Idle Thumbs 113: Shoot That Pizza

[Roderick]

I always called them "SiN-likes".

[Patrick R]

The term "roguelike" has always been weird to me, because it just reminds me that we used to call the FPS genre "doomlikes."

I always heard to them referred to as "Doom Clones", which is a terminology I'm a little nostalgic for. So sci-fi!

[Henroid]

The term "roguelike" has always been weird to me, because it just reminds me that we used to call the FPS genre "doomlikes."

We did? Am I that not-old? I'm pushing 30 and have never heard "doomlike" used unironically.

[Roderick]

I always called them "Hexen II-likes".

[melmer]

I called them Quake Qlones

 

i always wondered who or what rogue was (now i know, thanks Obama) for some reason my brain would always leap at a stereotypical looking rogue/thief RPG class guy (you know the guy, wields two short swords, good with a bow, not to shabby with the ladies.... unless she is a lady and in that case is only interested in sweet loot, enjoy's grappling and rope swinging, wears leather chaps)

 

Rogue's/theif's like loot, hence these games are Roguelike's

[Berzee]

Prairie Wheat Boom

 

This would be an excellent name for a top-down multiplayer arcade-style Action/Farming game.

[tegan]

or a cereal

[tabacco]

I notice Far Cry 2 got left out of the list of Games Discussed ¬¬

[Argobot]

I notice Far Cry 2 got left out of the list of Games Discussed ¬¬

 

Desperately wanted to make a parody twitter account, but sadly "Did the Idle Thumbs Talk About Far 2 This Week" is too long of a user name for twitter.

[Laxan]

Desperately wanted to make a parody twitter account, but sadly "Did the Idle Thumbs Talk About Far 2 This Week" is too long of a user name for twitter.

 

Sounds right at home on Tumblr though.

[Argobot]

http://farcry2idlethumbs.tumblr.com/

[Sno]

The term "roguelike" has always been weird to me, because it just reminds me that we used to call the FPS genre "doomlikes."

Doom clones! We called them doom clones!

Just like how we had GTA clones for a while.

FPS makes clear and concise sense, but i don't think GTA clones ever really arrived at any particularly distinctive, descriptive genre label.

[Chris]

Doom clones! We called them doom clones!

Just like how we had GTA clones for a while.

FPS makes clear and concise sense, but i don't think GTA clones ever really arrived at any particularly distinctive, descriptive genre label.

"Open-world games," I think. There had been plenty of games with "open worlds" before, but they were generally already contained within other genres, like RPG or something. I think GTA is what prompted the terminology "open-world game."

[tegan]

It's funny when the opposite happens. I remember seeing a thing from the eighties with a dude talking about different genres of arcade games where he described Ladybug as being part of a genre called "monster maze games" (as differentiated from "maze games"), when now we just call Ladybug a Pac-Man clone.

 

Edit: oh hey

[Problem Machine]

It's funny when the opposite happens. I remember seeing a thing from the eighties with a dude talking about different genres of arcade games where he described Ladybug as being part of a genre called "monster maze games" (as differentiated from "maze games"), when now we just call Ladybug a Pac-Man clone.

 

Edit: oh hey

Oh I see, so the object of the video game is to navigate through this maze?

[Berzee]

Oh I see, so the object of the video game is to navigate through this maze?

Hmm, nope, I'd say it looks like you're trying to make a monster.

[Henroid]

So Rogue Legacy has some pretty great music. The forest track is so good.

 

[Salacious Snake]

It seems pretty crazy now that I bought Moonbase Commander in a box from a physical store. 

 

Also I saw a man who looked like Joel from the Last of Us at the Greenpoint Ave subway station in Brooklyn this morning, so much so that it's a testament to how lifelike the video game man is.

[sclpls]

I agree that one of the nice things about Civ 5 is that positive view of the progress of history. It looks like this new expansion is only going to build on that presentation by placing a greater emphasis on cultural achievements, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.

 

However I think you guys might be remembering Civ 4 incorrectly, or at least it isn't clear to me why you would describe Civ 4 as having a more cynical view in its presentation of history. I think Civ 4 shares the same tone, but Civ 5's presentation of that tone just knocks it out of the park, making Civ 4's attempt at doing the same thing look more workmanlike in comparison, if that makes any sense. However Civ 4 used a lot of great techniques that Civ 5 built on to highlight all these positive accomplishments of human history (Also, don't forget that Civ 4 had that excellent Leonard Nimoy narration!)

 

Anyway, as I was saying, I agree it is great to have a game like Civ in contrast to a game like the Last of Us, or basically any other video game which seem to constantly be set in failed societies, and have such a bleak color palate. It is weird how that is a sort of default setting for so many games right now. Bioshock Infinite also exists in this weird space because of it where it has the color palate of a game like Civ, but has that cynical outlook that permeates most other games, and that is definitely a deliberate, but also sort of comically intense contrast. Anyway, it would definitely be nice if qualities like grimness, pessimism, and cynicism weren't these cheap (and false!) signifiers for games you should take seriously.

[Chris]

However I think you guys might be remembering Civ 4 incorrectly, or at least it isn't clear to me why you would describe Civ 4 as having a more cynical view in its presentation of history. I think Civ 4 shares the same tone, but Civ 5's presentation of that tone just knocks it out of the park, making Civ 4's attempt at doing the same thing look more workmanlike in comparison, if that makes any sense. However Civ 4 used a lot of great techniques that Civ 5 built on to highlight all these positive accomplishments of human history (Also, don't forget that Civ 4 had that excellent Leonard Nimoy narration!)

I may have misspoke if I suggested Civ 4 has a fundamentally cynical worldview. What I meant (or at least what I mean) is that Civ 4 feels a bit more like a blank slate. It is, I think, a stronger game in its interaction of systems in that respect. It's not a LACK of positivity that the game has, it's just that Civ 5 goes out of its way to highlight it more.

[sclpls]

True that.

 

On a completely unrelated note, that Peter Molyneux quote about how a player will press left to see the most incredible thing -- made me think of Peggle.

[Sno]

It seems pretty crazy now that I bought Moonbase Commander in a box from a physical store.

 

Had it been released just a few years later, it feels like a game that would have easily found an audience on Steam.

It's such a great game, but as it is, it's also just a mostly-forgotten oddity.

[clyde]

I've only played a bit of Uncharted 3 and haven't played The Last of Us. It seems like a lot of gaming podcasts talk about the dissonance between the protagonist being an lovable everyman and being a mass murderer in the Uncharted games. From what I'm hearing, Naughty Dog's solution was to more properly theme a game where you Kill many humanoids, rather than coming up with compeling game systems for being a lovable everyman.

Maybe this "solution" is what can make shooter games seem so homogenous in theme. And the popularity of shooting as a game mechanic (let's go ahead and admit it, it's fun to run around a map and pop dudes in the head after disabling the alarm and stealth killing the back-up) leads to a homogenization of theme for the majority of games.

As soon as I make this argument, I start thinking of hundreds of counter examples. There are a lot of popular non-shooting games that have more flexibility to their themes. Why do I tend to think that shooting games are the dominant genre that leads the others? Or is it that shooting games aren't actually about killing humanoids; or is it that these games completely disregard associated consequences of killing humanoids? Really, they aren't about killing humanoids, they are about enjoying a shooting gallery where the animatronic hillbilly says "Oh my!" when you shoot the bullseye on his moonshine bottle.

[Berzee]

Speaking of Moonbase Commander, it is $2.09 on GOG this weekend.

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/moonbase_commander

 

It sounds like a coolgame; I wonder if it's any good single player? (Not sure I could reliably round up 3 people to play a turn based strategy game with me =P)

[Sno]

I remember there being a campaign, but i don't think it really amounted to much.

The skirmish AI puts up a good fight though, it's reasonably intelligent and has a good understanding of the game's tactics and strategies. (As far as i can remember, at least.)