StaceyPowers

What moments in games made you feel most awful about something you’d done? For me, the worst was in RDR Undead Nightmare when I finished the Birth of the Conservation Movement quest.

What are your thoughts about the difference between a "puzzle" and an "obstacle course"? I ask because the whole phrase "jump puzzle" confuses me. To me, jump puzzles do not seem to be puzzles (usually). There is no "solving" to be done, simply navigating the obstacles. Thoughts?

During a gaming session, are you playing the entire time, or do you sometimes pause and do other things? I usually pretty much have to pause in the game and play with my cats, as otherwise they make sure that I can’t focus on the game. =D I usually take a break to work on personal projects too, and then return to gaming.

If you bet on esports, was there ever a game that initially, you’d only wagered on, but never played, but then you started playing it as a result? If so, was it mostly because it looked like fun, or was it because you figured playing might give you an edge when you bet?

For those who bet on esports, which are your favorites to wager on, and why?

lol. As much as it alarms me to say, I do think AIs will replace most of our jobs eventually. Regardless, one thing an AI can't do is share the inner subjective experience of a human being with me. No AI will ever replace what originally got me to play TLOU, which was reading a draft of your review of the game on another forum years ago, where you shared the ways the game affected you. It wasn't just the beauty of your insights that stuck with me; it was that I felt I could relate to you well enough through your review to know the game would impact me similarly, and it did.

I'm working on the final edits for my second book. I advise you to find your own writing and editing process. Mine is like: 1-Start writing a batch of chapters. Do some editing as I go. 2-Go back over that batch. Edit intensely twice, and then one more time more lightly. Now the batch will seem relatively "finished." It gives me a solid foundationt to build the next chapter batch on. 3-Proceed with next batch, do edits as listed. 4-When I have a whole book, do the same process of edits I did for each batch, but for the whole thing combined. For every "edit," I have listed, there are actually stages of nested smaller edits. It's a very looping, iterative process for me, because I am autistic, and that's how I work. Something like this might work for you, or something totally different. :)

Thanks! They were just giving me really generic comments of the "Do you KNOW what you look like?" variety, so I never did figure out what it was.

What are some open world games that don’t always give you blatant locations on maps or quest markers, and instead leave it up to you to figure out completely via exploration and asking questions where your objectives are and how to proceed?

What is your system for reminding yourself to keep your controllers charged?

What would be the coolest animal or other organism to play in a video game? I would like to play as an insect. Or maybe some kind of microbe.

For some reason in open world games, when NPCs comment on the character’s appearance negatively, it takes me forever to figure out what they are talking about. Like in Skyrim, I think I had to look it up to see that NPCs were alerting me that I had a disease by saying I looked ill. And in RDR 2, I still can’t figure out why NPCs say I look bad.

In games, do you often try to keep your alignment good for RP reasons, even if it cost you advantages or means you miss out on content?

Has anyone here built a gaming PC from the ground up? What was your experience like?

What are some games (especially open world games) where the setting or maps are relatively small, and this turns out to be a benefit to the game, not a drawback?

What are some games where your base/camp/house/city/etc. actually feels like “home” as opposed to just a place where you live? I’m speaking here specifically about a sense of in-character “home,” not homey feelings you might have about the place out of character as the player.

There are some games where you can choose a male or female version of the same character to play, and/or there may be multiple voice actor options for each. What are some games where the different voice actors used for the same character all did well capturing the same personality and delivery of the lines?

Are there any games that you had a hard time getting into initially the first time you played them, but then, when you went back for a second playthrough, you couldn’t understand why they were so hard to get into the first time?

Kind of like how if you expect food to taste like one thing, and it tastes slightly different, it suddenly tastes awful, even if it wouldn't with the right expectations. I like the shape of the PS5 controller, but its weight just kills me.

Amazing, detailed review from you as always. Thanks so much for this. I can't wait to play it!

I don't see full immersive VR completely doing away with gaming as we know it, because it won't do away with the desire to just kick back and relax on a couch and play a game. If VR ever gets all sci-fi to the point where it's like Star Trek, that is going to be a form of gaming that is active and appeals to a totally different human need (more like what drives people to play sports or go hiking). I think both will coexist.

What are some games that come both with single player modes and co-op or multiplayer modes, where you prefer the latter? I’ve been doing some No Man’s Sky with a friend for the first time, and I feel like I prefer the game like that to single player so far.

What games do the best job making for interesting encounters with random NPCs as you are out exploring the world? I just started RDR 2, and so far the random encounters seem more varied and organic than those in other open world games I have played.

Whether its fighting, hunting, crafting, fishing, or any other mechanic or system in a game, how much/little complexity do you want to see it involve? Do you get overwhelmed by too much complexity, or bored with too much simplicity? Does the right balance depend on the individual game and the specific system?

I started using a mod that actually makes nighttime dark in Skyrim, and since then, I feel like nighttime is so bright in most video games. Does anyone else find themselves feeling annoyed by how bright night tends to be in games?