  I had a 0-25 K/D ratio.  My friends were using words that I'd heard in English before, but didn't know what they meant in this context.  I destroyed a tower and thought I was an unstoppable Jesus.  Died two seconds later.  

     

    10/10 would make my friends hate me again

     

    I had a run last year where I played about ten games, and I never got any good but I DID get better at not dying. I'm sorely tempted to get back into Dota if I can find the time. I've been playing plenty of HoTS, and I like it, but Dota is really good. I would just need to get back into my pub player vibe of "I'm not going to communicate a bunch but I'll try and be a good team player and mostly I'll do my utmost not to feed the whole time."

  21. Posted

    I agree, it's a double edged sword. There is stuff being written that isn't.... well it isn't all that good. We're in a weird space now, too, where you have a semi-academic field gathering on the edges of popular writing on video games. In theory this fits into open source journals and the like, but in practice there are plenty of pitfalls.

     

    On the other hand... DIGITAL HUMANITIES is a nebulous idea showing up in academic CVs all over the country. I've never considered myself active in digital humanities but here I am, getting involved. Mainly because I like video games and want to talk about them, and I am a historian and so there are certain things I want to write about. Also, there are certain things I'm trained to write about. You need both of those things, to start.

     

    I've had the same experience talking about GG in with scholars interested in popular culture. It's a fascinating manifestation of dynamics and conflicts we see in plenty of other areas of our society.

  22. Posted

    A merely destructive cultural phenomenon — scarcely related to the art and craft of games, prospects of storytelling, emotional impact, which are the more worthy field of study. :mellow:

     

    What interest academia has in games today seems, to me, to be more of a prematurely archeological one. As in, the contemporary witness/historians of the cultural suicide. Not that it shouldn't be documented... :oldman:

     

    I couldn't possibly argue that it's not destructive (and horrifying). It IS related, though, to the place games hold in our society, their value within popular culture, conceptions of relations between individuals and groups, representations of race, religion, language.... We have barely started utilizing video games as part of cultural study in the manner that we do film and music (themselves fields with acres of space to grow).

     

    I'm an historian, and historians are only really beginning to get into games now. The archaeological interest in games has gotten a lot of press recently, but it's one facet of a wider spectrum. What work has been done has been led by people interested in narratology, the activity of play as an aspect of personal/social experience and so on. There's TONS left!

     

    Anyway, none of this is to be snarky. I completely understand where you're coming from, and we had the conversation much earlier in this thread about GG allowing people that don't like games anyway to just write them off, but I do believe strongly the field is growing.

  24. Posted

    Most internet argumentation is basically just mad libs at this point. Honestly I don't think people value understanding so much as the appearance of it. Anyone with a dissenting opinion can claim to be an expert while being pretty sure no one is going to call them on their bullshit.

     

    Yup. I can see how Whedon could get exhausted. My wife scoffs at me because I'm continually saying I'll quit twitter, though the truth is I probably can't get by without David O'Doherty jokes. If I did quit though, or just took it off, announcing that would be hilariously arrogant of me. Whedon actually has to give some kind of acknowledgement to the world, I guess, as just suddenly not using twitter would become its own "thing" after a while.

  25. Posted

    If people would like to meet up with Milo "Obama probably loves these riots" Yiannopoulos and Christina Hoff "they don't teach you to interpret study results in philosophy" Sommers, why shouldn't they? In peace and all. Go forth and meet your heroes, unharrassed by anyone.

     

    It really, really is just video games.

     

    Hear, hear.