I’m recovered from surgery, freshly infused with iron, and feeling like myself again. The weather has been ridiculously nice lately and I’m getting some exercise. If I continue to eat right and get the exercise I need, then maybe I can wring another two or three weeks out of this broken-down old body before I drop dead. All in all, things are going pretty good!
So here’s what I’ve been playing lately…
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “This Week I Played… (October 2021)”
I find it interesting that we got two different mailbag questions, both asking roughly the same thing. Both people asked for examples of “best” writing. Nobody asked for examples of “worst”. It’s always nice to have a chance to work against the idea that I’m a negative guy who complains about everything.We can do that tomorrow, when I do the “This Week I Played” post.
I thought of more examples of good writing after the show, but I don’t want to keep amending the list forever. I’m sure if I missed anything crucial you’ll tell me about it in the comments.
Link (YouTube) |
Last time, Morgan had just launched herself into space and then snuck back on board Talos-1 through the cargo bay. Here we meet a cluster of well-armed survivors who have been gathering supplies and holding the Typhon back. This small group is really all that’s left of the command structure of the station. There are a few isolated survivors elsewhere,Like Danielle Sho, Alex, and the various people possessed by Telepaths. but the cargo bay is the only place where people are still relatively safe and organized.
These survivors aren’t stuck on the other side of a window. We don’t have a locked door between us. We meet face-to-face with these NPCs. And I hate it.
Designers of story-driven AAA games have a problem. Stories require characters. Characters generally require some degree of back-and-forth dialog. Dialog requires the ability to listen and understand. And in a practical sense, computers are terrible at that last bit.
Maybe the designer has a scene where Jimmy Sidekick tells us about the time Dr. Crazo destroyed his hometown with an army of murder-bots. When the story is over, then the player is probably having some sort of emotional reaction.Assuming the scene was written well. There are a lot of ways someone might respond to something like this. There are countless different ways you might take a conversation in response to someone revealing their trauma…
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Prey 2017 Part 13: Face Time”
Leslee Beldotti sent a question to our podcast this week. As I thought about the topic, I realized it was too big and I’d never be able to do it justice on the show. We’ve touched on this topic many times in the past, but we’ve never gone in-depth. So here it is…
Dear Diecastians,
Greetings from Berlin!
For the past few months I have been playing Outriders, from Polish developer, People Can Fly.
I realize that as a 54 year old woman, I am probably so far outside this game’s intended demographic that I could be in the next galaxy, but this game is emblematic of worrying trend I have been seeing in AAA gaming: THE WRITING IS ATROCIOUS!
Everything about this game’s writing — the story, the characters, and the dialogue — is juvenile, emotionally immature, and downright mean-spirited.
What is going on?!?! Why does it seem that game studios no longer prioritize quality story writing and dialogue in their games?
Am I just getting old?
Your devoted fan,
Leslee Beldotti
So let’s interrogate this. The first thing we need to acknowledge is that…
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Why Is Game Writing So Terrible?”
Once again, thanks to Paul for his patience and longsuffering in the face of my ceaseless filibuster. I imagine it’s not easy to play second-fiddle to my inflated sense of self-importance, but Paul manages to pull it off. For those of you wondering just how lopsided the conversation is, I’ve posted a screenshot of the podcast at the end of the show notes.
Also, check out the reverse mailbag question below. I’d love to hear your answer, even if you don’t listen to the podcast.
Link (YouTube) |
Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #357: The Magnum”
Like I said in the last entry, Alex locked Morgan in Deep Storage for her own good. But as I’ve made clear in the past couple of entries, Alex’s help is often a huge liability. The situation here in Deep Storage is classic Alex: He’s trying to keep us safe, but he’s accidentally locked us in a relatively limited space with the dreaded…
This guy is a bastard. The technopath can control machines, manipulate computers, and disable weapons. He’s not the highest on the alien org chart, and I don’t think the designers intended him to be the biggest threat, but this guy killed me more than the rest of the creeps combined.
Note also how this is yet another point in the story where our silent protagonist works against the story being told. Alex supposedly locked us in here to “keep us safe”, but he’s locked us in a small-ish space with a high-level threat. Morgan ought to be able to call Alex and tell him that he’s being a butthead.I’m really curious what Alex would do if Morgan was able to explain the situation. Would he unlock the door and let you loose again, or would he just send you a bunch of supplies and tell you to take care of the problem yourself?
This game has turrets. You can find them, repair them, and reinforce them. They even carry their own (unlimited) ammunition. At the same time, they’re fragile and get broken or knocked over easily. They actually remind me a lot of the Combine turrets in Half-Life 2.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Prey 2017 Part 12: Meet the Technopath”
For those of you curious how the surgery went, check the show notes below. I’ve done a short write-up for those of you who don’t listen to the show. In any case, I really am on the mend now, and it looks like the medical community has run out of surprises for me.
Link (YouTube) |
Remember the superhero MMO from 2009? Neither does anyone else. It was dumb. So dumb I was compelled to write this.
So what happens when a SOFTWARE engineer tries to review hardware? This. This happens.
A wild game filled with wild ideas that features fun puzzles and mind-blowing environments. It has a great atmosphere, and one REALLY annoying flaw with its gameplay.
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2011.
The plot of this game isn't just dumb, it's actively hostile to the player. This game hates you and thinks you are stupid.
A look back at Star Trek, from the Original Series to the Abrams Reboot.
Crysis 2 has basically the same plot as Half-Life 2. So why is one a classic and the other simply obnoxious and tiresome?
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2012.
Yeah, this game is a classic. But the story is idiotic, incoherent, thematically confused, and patronizing.
This is why shopping for graphics cards is so stupid and miserable.
T w e n t y S i d e d
