Sign in to follow this  
Jake

Idle Thumbs 83: Free Macintosh Warez

Recommended Posts

I've never really watched Tim and Eric but my impressions from what little I've seen is that it's a much better source of existential horror than humor. I kind of thought that was the idea, to be honest.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Tim and Eric are at their best at their most Lynchian. I read somewhere that they find David Lynch films to be hilarious and that a lot of their work is trying to communicate what they find so funny about that kind of cerebral horror.

Sometimes it works, though, and sometimes it really really doesn't.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's actually not unrealistic - you DID miss most of the game, or more accurately you missed most of the ways the conversations and story could play out, and unless you play 3-4 times you'll miss much of what the game has to offer. Alpha Protocol is one of my favorite games of all time because of all the amazing stuff that's in there that isn't force fed to you - you discover it because of the choices you make, and this makes those choices matter.

I think that's what bothers me about most Western RPGs; there always seems to be some optimal way of doing things or some scene or character you just can't miss, except you totally can because you made the choices you thought were best at the time. I would be far happier if I could be confident the best bits were on the critical path and I don't make every combat more tedious because I picked the wrong class. I think the only Western RPG I've trusted enough to put any time in has been Morrowind (and I guess Skyrim but I haven't done everything in Morrowind yet so I'm reluctant to buy it when I have a perfectly good Elder Scrolls game right there). I don't think Idle Thumbs has been very helpful here with their discussion about various BioWare RPGs and how certain classes are overwhelmingly better than others.

But! I came here to talk about The Fool and His Money, which Jake mentioned. It's quite good! Although there's way too much anagramming. The games Jake mentioned, The Fool's Errand and 3 in Three, are on Cliff Johnson's website for free alongside a free Macintosh emulator that can run them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Alpha Protocol does not have an optimal way to play, though. It's not about the "right" path and the "wrong" path. All of your choices are the right choices because they are your choices. If everything is on the critical path then you're telling a story where the player has no input into how the story plays out. Games can do so much more than that. Alpha Protocol can do so much more than that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Alpha Protocol does not have an optimal way to play, though. It's not about the "right" path and the "wrong" path. All of your choices are the right choices because they are your choices.

Yeah, the best example of this is the interpersonal perk system. Unlike every other contemporary RPG except Dragon Age 2 to some degree, Alpha Protocol gave you stat rewards for being hated as well as liked. So long as you were consistent in your behavior, being an asshole to everyone wouldn't break the game like it would all the rest. That's not to mention NPCs like Steven Heck who love the crap out of you if you're just a raging douchebag, either. It doesn't have the follow-through you'd hope for in an ideal world of game design, but Alpha Protocol worked hard to discourage you from discerning an optimal path for any action.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There are also perks you get for being inconsistent in your behavior too. Being consistent is not the right way to play Alpha Protocol! There is no right conversation choice any time during the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In all this talk about Alpha Protocol's strengths, i feel like somebody needs to be a downer, because there's still this whole side of that game where it's a terrible stealth-action RPG. Bosses in the late game being arbitrarily immune to large swathes of the skill tree, the the bizarrely uncontextualized abilities, the clunky feel of everything.

Alpha Protocol could have been an amazing example of less as more, because Obsidian was definitely onto something big with their conversation system and branching narrative.

In other words, I think Obsidian should make an adventure game, i'm saying.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, I would have difficulty trusting the narrative freedom of the game based on there being sub-optimal builds on the guess-you'll-just-have-to-restart kind of level. As an example of a game I liked, Persona 4 has an "optimal" playthrough that requires you to follow a walkthrough, or you could just do the new game + option and talk to the people you didn't have time for last game. (It makes it clear early on that you're not expected to see everything first time through by putting dialogue options with enormous stat requirements in the first few conversations of the game.) I enjoyed that, after a brief hump where I had to decide to trust the game, and it all worked out for the best. What makes that game work is that if you're considering a sub-plot, because they're all character-based whether or not you like the character is a good indication of whether you'll enjoy that plot, and if a subplot's not working for you, you can leave it hanging without denying yourself the opportunity to pursue something else. Also the main plot's a murder mystery so you're going to get some intrigue no matter what.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There are "sub-optimal" builds for your character's stats in Alpha Protocol (although why that would make you distrust the narrative is beyond me) but even the worst character build can make it through any part of the game, especially if you're playing on one of the lower difficulty levels. SMGs are probably the worst guns but I made it through the game my first time using them because I didn't know better.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

RE: Control rebinding (hope this is the right episode thread).

I see two options that platform holders could take that would fix the issue outright.

1) make it a TCR that controls must be able to be rebound.

That would be a pain for the reasons that were mentioned in the cast, but you could outline a set of requirements that allowed similar bindings without having to deal with complex rebindings.

2) have a rebinding at the system level for accessibility purposes. This (in theory with a fresh console generation) would be much easier to accomplish, and could be a much more robust implementation. It could get really crazy and have simulation for anolog -> digital or digital -> analog inputs. They could also add a few APIs that return the graphic for the impulse you're requesting, so that it could make QTE style interface prompts even accurate. But all they really need to do is the bare minimum and it'd make a different for a whole lot of people, and save developers a lot of time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I wanna go back to the discussion about internet communities - this time a video game community specifically.

So in less than 12 hours, City of Heroes is shutting down for good. And people I got to know during that time and I are talking again and generally commiserating over the whole debacle and going over highlights from the last few years. It's not a game I got into from day one. I actually only got it in like, 2007? And I would play sporadically but goddamn was it fun all the time, and it had everything to do with the community (but because my computer would struggle to run the game, I would reach points of frustration and stop for a while). As far as internet communities that exist within a game, CoH had one of the most tame and helpful communities too. I wanna give them some credit for that, because they stand out over any other game I've experienced.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I played a text-based MUD way back in the dark ages of AOL pay-per-hour called Dragonrealms. It was never a huge game community-wise, but absolutely one of the deepest and most interesting in terms of things you could learn and do outside of killing things (also one of the broadest range of killing fantasy internet things). I played that game for a long, long time. It migrated off AOL and onto the Internet at large, and many people migrated with it. The people who posted on its forums were the most avid and fervent players. Every once in a while, I get the urge to drop in and play it again even though a lot of the mechanics and systems (AND TIME NEEDED) have been passed by in the last decade and a half. The game was close knit enough and the forum community close enough that there is a subforum just for people saying goodbye both in and out of character.

I went back last week on a whim to see if the damn thing still exists. It does! They're about to introduce entirely new experience systems! Just like 10 years ago! And the first dozen posts I read are from the same people that were always there, commenting on the things they always comment on. It was strange, and comforting, and kind of scary all at the same time.

I also almost reactivated my account, too. Terrifying.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was reminded of this podcast this morning while reading a postmortem on Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the Vita. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/181082/postmortem_sony_bend_studios_.php

It's a worthy read, but what stood out to me was the director referring to the major areas of the game as "worlds." It's a less archaic way to put it than boards, but it still sounds pretty funny for a modern game that is supposed to take place in the actual real world, as in Earth.

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