T w e n t y S i d e d
I don’t know what I was thinking last week. I somehow imagined I’d be able to cram all of my survival horror / Halloween content into a single week? The Silent Hill: Origins series alone turned out to be six posts long, which wouldn’t fit in a single week even if I skipped the Wednesday GM Advice and even if that business with EA and DRM hadn’t come up. And this doesn’t even take into account all the other survival horror stuff I wanted to post about.
Some of this is my own fault for going overboard with the Origins series. Really, I could have posted my final thoughts, a couple of funny screenshots, and called it a day. But lack of restraint in writing about a game in which its chief flaw is lack of restraint seems fitting.
We have a quote around here (which I’m pretty sure is lifted from MST3K) that is appropriate for the writing this week:
From the people who brought you that last stuff, it’s… more of the same!
The Best of 2013
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2013.
How to Forum
Dear people of the internet: Please stop doing these horrible idiotic things when you talk to each other.
Mass Effect Retrospective
A novel-sized analysis of the Mass Effect series that explains where it all went wrong. Spoiler: It was long before the ending.
Project Button Masher
I teach myself music composition by imitating the style of various videogame soundtracks. How did it turn out? Listen for yourself.
A Lack of Vision and Leadership
People fault EA for being greedy, but their real sin is just how terrible they are at it.
I quite enjoyed your Origin series
It was well worth cutting out the rest
This seems as good of a place as any to state this. I notice the Comments count on the “Origins” posts are relatively low. But I (and I suspect many other people) am really enjoying them, but I don’t have much to add.
Its a genre of games I’ve never gotten into, and while I understand their mechanics I’ve probably only logged about 5 minutes total with any of them.
Just thought I’d throw that out so you’d know the Posts are enjoyed even if the response count fits on a single-die.
I agree with what Jim said. I check this site at least daily to see any new updates, because I find the perfect break from the stress of life is reading your often witty and endlessly amusing comments on life, the universe, and everything. However, it is rare that I post comments–my command of prose is sadly limited, and I find that any input would merely lower the collective intelligence of the Interwebs by yet another hefty margin. Hence, I refrain, but beg that you do not. Bring us more tales of terror and misery–not meant through game design, but created through its woeful failure!
I don’t comment too often, but I was enjoying them too!
Just wanted to state that while I didn’t comment on any of the Silent Hill: Origins posts, I enjoyed them all. Don’t worry too much about what you are writing. Just keep doing what you enjoy, and we’ll keep reading.
Shamus,
Looking forward to more! Can’t help but point out the typo though:
“From the people who brought you that last stuff, its… more of the same!”
I think you meant “it’s…”
(yeah I know typo-spotting is a jerk thing to do, but I want you to look good, and some would argue that I am in fact a jerk)
Oh, Even I partake in such nitpicking in the name of English.
But still, six posts about Silent Hill: Origins? What did you wrote about that required such lengths?
Is the game really that long?
@Lebkin:
Eh, Bloggers’ Curse/Blessing/Thing: People are too shy to comment when the post covers all their fields of questioning.
folo4: No, the game isn’t particularly long. The series is going on because I’m having fun writing it up scene-by-scene. Origins is a game with all the right assets (character designs, monsters, environments, music, voice acting) that fails due to many designer excesses.
The series on Origin is great, though. Don’t feel any pressure to stop, it’s amusing.
Hey, it’s election time. That’s more than scary enough to keep the theme going.
Keep on truckin’ (since that idiot Travis won’t).
Cincinnatus wrote:
That sentence is contradictory to itself.
I totally read this with excitement, thinking it was the intro to another SH post… and then it wasn’t. *sob* ;)
I’m really enjoying the Origins series. Just haven’t really found any reason to reply since I’ve never played the game, but it’s definitely a lot of fun to read.
Please don’t ever limit the material you write on games because you think it is too long. They are my favorite posts to read and I always want more!
I’ve been enjoying your recent posts, too. Maybe this just means your buffer can grow! After all, I don’t see anyone complaining that your dissection of a several year old game came a week late.
I’ll just join in saying I enjoy the SH:O posts, but haven’t replied because, well, I have little to add.
Travis for president!
Obama for Silent Hill protagonist!