My friend was trying to articulate Light Table to me earlier today, but because he knows nothing about programming he couldn't quite explain it.

Anyways, I offer up this:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/birdhouse/nesl

Cool little desk organizer buddies.  Modular, and pretty versatile.

The Frogman Caper

I'd argue that in terms of storytelling in Immortal Defense, the story doesn't get in the way of the gameplay and the gameplay doesn't get in the way of the story, but both of them build off of each other (in terms of the reason for certain stages behaving differently, motivations for doin' things).  It's basically all the plusses without any of the negatives.

On the other hand you have, say, Castlevania:  Aria of Sorrow which is content to let you 'beat' the game while withholding tons of areas and story from you.  The basic ending is a false one, and while some people might get a kick out of 'figuring out' the secret to getting more out of the game, it's indicative of not putting the experience out there plainly.  It's all the negatives without any of the plusses.

I feel like half of my current physical game library are JRPGs that I never finish because I either want to just enjoy the gameplay, or the story, and I feel like due to my limited time and patience, I'm never quite getting the most out of either.  This is especially cutting in games with limited-time events, sidequests that vanish, hidden plot triggers, and branching plot points that have no real clear cause.

As much as I love the idea of Infinite Space on DS, a game where trivial questions with yes/no answers can literally kill off characters or lock you out of swathes of the game hours down the line just kills my drive.

Both Etrian and The Dark Spire are made to be pretty hard as heck.  Etrian in particular has some pretty ridiculous supermonsters you have to avoid, and The Dark Spire is more about horrible dungeon tricks and traps.  Dark Spire also has the oldschool methodology of making sure you have a good rogue, healer, etc in your party otherwise you are doomed for sure.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

What?  Out of all you indie game dudes, none of you have stacked rocks?

Why do you think Diablo is covered in horns, dum dum!

sorry everybody i am sorry for my embarrassing display of castigation i hope the tigsource community can forgive my s-sins...

Apology accepted.

Look you simpletons, it's not enough for me to merely express my dissatisfaction with the product, I literally have to amp my consumer displeasure into a frothy vortex of ego so I can justify castigating the game and anyone who is gonna play it.  I didn't get this NES controller belt buckle with the word FASCISM bedazzled onto it because I'm "middle of the road".

Edit:  I would have said FAMICOM controller but, well, you're all plebs.

IT'S ABOUT CONSUMERISM

Hmmm, no, I don't think that is particularly accurate.  It's fine if you don't like the game though.

Why doesn't Marble Madness just start on Ultimate Race??

that is a ridiculously dumb quote. whoever said that is really dumb

Go on

"Eek the Cat"

Their current talking point is "If everything is balanced to be capable, why does it matter what I select, I'm just going to click randomly and nothing matters"

They literally can't imagine a game being fun without being able to feel superior to others via game knowledge, it's so fun to watch.

[amazing adventure]

I just realized he referred to something in an MMO, specifically EQ, as an amazing adventure

me_before_the_last_wipe.png

I don't really care about becoming attached to my characters though, and it's far from being a requirement for enjoying the game.  I can see how in a system where you are forced to fret over choices you could become attached and how that is cool, but that is endemic to that system-- abandoning the system removes the need for that sort of mentality.

It's like Saints Row 3 in that regard, really, where you can decide to be a realistic Andrew WK clone one session and then decide to become a perfect golden androgyne the next. 

Yeah, it's going to be a far different experience than D2 offered, but that isn't the only metric to measure it by.

POV:  An ant on Sonic the Hedgehog's head looking down at the weird obelisk emerging from his bottom, without anything approaching comprehension of the situation's oddity.

A joke?  Let's make it about me,