Sign in to follow this  
Jake

Idle Thumbs 79: Most Memorable Maid

Recommended Posts

With regards to XCOM squaddie chatter and the "moments between", I wonder if any of you have played Xenoblade Chronicles. It does a pretty good job of integrating relationship / helper mechanics into an otherwise relatively typical JRPG battle system.

Fire Emblem also, famously, includes relationship mechanics based on unit adjacency during battles.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"smooth opening" had me giggling like a lunatic at work. thanks for that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

All these years of asking, "What is game?" Not even we knew that we were inarticulately asking for this conversation you guys had about single-player games. But we were. Thanks guys!

I wonder if this is what Chris was trying to get at when comparing XCOM to chess: Chess, poker, football, and basketball are all things where you have a defined set of rules, and then you can play them over and over again, each time playing a complete, discrete game that you either win or lose. XCOM is much more like that than most single player games are (more so than Walking Dead or Dishonored or Mass Effect or Mark of the Ninja). Dishonored has lots of replay value, but if you played it 20 times, you'd have exhausted most of it (or at least start getting diminishing returns). XCOM may not be as replayable as chess, but it's more the sort of game you could play over and over getting more out it each time as you get better.

When it comes to things like Super Mario Brothers or Pac Man or Super Hexagon (and maybe even Peggle), I think those are games in the sense that pole vaulting, weight lifting, and archery are games (and maybe even things like bowling or golf). They're all high-scoring contests.

My favorite bit, though, was Jake's insight that we ought to pay attention to the fact that we have a tendency to call all of these things "games." That means something! We definitely need to scan a sweet brain to get more data!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this