m76

Care to give examples? I'm not sure how one can be alienated by true to life changes?

I can't say I have any current favorite developers who I'd be excited about no matter what they make. There were a few names that stood out in the past, but they are long extinct. DSI - Distinctive Software Inc (probably one of the first acquisitions by EA in 1991, became EA Canada) Eden Games - developed my all time favorite racing games, technically the company name still exists but only have a handful of people developing mobile games, for all intents and purposes the eden games I loved died in 2013. Westwood - Acquired by EA then shut down in 2003 ION Storm - Defunct in 2005

I've never seen any, that would be really awkward. Frankly even non-interactive ones make me feel a bit uncomfortable.The sex scenes in Cyberpunk 2077 were probably the least clunky I've seen to date.

I wasn't trying to get any of them fast. Newly released consoles were always out of my budget, but even if I could I'd not buy one until there are enough exclusive titles for it that are interesting to me. Probably the "closest" was when I purchased the PS4 Pro, about 13 months after its release. If that even counts, as that was just a refresh not a new generation. I doubt I'll get a PS5 within the next 12 months, regardless of availability.

Driving games and the driving portion of action games, at least the good ones that have physics grounded in reality. I used to be good at shooters too, but my hand coordination went to shit as I got older.

For me it is certainly the years around the turn of the century. So from 1998 to about 2003. A great deal of my all time favorite most memorable games were released around that time. Incidently these also happen to be my high school years, that were a miserable time for me, I so hated high school it's incomprehensible. Half-Life - 1998 Unreal - 1998 Carmageddon 2 - 1998 Gran Turismo - 1998 System Shock II - 1999 X-Wing Alliance - 1999 Gran Turismo 2 - 1999 Driver - 1999 Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed - 2000 DeusEx - 2000 Star Trek Voyager Elite Force - 2000 Max Payne - 2001 Microsoft Train Simulator - 2001 Vice City - 2002 Mafia - 2002 Command & Conquer Generals - 2003 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - 2003 Max Payne 2 - 2003 DeusEx Invisible War 2003 And this is probably not a comprehensive list just the ones I could think of right off the bat.

Well it depends on the length of the game obviously. But the most effort I put into finishing a game fast was with The Last of Us II, I finished it in 3 days. I just couldn't stop. But I'd never just restart sections of games to make it last, that's crazy! I'd rather re-play the entire game if I didn't have enough and it had replay value.

Yes, of course otherwise how would I have typed out the questions / answers?

Sorry, but when I read your name I keep hearing this in my head: JaiCee. Denton In Da Fresh!

I don't think the renegade thing is that bad. I see it more as a disappointment than trying to guilt gamers. I was referring to this incident in my post but I didn't want to specify it in my OP because this topic shouldn't be about any specific case. The thing is that 90% of players will always go on the beaten path and miss things. Still that attention to detail which is only noticed by a handful of enthusiasts is what separates OK games from Great games.

One of my favorites is Black Books, here is the first episode check it out. I could write a synopsis but it wouldn't do it justice, safe to say I just rewatched the pilot right now and it stilll brings smiles.

These days every major game has some sort of data collection built into them that analyses and sends information on your playing habits and in game choices back to the developer. How do you feel about this? I have to say I don't mind it if it is used to bettering games. I look at it as if a poll or questionnaire that you constantly fill. But there are also very bad examples. Like recently when a developer used this data to publicly shame gamers for their in-game choices. This is unacceptable. This is like the chef coming out of the kitchen in a restaurant and slapping the client in the face for ordering two courses that don't match in the opinion of the chef.

Well then you'd love Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Ghost Recon Breakpoint. There is a mode in those games called "unguided exploration" where the game doesn't give you quest markers for most missions, instead it describes the place where you need to go. And you need to find it using the map and geographic features or nearby landmarks. I loved that mode, it is much more immersive than blindly following a quest marker. Plus it encourages exploration.

If a game is well designed it needs no handholding at all, because you'll know intuitively what do to. The games where you have to guess the mind of the designer to figure out what on earth are you supposed to do are badly designed. What I find most annoying is when games don't even allow you to enter the game's main menu and adjust options before completing a tutorial / prologue mission. I also dislike when games start spawning hints at you when you step off the beaten path. Just let me explore at my own, pace OK?

Probably 6 or 7.

This might be a controversial opinion but the Saints Row series. They are terrible cliche fests with awful mechanics, physics, stories, and ridiculousity.

It depends on the context. I hate it when it is used as a handholding device for the player. Like I've seen games where if you went just slightly off the beaten path the voice instantly started complaining.

Voiced. I really dislike the mute hero trope.

DLCs are expansions you buy for money, while mods are fan created fixes, modifications for games to make them better. I don't even understand why is this an either or question? I like both, when they are well done. The biggest advantage of mods that they are made by individuals who are enthusiastic about something, and they don't care about how popular their mod will be, they just want something in their game. So mods are great to fulfill niche interests. Meaning they are not catered towards the lowest common denominator. They aim to make a few people very happy, who want the same thing out of a game. So in a way a game can never be as good as with mods out of the box, because one man's dream might be another's nightmare and vice versa. By my rambling you probably already can see that I love mods, they are a gift from the heavens, that can make otherwise average games shine much brighter. I'm a simple guy, and even some simple mods can give me a lot of joy. That said, I don't like story/gameplay altering mods that fundamentally change how a game plays. But everything else, audio swaps, graphics upgrades, cosmetics especially cosmetics are great.

I got my first taste of 4K gaming in 2014. I think Dragon Age Inquisition was the first game I played in 4K. Went down to 2560x1440 in 2015, then back to 3840x1600 in 18. Been gaming at that since, and I'll probably stick to this for the foreseeable future.

I have a lot of weird dreams, including about videogames, but I don't write them down, and usually by 10am completely forget about them. So unfortunately can't share any.

You wonder why I don't play online?

The EU is just a bunch of bureaucrats playing at running the world, they have no real power. It's a sunday club for EU politicians, where they get together and frown at each other. No real change comes from the EU. Every member state has it's own separate systems for everything. Regardless of that there are good things that come out of the EU, like free trade. Getting cut off from that will be a blow to the UK economy. I used to order a lot of stuff from the UK personally. But if I have to pay taxes and customs from now on I'll simply take my money elsewhere. Same goes for travel. Rolling obstacles in front of that (beyond that of the obvious) can only negatively affect tourism for the UK.

Why can't I start a poll? I spent the last half hour carefully writing out questions and answers for a poll only for the forum to throw an error and loose everything I typed.