Twig

*nod* Sounds reasonable.

Well, now, Twiglet, this is going to get confusing.

Oh I've been going for the waterfall off the cliff, the freshwater. D:

Why can't I catch a damn char?! It goes away once August hits. ): (Although it then comes back in September, I guess, so it's not a huge deal.)

Oh geez. I used to watch that every single time I went to visit my grandparents. Grandpa loved it and so did I. Damn.

Cracker Barrel was the best thing to me when I was a kid.

Hasn't every Queen song?

Hah. I grew up in the midwest and I was STILL surprised (and delighted) to discover that these were semi-real attractions. I always begged my dad to take me to them once I realized that. He never did. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. O:

Is that how invites work?! http://steamcommunity.com/id/twig/

Also, there are some casters who actually take time to explain things that are happening in pro games. Why they're doing this or that. Which items they might buy in the near future, and why. What those items do. Not all of 'em, but enough.

Pretty much. Not sure how you can be cynical about this. U:

Sure definitely but you still get the nice back and forth flow to the game (unless it's a stomp) and after watching a few games you start to understand what a decent play at least sorta looks like.

I also have a company picnic in Golden Gate Park tomorrow morning/early afternoon, so I guess I'll just spend the whole day Not In Burlingame! U:

Every time I watch sports I am confused by the specifics, the weird cases, but I'm able to enjoy it well enough just from understanding the basics. I don't see how Dota is any different. U:

Or they did it 'cause they're BALLER at it and it looks fucking fantastic.

THANKS TEGAN YOU'RE THE BEST!!!

I rode my bike all the way to the station today! Guys I'm not a complete and total tub of lard. Just mostly one! Excite. (Okay, I stopped a little before the end because I was trying to look for a different access route, and I needed to go slower to make sure I had it right. I found it! Now I wonder if I'll have the energy to do it on the way home, too.)

Zeus I will not abide the dig you took at the Super Mario Bros. movie. Intentional or otherwise. Take it back! Argo: I think his point was (or at least the point I see because it's the point I most wholeheartedly agree with) is that while we all might have different interpretations of this or that book, you're still experiencing the same Thing. It just affects you in different ways. A video game, on the other hand, opens itself up to being a completely different experience from one player to the next. Take roguelikes for example. If two different people play a roguelike once, their experiences differ greatly. Or Minecraft. Two players each in their own singleplayer world might start out in completely different environments. Even Super Mario Bros. can deliver incredibly different experiences for the player who finds that secret warp pipe. Another important factor in that Mario example: choice. The player is choosing to thoroughly explore, rather than be led by a string from level start to level end. That doesn't happen with books or movies, unless the reader or viewer consciously chooses to skip a chapter for whatever reason. At which point they're working outside the author's design. Every video game example I gave above is still perfectly WITHIN the author's design. All of this is also why I vastly prefer the idea of a completely open, emergence-focused gameplay experience to that of a scripted, narrative-driven story game. Not that I don't like the latter, because I definitely do, but the former plays to the strengths of video games, rather than opposing them (as I would argue script-heavy games do). But then each and every Story is player-focused, rather than something the author (i.e., the game designer) put in place for the player to see. BLAH DEE BLAH.

I read it has "I don't really care about story in games" not "story can't happen in games". I can see why you'd read it as the latter, though. Also Mario without a story would still look like Mario. Yeah I guess you can "imagine up a story" from the visuals, but that's.... what. I can't even pretend that's a thing I'd ever do. Especially in Mario? What kind of story am I going to create out of a bunch of abstract shapes and weirdo creatures as I reach the level's end. "I'm on drugs"? The stories I get in games that don't have stories are stories that I created, but that's entirely gameplay. Also see: Minecraft, or games with a big focus on emergent gameplay. And then there's the other kind of nonstory games. When I'm doing time trials in Mirror's Edge, the story is nonexistent. It's me versus the level. Yeah, the game has a story, but the game could've been entirely those abstract-style levels from the DLC and I would've liked it more. Most games, when created, are gameplay first, story second. And most of THOSE games would be fine/better without shoehorning in some half-assed attempt at storytelling. Doesn't mean I don't appreciate the other side of games, because I LOVE the other side of games, but man. Mario.

i see what you did there

Huh. I would argue that the story in Mario is completely inconsequential and could be ripped entirely out of the game (any single one of them) and the game would be just as good. Maybe better. Mario RPGs notwithstanding, of course. I don't think anyone was saying that!

I bet Naughty Dog would disagree with you, Dasein. MY OPINION: Both approaches are entirely valid. Sometimes the game is about story. Sometimes the game is about gameplay. Argo, would you really argue that in a Mario game, gameplay is not the primary component? Or did you just mean that statement specifically in the context of Last of Us?

Viper is especially strong against a TA. If I ever see a Viper lose against a TA mid, I'll murder him. *suicides*

*weeping openly*

A lot of roguelikes would be greatly HINDERED by a save option. Since they're so random, you never know what you're going to get even on the first floor. If all you do is save and load you'd probably miss out on like 90% of the content. Yuck.