I Had a Random Thought (About Video Games)

[SuperBiasedMan]

I've been listening to soundtracks while working and I feel like I'm cracking a bit more of what Transistor was all about, so much so I kinda wanna replay now since I didn't really understand the first time round.

[tberton]

Do it! I loved Transistor the first time around, but I admit that it works a lot better the second time through.

[Bjorn]

The more time that goes by, the more and more I'm missing Joystiq.  None of the other gaming news options really does squat for me, at least not to just quickly check a couple of times a day.  Blargh. 

[JonCole]

I'm making my first real foray into modding with Skyrim and goddamn do the right mods make that a completely different, new, and in many ways better game.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I'm still playing 80Days and it's still being damn fantastic.

We travelled North to the top of Finland where we met and Artificier mounting an expedition to the North Pole. It seemed my master schemed to circumvent the globe at the shortest distance possible.

We travelled on a giant metal contraption with legs that walked us there, but it exploded when we were close to our goal. I had previously worried about sabotage but I was too busy with my secret lover to investigate...

We were all left stranded, my master with a metal rod through his chest. He did not survive the journey, and I was left cold and alone.

[tegan]

I'm making my first real foray into modding with Skyrim and goddamn do the right mods make that a completely different, new, and in many ways better game.

 

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=199219620

[Professor Video Games]

The more time that goes by, the more and more I'm missing Joystiq.  None of the other gaming news options really does squat for me, at least not to just quickly check a couple of times a day.  Blargh. 

 

For real man.

 

Maybe I should just learn how to make a website, become a good writer, and make a replacement site myself. How hard could it be?

[undermind9]

I'm still playing 80Days and it's still being damn fantastic.

We travelled North to the top of Finland where we met and Artificier mounting an expedition to the North Pole. It seemed my master schemed to circumvent the globe at the shortest distance possible. We travelled on a giant metal contraption with legs that walked us there, but it exploded when we were close to our goal. I had previously worried about sabotage but I was too busy with my secret lover to investigate... We were all left stranded, my master with a metal rod through his chest. He did not survive the journey, and I was left cold and alone.

I have also been having a great time with 80 days still. My wife has also taken an interest in playing as well.

I took a similar trip around the north pole and my same walker was sabotaged and I escaped unharmed. We were just stranded for a few weeks - then (I'll put another spoiler tag)

one of the artificer people got fed up and left the group then week later came back with a north pole Tribe that was previously hidden from the world with their own tech and government. They saved us to their city but as captives. We escaped on a airship to Canada then quick rail across the states. Ended up in London by 68 days.

[Bjorn]

Hatoful Boyfriend is a weird fucking game. 

[Patrick R]

I will probably fire up Super Mario Bros 3 and play it through once every 3 to 4 years for the rest of my life.

[SuperBiasedMan]

Hatoful Boyfriend is a weird fucking game.

The best part of this is that you might mean the surface weirdness or the deeper level of weirdness.

[Bjorn]

The best part of this is that you might mean the surface weirdness or the deeper level of weirdness.

 

Both, I think? Is there some sort of deeper mystery you can only uncover by replaying it a bunch of times?

[SuperBiasedMan]

Both, I think? Is there some sort of deeper mystery you can only uncover by replaying it a bunch of times?

Pretty much, yes. If you get there, tell me what you think. I just looked up the synopsis so I'd be curious to hear how a real read of it goes.

[Bjorn]

I might just do the same, the second playthrough had enough repeat content (even with making all different choices), that I'm not sure I'm terribly interested in going through it a dozen times or more to get all the pieces unlocked. 

[SuperBiasedMan]

That's a shame, cyclical narratives are hard in games. You need to either make a ton of content or give people ways to effectively skip repeat stuff. 999 is the only time I've enjoyed the idea.

[Valorian Endymion]

Believe me it is worth (maybe not play all routes at the same exact time, playing once in a while is a good pace). Hatoful Boyfriend is a brilliant VN, not just because the characters are all pigeons, but how it play on many vn tropes begin same time both a celebration and a parody.

[Bjorn]

You can fast forward through long repeat sections, but part of what made playing through it fun is that 3 of us were playing, and each took different characters to read and made different choices.  That was a blast, but isn't nearly as engaging once you've seen half the content.  I was surprised at some of the new stuff in the second playthrough though, so there may be more there than I'm giving it credit for.

[Patrick R]

Believe me it is worth (maybe not play all routes at the same exact time, playing once in a while is a good pace). Hatoful Boyfriend is a brilliant VN, not just because the characters are all pigeons, but how it play on many vn tropes begin same time both a celebration and a parody.

 

So actually, this is a question I had. If you aren't well-versed in the culture and tropes of VN's/dating sims, is Hatoful Boyfriend still worth playing? Or will it just be too oblique for me to appreciate? 

[Valorian Endymion]

So actually, this is a question I had. If you aren't well-versed in the culture and tropes of VN's/dating sims, is Hatoful Boyfriend still worth playing? Or will it just be too oblique for me to appreciate? 

 

I give it a copy to a friend who is not familiar with VN and she loved it, so I think yeah, even  if you are not familiar you still might enjoy it as the humor and the overall text I think, avoid the direct reference.

[clyde]

I did a single play-through of Hatoful Boyfriend and enjoyed it enough (always waiting for it to get interesting) until it basically said "Your ending is not optimal and you are now dead." I don't like the formula where you have to specialize in a specific romance-option and look at walk-throughs to get all the endings. I want VNs to provide me with a choose-your-own-adventure where I meander through a spectrum of relationships. Obviously I am often disappointed by them.

I really don't understand how it has gotten so much attention.

[Ninety-Three]

I really don't understand how it has gotten so much attention.

 

Because "Did you hear about the pigeon dating simulator?" makes a good headline, and a good conversation starter. It's super silly, and people like talking about super silly things. This isn't exactly data, but a lot of people (more than average for any random popular game) I hear talking about it haven't actually sat down and played the thing.

[Valorian Endymion]

Because "Did you hear about the pigeon dating simulator?" makes a good headline, and a good conversation starter. It's super silly, and people like talking about super silly things. This isn't exactly data, but a lot of people (more than average for any random popular game) I hear talking about it haven't actually sat down and played the thing.

 

Also I could be wrong, but this one was easier to find and play that other VNs (which used to require fan translations, know where to find them), even before steam.

 

Also someone tweet this (attention, spoilers!)

Hatoful Boyfriend: Come for the bird puns, stay for the post-apocalyptic sociopolitical drama

[Griddlelol]

I'm really liking Danganronpa, but damn, when it's not exciting, it puts me to sleep. All that reading...

[clyde]

I was trying to redownload Surviving Highschool after the visual-novel conversation above and I discovered that EA removed it from the servers in September. What a bummer. I don't think I ever backed it up.

[SecretAsianMan]

I played The Yawhg last night with Tegan (via Steam streaming).  I don't remember our first ending but the second one ended with her building a stronghold and filling it with magical objects to fight crime while I sold dangerous drinks to the public which caused most of them to go blind.  Basically she became Batman and I became a shitty Joker.