T w e n t y S i d e d
Early in the game I ran into this strange little girl:
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One thing that struck me is how “Silent Hill” this girl is. Despite being a little girl, she’s very spooky and strange. She seems to be some sort of ghost. (I’m sure her nature will become clear as the game proceeds.) She’s powerful. Her dark hair hides her face. Your character speaks to her, and she speaks back, but the conversation is pretty one-way; you can’t get her to respond to you. She’s also very pale and she seems to be “mildewing” on the bottom. This is all stuff right out of the Silent Hill playbook.
Ragnar Tornquist mentions the Silent Hill games on his blog, and it’s pretty clear he must have really gotten into the game at some point. I think it’s cool to see how that influenced Dreamfall.
Quakecon 2011 Keynote Annotated
An interesting but technically dense talk about gaming technology. I translate it for the non-coders.
Good to be the King?
Which would you rather be: A king in the middle ages, or a lower-income laborer in the 21st century?
How to Forum
Dear people of the internet: Please stop doing these horrible idiotic things when you talk to each other.
I Was Wrong About Borderlands 3
I really thought one thing, but then something else. There's a bunch more to it, but you'll have to read the article.
The Disappointment Engine
No Man's Sky is a game seemingly engineered to create a cycle of anticipation and disappointment.
Why is your avatar walking around in the snow wearing nothing but a T-shirt and panties?
This is sort of a dreamworld / vision thing. She doesn’t actually feel cold. (She comments on this herself.)
That’s about all I can tell you so far. I’m assuming it will make more sense as I learn more.
Shamus Young- b. 8/24/1971
Patrick Young- b. 6/26/1973
The defense rests
River?
It’s also one of the primary reasons why The Longest Bore-Me was the surprising success it was: teh female avatar sprayed-on jeans hawtness.
It appears Tornquist and co. realized this and are capitalizing upon this Lara Croft Effect.
We can only hope for Shamus’s sake that the “resolution” of Bore Me Harder: The Longest Bore-Me 2 fails to suck as dismally as the 1st in the series.
Because, you know, it really was awful. It was almost as bad as the end of that horrible euro import atrocity ‘Reah’.
Well, I loved both games, and not because of the way the avatars looked. (My wife loves TLJ even more than I do.)
Maybe adventure games just aren’t for you. Ever played one that you liked?
Ever played one that I *liked*? Hell, I started laughing and crying at the same time out of sheer happiness and relief during Journeyman Project 3’s opening cutscene, and actually found myself talking back to the screen. Anybody who’s played both 2 and 3 will know why.
You know, Shamus, right at this moment I can turn my head and look at a revolving cd tower holding (among other games) the Kyrandia Trilogy, King’s Quests, Space Quests, 7th Guest, Myst 1 through 3 (which I’ve been known to defend as excellent), Gabriel Knight 2 and 3, Monkey Island 2 and 3, The Riddle of Master Li, Nightlong, Grim Fandango, Roger Zelazny’s Chronomaster, Amber: Journeys Beyond, Lightbringer, Beyond Time, Starship Titanic, Elroy Hits the Pavement, the complete Tex Murphy series, Full Throttle, The Dig, Toonstruck, Syberia, Eric the Unready, Spellcasting 101 through 103, Gateway 1 and 2, The Space Bar, and that’s just an incomplete list of what I keep out and available in case I might suddenly want to replay them and don’t want to have to go digging through storage when I have the slots ready to hand in which to keep them. And one of these days I’ll get my hands on a playable copy of Sam & Max Hit the Road. And Monkey Island 4. And a number of others.
Ever played one that I *liked*? I have probably played and liked several times as many as you and your DW combined. I’ve possibly played and liked several times as many as you and your DW and all the contributors to this thread have, combined. Have you ever hung out in rec.arts.int-fiction or rec.games.int-fiction? Have you read ‘Crimes Against Mimesis’? Have you jotted down notes for an essay in response titled ‘Mimetics Against Criminality’? Do you play through the top-ranked games of the annual IFCOMPs?
You know, I went and looked through the reviews of The Longest Bore-Me at Amazon the other night, and I’m pleased to say that I’m far from the only person who disliked many, many things about it, including all the leftist, antitechnologist, femelitist, sexist, male-bashing schlock with which it was packed. Which is probably why it was heralded as such a ‘great game’ by so many reviewers — its blatant pandering to the whole luddite environmentalist gaea-worshipping ‘power grrrl, men suxorz’ memeset.
Maybe adventure games just aren’t for me? Oh really. How about shame on you and your DW for liking that one, instead? I can only hope the two of you actually want to raise your children in a much better, fairer, more egalitarian world than the one Tornquist would apparently prefer to see.
Can I ask what Acksiom means by: “I'm pleased to say that I'm far from the only person who disliked many, many things about it, including all the leftist, antitechnologist, femelitist, sexist, male-bashing schlock with which it was packed. Which is probably why it was heralded as such a “˜great game' by so many reviewers “” its blatant pandering to the whole luddite environmentalist gaea-worshipping “˜power grrrl, men suxorz' memeset.”?
How do you evaluate that statement? THe game got a lot of awesome reviews, but I have to admit I DO get sick and tired of the fad-pandering you see a lot in today’s video games and novels. In your opinion does he make a valid point and if that kind of presentation is something a gamer finds particularly annoying should they avoid the series because of it despite it’s depth?
I just finished this game. I liked the story line with Zoe in Start. The story in the fantasy world (can’t remember name) didn’t interest me, though I generally don’t like the fantasy anyway. They didn’t really explain how that story world related to the “rweal” world. The story did just kind of end, it was really odd.
Acksiom, Shamus asked a simple question, one that wasn’t initially clear: Have you played adventure games you liked? You write a defensive and condescending reply listing many of the multiple games you. We’re all real impressed. Clearly, you are an expert game player. But you’re still an asshole.
PS: Acksiom, why the hell does your name point to a anti-circumcision forum? WTF??
Ackisiom, why are you so hateful? The man just asked you a simple question =S! Daaamn.. “ooo, you’re “sooo” cool who have played all those gameees. I’m reaaally impressed.. NOT!” He’s not a mindreader, he couldn’t know that you spend 24/7 in front of the computer!
I liked the game! Period :).