StaceyPowers

Favorite classic PC game?

I think this might be our largest pool of nominees yet. That's awesome!

I always wondered this too. Very informative @Shagger and @Dead2009.

A family dynamic is compelling for me as well, and part of why I think I always get so attached to my followers in Dragon Age.

I was asking specifically about video game locations for picnics =D but this is a more interesting response than I would have gotten on that. People tend to avoid cemeteries, so they do seem very tranquil to me too, and aesthetically, they can be quite lovely. That sounds like an amazing place full of history, and its neglect makes me sad. I am sure that the maintenance you did has helped though, and that the place appreciated the care you gave it. Wrapping around to this, the Memorial Gardens (cemetery) in BioShock Infinite would be a nice place for a picnic, assuming one hasn’t yet awakened/manifested Lady Comstock’s “ghost.” There is also a nice cemetery in Rapture, but I don’t recall if it is in BioShock 1 or 2.

I would feel pretty lost playing as Engineer class I think. Heck, I often just skip bringing anyone who isn’t just straight up solid with combat with me on missions (so Ashley is always with me) unless I don’t expect much fighting, and I just ignore all the locked containers I can’t open. I like Tali a lot, but that does mean alas she doesn’t get to go out with me much. Regarding coronavirus, I think that it is almost inescapable to run into these resonating themes in games—so many of our games focus on pandemics, apocalyptic scenarios, etc., so we encounter it all over the place. I’m also replaying TLOU right now (just started Left Behind again), so I get major quarantine vibes every night when I play.

I am on my first playthrough of Mass Effect (first game) playing as Vanguard, and I agree, it is a super fun class. I had no idea what I was doing when I picked it out, but in hindsight I can say I picked exactly the class I ultimately would have ended up wanting. This is indeed a good series for quarantine. I'm going a lot more slowly than you though since I have other games on rotation. Glad you are enjoying it!

In a different thread, some of us (sorry, forgot who, can’t find it right now) were talking about Ellie in TLOU, and how easy it is to bond with her emotionally through Joel. I was theorizing that this may be one of the reasons why even gamers who aren’t all that keen on LGBTQA+ portrayals often give Ellie a kind of “pass” (not universally, to be sure, but if they make an exception for one game, TLOU is usually it). You learn to care deeply about Ellie because you feel protective of her. By experiencing Joel’s emotional journey, it is easy to think of her as your own daughter when you are playing, or to want her to be your daughter, just as Joel eventually does. I think this worked really well to build empathy and emotional connection in BioShock Infinite too. Elizabeth definitely can take care of herself, but you still feel protective of her, and you build that same father-daughter bond with her. While building those bonds, as the gamer, you also learn to relate closely to Joel and Booker in those games as well. So, I would suggest that the parental bond in a video game between the player character and another character seems to be a great way to build an emotional connection in the gamer. As an unrelated example, another thing I have noticed helps me bond emotionally with a character is when there is some small, personal detail written into them with which I can interact in a way that helps them. Like, in Dragon Age: Origins, there is a part where Morrigan tells you a sad story from her childhood involving a mirror. Later, there is a mirror in a shop, and if you buy it for her, she’ll be surprised and delighted, and it feels like you have helped heal an old wound. You get the feeling you are the only friend she’s ever had, and at that point, at least for me, I was very attached. Now I am wondering if anyone else has made any observations in this area. Are there are relationships, situations, or so on which you have noticed do a great job helping you emotionally connect with the character you are playing or an NPC you are interacting with?

Sometimes I see games which look really cool from an aesthetic standpoint, but which have received mediocre or bad reviews. I was wondering if anyone here can think of a game you have played which was really cool to look at, but wasn’t all that great from a gameplay standpoint. And if so, were you still satisfied with the experience, or were the aesthetics not enough? What could the game have done to live up to its appearance and deliver an overall better experience?

I am listening to the ambient noise from the Emerald Vale from The Outer Worlds right now while I am working. I haven’t had a chance yet to actually play The Outer Worlds, but it sounds like such a peaceful, idyllic environment (let me guess—it’s probably full of insane enemies =D). It got me thinking about in-game locations where I wish I could eat a picnic, hike, and just relax for a day IRL. The top one which comes to mind is definitely The Rift from Skyrim. I would say most specifically that part of it where the trees meet the mountains over where that one hunter dude who worships Kyne (forgot his name) has his house. I never get tired of just hanging out in that area. Of course, pretty much anywhere in the Rift would be amazing, so long as one is avoiding the bears. It being perpetual autumn is a big plus =D My next pick would probably be Arcadia from BioShock. Not because it is the world’s greatest picnic location or anything, because it totally isn’t. More just because I am always trying to imagine what it was like to live in Rapture before the fall. What about you? In what in-game location would you most like to just enjoy a relaxing afternoon?

Those of you who have read my posts probably have noticed by now that my usual reaction to most puzzle games is agitation, frustration, and sometimes pure rage. But there are exceptions. On another thread, @The Blackangel mentioned a game called "Word Cookies" being relaxing, and it sounded kind of similar to the terminal hacking mini-game in Fallout, which I actually do find really relaxing. So, what are some other relaxing puzzle games which you can recommend?

I never did finish that one 😞

Are there any game soundtracks you enjoy so much that you play them even when you are doing something else, despite having heard them over and over while playing? For me, the Skyrim and Oblivion soundtracks are some of the best work and study music out there. They are not obtrusive, and they also immediately put me into a “task completion” mindset, so they are work-conducive by default. And I never get sick of them, so I listen to them a lot when I am working. I also listen to the bard songs from DA: Inquisition pretty often lately. DA seems to be one of the best series for reducing my anxiety, so just putting on the bard music can make me feel more calm and relaxed.

I have this problem too. And the world starts breaking as your save file gets larger. No clue how to fix it.

Myst.

So, this could be seen as an apples to oranges question, but to me, Elder Scrolls and Fallout are similar franchises with games that play almost identically in many respects. For those who enjoy both, do you have a preference overall for one series or the other, and if so, which and why? For me, it is a pretty tough call, as I really like both. But I think that Fallout appeals to me most by a narrow margin, despite the fact that Elder Scrolls is arguably a prettier world (I mean, it has trees, come on). If I were to try and figure out why Fallout seems to have more of a pull on me, I can come up with a few factors: -Sense of humor. Skyrim and Oblivion seem to lack a sense of humor in many respects (I can’t speak for Morrowind, haven’t played it). Not entirely, but the black humour that is all over Fallout is appealing to me. -Better “dungeons.” One cave in Skyrim is much the same as another for the most part. But the Vaults in Fallout tell stories about their histories that you can follow as you explore, which really adds to the experience to me (despite them being built like mazes). I love how each feels like a mystery you are “solving” as you go. -Better companions (in NV at least). The companions in NV all have stories and quests and feel more individual to me. -Art design elements. This is totally subjective, but I love retro design, and Fallout is filled with it. -More varied quests. I think that the overall variety of quests in Fallout is a bit more broad-ranging than those in the ES games I have played. -Cool DLCs. Skyrim has awesome DLCs too, but I just like the way that Fallout’s function as experimental mini-games in some respects. -Fallout NV is my overall favorite of these Bethesda-published games. That does tend to sway my overall outlook on Fallout in a positive way. What about you? Do you prefer Fallout or Elder Scrolls, or do they rank the same for you?

That sounds similar to the terminal hacking puzzles in Fallout (which I actually like).

Thank you! If you ever run into the reference in the future, please let me know :)

You just explained your systematic method in my other thread.

I do remember taking that approach with Myst on PC back in the day. I guess that I had the patience with that because it was literally a puzzle game, and thus I would just keep working on the puzzles at school and such.

We’ve posted on here about our favorite game soundtracks. But what about least favorite game soundtracks? Are there any game soundtracks which just get on your nerves? Or are there some you have mixed feelings about? Or even just specific tracks? I can’t think of any game soundtracks which I outright hate. But there are some that I sometimes find tedious. For example, Tetris has a classic soundtrack, and I can’t say I “dislike” it—but I sure dislike it getting stuck in my head. I’m playing Mass Effect right now, and that’s another soundtrack on which I have mixed feelings. It adds to the atmosphere of the game, and in some respects I find it kind of fun, but the song that plays continuously when you are on the Normandy irritates me for some reason (possibly also by getting stuck in my head, and by being so unvaried and repetitious). I wish sometimes that game options included complicated breakdowns on music, so you could be like “play music when on missions, but not on ship.” What game soundtracks or specific songs annoy you?

Puzzle solving! It’s not my favorite thing ever. I am hoping that someone can help me become a better puzzle-solver. I have noticed that my problem is that puzzles seem to involve two stages in most games, and it is the first stage I can’t seem to figure out how to deal with. The two stages seem to be: 1-Figuring out the rules/underlying principle of the puzzle. 2-Working through the puzzle based on the rules/underlying principle. If I know the rules for a puzzle and understand more or less what I am supposed to be doing, I usually am patient and methodical enough to follow through and solve the puzzle. But if I do not understand the basic underlying principle governing a puzzle, I feel totally lost, and have no idea what to do or how to begin systematically determining what the underlying rules are. I usually cannot even make sense of what I am looking at. Worse, even after I look up the solution, sometimes I still don’t grok the puzzle. If anyone here excels at this first stage, what is your basic process? How do you go from looking at a puzzle you have never encountered before to figuring out what you have to do to solve it?

I was supremely and ridiculously proud of myself this past week because I managed to solve TWO puzzles in a row in TWO games without looking up any hints. To anyone here who is good at solving puzzles, this probably sounds quite silly. But I truly am that pathetic at them. The puzzles I solved were really simple too. But hey, at least I didn’t have to cheat for once. One of the puzzles just involved stepping in a correct pattern across a floor so as not to die. The other had to do with trying to get a meter up to a certain amount of “full,” and I had to figure out which buttons to press to fill up the meter at the appropriate amounts added together. I am sure that many here excel at solving much harder puzzles. What puzzles are you particularly proud that you managed to solve either by yourself or with only a minimal amount of assistance?

I am pretty sure right now I am not the only person who is dealing with a lot of extra anxiety. I use gaming on a nightly basis to help me deal with my OCD and sleep, and it usually works pretty well. But with coronavirus rampaging around, I have quite a bit of breakthrough anxiety. And I am betting that even those of you who don’t have anxiety disorders may be feeling more tense and uncertain than usual. So, what games are the best to soothe anxiety and help us relax during this difficult time? For me, I think the best games in this respect fall into several categories: -Games that force me to be in the moment. For example, this would include first person shooters, or intense stealth games like TLOU. Because they demand so much intense concentration and focus, they help to disrupt anxious thoughts. -Games that take me into a different world/story. Other games that help me to cope with my anxiety are those which pull me outside of my own head and place me firmly in someone else’s. Well-developed worlds paired with well-developed characters help here. The games that seem to do the best in this regard for me are those like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. There is a lot of rich lore to dive into, a solid story, and richly developed characters who feel very lifelike and real. -Super relaxing chill games. Finally, games like Elder Scrolls and Fallout are awesome for coping with anxiety. First of all, the very task-based nature of them makes it easy to get into a flow, and hijacks my obsessive-compulsive circuits and puts them to better use than fretting about my problems. Secondly, the peaceful music and serene landscapes get me into a really chill state of mind. I find that Oblivion in particular is amazing in this respect with its lovely compositions and lush landscapes. What about you? What games are you playing right now to keep anxiety at bay?

Thank you, @Crazycrab, @The Blackangel, @Shagger, @kingpotato. I nominate everyone previously nominated plus @kingpotato and @Juneberry.