next »

[deathtotheweird]

I agree with Little Inferno being a good attempt.

The problem with video games that try to do satire, social/political commentary, or are allegorical is the audience. It's not just that they are dumb (many gamers are though) it's that it's not the reason why they play games, and they don't look too deep into it.

System Shock 2 can be read as a war between communism and capitalism. How many people got that touch of commentary compared to the people who 'got' the commentary in Bioshock?

You either make something really obvious so everyone gets it (and even then, not everyone) or you make it subtle (and good) but only some people get it. This is why I think Spec Ops: The Line, Bioshock, and Little Inferno were so obvious in their satire and commentary. There are many people who still didn't 'get it', so clearly we have some time before games and gamers are mature enough to where we could have a Full Metal Jacket level of satire in a video game, and have it be successful.

Metal Gear Solid 2 did the same thing Bioshock did. Questioning player agency and control and the expectation from sequels. Few people 'got it', and instead hated on Kojima and the Raiden character. I don't think they didn't understand it because they were dumb, they just weren't expecting that kind of meta-commentary in a video game. Let alone a Kojima game.

So I don't like being so harsh against games like Bioshock and Spec Ops and Little Inferno for their shallow and sloppy implementations of satire and commentary in video games. It's a step in the right direction, and that's cool with me.

[Trystin]

Been playing a bit of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter lately, I expected it to be shit and hastily made but its actually quite enjoyably tactical with alternate ways to complete the missions. Its got a terrible story so far but the game play is pretty awesome, they also make it a lot harder than your normal shooter because about 3 bullets to anywhere will kill you, and your health and skill is matched to the enemies. Although the AI is a bit stupid sometimes.

[s0]

So I don't like being so harsh against games like Bioshock and Spec Ops and Little Inferno for their shallow and sloppy implementations of satire and commentary in video games. It's a step in the right direction, and that's cool with me.

i can sympathize with that on some level BUT the reason i tend to be harsh with games that claim to have "deep stories" but don't is my fear that heaping too much praise on these baby steps is ultimately going to stifle further developments.

i think gamers who desperately want videogames to be culturally respected have a tendency to latch onto any gam story with even the slightest hint of depth and act like it's freaking shakespeare (see also the obnoxious "citizen kane of games" debate). i'm trying to put that in perspective a bit by criticizing these games (besides i think it's fair to hold gams that claim to be "advancing the medium" up to a higher standard than gams that don't)

also re: spec ops, little inferno and satire: the problem with that is that it could easily lead down a path where we're still making the same war shooters/f2p scams/whatever except we're all progressive and ~*self aware*~ now because we're telling our players that killing is bad irl and war isn't fun. actually spec ops already walks a thin line (get it hahahahahaha) where it VERY NEARLY falls into that.

peace out yo

[deathtotheweird]

I don't know where you get they they claim to be deep stories?? The developers and writers hardly ever make those claims. I've never once heard Walt Williams or Ken Levine brag about how deep their stories are.

I really don't understand where you got that from. Unless you're talking about gamers who say those stories are deep, which is pretty irrelevant.

Heaping praise on poor efforts is not the developers fault, it's games journalists and the gamers who do that. So it's disingenuous to fault the developers for this. Like I said, the more games try to go to deeper stories the more people will see the difference between poor attempts and good attempts at depth.

Take Far Cry 3 for example. The story and it's poor attempts at depth was quickly called out by the game community. Leading to the writer to make several public statements in a weak attempt to explain how 'deep' his shitty story really was.

Then we have multiple reddit threads on Spec Ops: The Line where people pick apart what's good and bad. Lots of healthy discussion that wouldn't have happened if the developers just tried to make a run of the mill cover shooter with a bland story.

This heaping amount of praise bullshit you're saying doesn't exist, I think you're experiencing a bit of confirmation bias.

[s0]

Unless you're talking about gamers who say those stories are deep, which is pretty irrelevant.

yes that's what i was talking about but i don't see how it's irrelevant...?

[deathtotheweird]

It's irrelevant because gamers' opinions of the story have nothing to do with the stories themselves, which is what I was talking about.

[gimymblert]

stirring discussion = success

Btw I don't think "notable" game are there yet, but effort still need to be praise. But progress are more interesting in "art game" especially queer game, who don't try to do "deep stuff" but talk about their experience. And that's the problem more often than not, we simply have nothing to say and our game world reflects that. That's why even minor deviation tend to stood up.

[Rahrahrah]

So System Shock 2 has been thrown around here alot lately, and I swore I played it or System Shock one back in the day.  The fact that System Shock was an Origin game I figured was in my favor because I loved most Origin games back in the day. 

But after the phone call I had with my brother today, one hour (not a record, but out of the ordinary) talking mostly about games.. prolly 5 minutes to ten spent on the reason for the call, lol, I have figured out that what I thought was System Shock (1 or 2) actually was...

wait for it..

..Creature Shock!!!!

Oh the horror.  Its amazing I didn't get this mixed up with Sewer Shark.. hehehhehehe.

[cynicalsandel]

Playing Evoland. Got it for free from NorthernLion, and it sucks. It is terrible. I feel bad for anyone who paid $10 for it. The combat is terrible. Enemies that take multiple hits will almost always damage you because they recover quickly and you can't move away fast enough to avoid it. The concept is cool, and I enjoy going from 2d to 3d graphics in the same game, but its just a tedious, badly designed game.

It's not even hard, the only difficultly is in the bad design. There is almost no challenge other than it controls terribly.

I'm just upset.

[SirNiko]

I saw Evoland on Steam today. I played the original freebie online version, which was cute but not all that engrossing. I wondered if they'd significantly improved it for a commercial release.

The writing was pretty plain and the attempts at humor fell flat with me. I would have liked if it drew things out a bit more and had interesting puzzles or action sequences to complete between upgrades, but the way it was built felt like the author was just putting obligatory obstacles between the upgrades without much thought for making them fun.

It could have also been fun if it tried to be more like a documentary, with background information about each of the elements, like explaining technical details about each innovation with a focus on facts rather than humor.

Games like this and Upgrade Complete are fun for a quick distraction, but I really wish the non-upgrade parts of the game didn't feel like they were considered as afterthoughts.

[cynicalsandel]

I only played a bit of the original for the same reasons, I had the assumption that now that it is $10, that it'd be much better, but it isn't. If you didn't enjoy that, this won't be much better. Though I never finished the flash version, so I don't know if that goes into 3D like the new version does. It is very similar.

I feel bad because of how much I'm dissing the game. I guess it's a neat concept, but that's about the only good thing I can think of.

[SundownKid]

What a shame. A game like Evoland was something that I said would be a cool concept years ago, and it's a killer idea that would be great if it was paired with some parodic Disgaea-style humor. I was hoping it would be good, and it looks great, but I guess the gameplay and writing failed to deliver.

[SirNiko]

The original didn't go into 3-d. The last few 'upgrades' were just things like making a dungeon appear, and a sequence that tries to parody diablo or an MMO by making you kill a bunch of things to gain 'levels' and proceed. The end was pretty abrupt, but then again it was a Ludum Dare thing so it was made under time constraint.

I'll just keep hoping that somebody really talented decides to make a game with the same concept, but more fun.

[Tuba]

Playing Duke Nukem 3D, the new and improved Megaton Edition!

Played a lot of this game when I was younger and it's still great

[ink.inc]

pomme with tmk and im9

[Sharkoss]

Bubble Bobble.

[baconman]

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space.

It's like a poor man's predecessor to FTL. I can see why it would be a major influence to it, however. Plus, it's freeware and I don't need my digital TV for the resolution required to play it.

Ahh, coffeebreak roguelikes. It's not bad, usually tips the balance in the player's favor, having %spoiler% usually near the %spoiler%.

Considering it's what, a 2005 indie game, I don't really think I'm spoiling anything, but you never know... o.o

[deathtotheweird]

weird worlds is better. the first one kinda stinks.

[TeeGee]

Weird Worlds is awesome. Imho blows FTL out of the water.

Been playing the new X-COM on the highest difficulty with ironman enabled. Not as fun as I hoped, as it only emphasizes the game's bugs and randomness.

Bought two bargain bin games as a birthday gift for myself -- Just Cause 2 and Kingdoms of Amalur. Both look pretty fun for the price tag.

[s0]

"classic" difficulty is the one i enjoy the most. its still slightly unfair (enemy crit chances especially) but its manageable if you play very defensively.