StaceyPowers

While reading @killamch89 talking about an interesting role he played during combat in an MMO, I got to thinking about the roles I typically play in MMOs. It occurs to me that most gamers probably have a few key positions they like to end up in, whether they are in combat, politics, commerce, or so forth. My question is, when you join an MMO, what is your usual “routine” for trying to position yourself where you want to end up? I usually do best in a spy/rogue role, but not necessarily with that particular class. How to fall into it? Alas, the best method seems to be to join a faction that I know I dislike, and then look for an opportunity to sell their secrets or abuse access to their resources in some other fashion. I actually never have done this intentionally (join the wrong faction just to sell them out), but being as it went down that way twice, I’d say that it is a logical, if dubious, approach to getting power in a game starting with decisions one makes as a newbie. What pathway do you usually follow in MMOs starting as a newbie and as you gain experience? What is your end goal?

Are there any video game characters which are role models to you? I’ve been clinging to TLOU lately while going through some difficult things IRL. Joel is an easier character for me to relate to, but Ellie’s balance of optimism with a clear and realistic world view really inspires me, and I want to be more like her. My other video game role models are Leliana from Dragon Age, for the way she learned over the course of Origins to be her full self, and Booker DeWitt from Bioshock Infinite, for overcoming some really serious inner demons. Who are your video game character role models?

If you are on PlayStation, is there an Xbox exclusive that you really wish you could play? And if you are on Xbox, is there a PlayStation exclusive you really wish you could play? Also, if you do not have a gaming PC, is there a game only on PC which your computer can’t handle, but likewise, you wish you had access to? Is there a game that you want to play badly enough that it might convince you to buy an additional platform just to play it?

So I am doing the quest for Cass in Fallout NV for the first time, and am trying to take the “peaceful” resolution to her situation with the Van Graffs. This requires me to break into either a hard safe or a hard computer terminal to get information. The level requirement to bust into either the safe or the computer seem entirely ridiculous to me for this quest, so I was trying to find an alternative, and I saw someone recommend blowing up the safe with C4. So, I went and bought some C4, stuck it on top of the safe, and detonated it. Nothing happened. I put it in front of the safe door, touching the safe, and detonated it. Nothing happened. Am I doing something wrong, or is C4 not viable for blowing up safes, either in NV or in other Fallout games? Is this something that works in another Fallout title but not this one? I never used the C4 until now, and the explosion didn’t seem all that noteworthy in general. Considering the hefty price tag attached to the stuff (like 1300 caps), it seems pretty useless. Can anyone explain why it is so rare and expensive when it doesn’t seem all that great? @DylanC @kingpotato

As weird as this sounds, for some reason I only just realized last night that lockpicking and science are really closely related skills in Fallout games. There are so many situations where you can move through a quest either by picking the lock on a safe or by hacking a computer terminal. So, I figure most players pick one or the other and pour most of their skill points into that chosen ability. That’s what I always do, however unconsciously. So, which one do you prefer, and why? Between them, I feel like science is a more valuable skill than lockpicking for a couple of reasons. First of all, I prefer the hacking mini-game. It is technically more of a pain in the arse, but for some reason, I just enjoy it. Secondly, there are situations where science sometimes can be useful for getting through a quest with an option unrelated to hacking a terminal, where lockpicking would be entirely useless. For instance, you need a high science skill to help steer the rockets in Come Fly With Me. I can’t think of a time when lockpicking offered a better story outcome which was otherwise unavailable. Do you prefer leveling up lockpicking or science, or do you typically level up both? If so, what are your reasons? @kingpotato @DylanC

I was a double agent in Aetolia long, long ago. I had dirt on everyone in the game, both their in-game and out-of-game lives, which often intersected.

No, I prefer to read it. I don't think there likely is one. Deal breakers for me are usually just incompatibilities in terms of relationship values. If there were a small quirk like that, I'd rather be curious and question my extreme reaction if I had one, and see if I could learn from it.

Anytime I've checked the news the past few years.

I have no idea. My head is spinning with existential uncertainty.

That is EXACTLY the sort of thing that sends me to the internet looking for a solution. I am not a huge fan of puzzles in general, but if they have a clear, underlying logic to them, that’s usually something I can deal with. But like you said, how the hell were you even supposed to think of taking those required random actions to access the passage? What thought process was supposed to make you go, “Oh, obviously I need to do this?” I can’t think of specific examples, but there were a couple of those for me in Skyrim, and also in Dragon Age. Once I understood what I was supposed to be doing, I could complete the puzzles without further assistance, but I had to look up what I was meant to be doing in the first place. I really resent when these things crop up out of nowhere unexpectedly, as it is a massive disruption to my gaming.

My aim is terrible, so I can relate =D

Just knowing that can up performance anxiety too, making a mistake more likely.

That's why I always worry about it. If I progress forward without a reasonably full stock of supplies, I am just assuming that the crafting items I need are between me and the next fight. Otherwise, I am stuck relying on a level of skill I simply don't have. The irony is that to some degree, I am building those skills slowly simply by trying so hard not to use up my items. So this does happen sometimes! I'll keep that in mind if I play that series to be mindful of my supplies then. I hope you didn't have to go too far back!

That sounds cool. So, when a lower ranked enemy takes the place of its former superior, how does that change things? Can the new general have an entirely different strategy than the one he replaced, forcing the player to adapt to the change?

I can kind of relate. I also have ended up with a “fear of trying new things” related to my childhood, but also a compulsive urge to “do it anyway.” Trying something new was always risky in our household growing up. There was nothing more unpleasant than loving something, whether it was music, a game, a book, a show, a fashion, or a friend, only to have our narrow-minded, narcissistic mother bring down the ban hammer on that thing or person whilst hardcore shaming us for liking whatever it was. So anytime I want to try something new, there’s always this knee-jerk urge to do it in secret or not at all, because someone might judge and condemn me. Then I’m like, “Wait, I’m an adult, I can do what I want.” For whatever reason, gaming has felt like my own “safe zone” where I can try anything new I want without worrying about it. I have zero clue why this is. So I have had no problem trying new things there. But I still struggle with it in every other area of life. Want to listen to a new band? Wait until no one else is home. Need to watch a video someone sent? Put on headphones and watch it in private, etc. Over the past couple years, I've made serious efforts to push outside my comfort zone and try things I want to do though, and it's been reassuring how there have been almost no "consequences." So, it does seem to be getting (slowly) easier. I think this is an area where it is possible to at least partly retrain the brain.

I think I'd pick different favourites in different categories--I love TV and re-watch my favourite shows frequently. But I think the all-time best TV show in terms of writing, consistency, tone and message is the 2005 reboot of Battlestar Galactica. @DC What is your favourite show?

If we want to talk serial killers, we can admire this guy for sheer originality.

I'm having a hard time thinking of someone specific--but I tend to admire in a sort of "professional" way anyone who is particularly cunning, i.e. a good con artist, even if I am disgusted by their aims. Cool question, btw. What about you?

@Shortie861 was posting about having too many games to play and not enough time. I have a related question. For those of you who love re-playing old games but also have a backlog of new games waiting in your collection, how much of your time do you give to each? For example, I have a relatively small backlog of new games. Most of my time is spent either replaying old games or playing unexplored content in old games (i.e. big open world games), with maybe about 25% of my time dedicated to games that are new or relatively new to me.

@SaucyPastaTho mentioned giving himself time limits to complete games when going for Platinum on another thread. How many people here give yourselves time limits when you are playing through games? Under what circumstances do you do so, and under which do you not?

I was posting in another thread asking what games people like to play when feeling down. I was half-surprised when @Shagger and @LadyDay both mentioned that they tend not to play games when they are feeling down, and prefer other activities instead. Gaming is pretty much my go-to activity especially when I am feeling anxious, depressed, fatigued, etc. It gives my brain something to latch onto and offers some structure and routine. So, this made me curious to ask everyone here. When are you not in the mood to game? When you are sad? Angry? Bored? Scared? Distracted? Excited about something else? What moods make your console or PC look totally unappealing?

If there is one thing I fixate on when I am playing a linear game, it is resource management. Nowhere is this more stressful for me than The Last of Us, where I obsess about how I can get through every situation using as few valuable health kits or bombs as possible. It’s because I always visualize getting to a key fight where there is no way for me at my skill level to possibly prevail without the resources I need, only to find I don’t have them and am never going to be able to progress. Having played successfully through TLOU, I know that my resource management fears are exaggerated. But nothing really stops me from worrying about it, even on a second playthrough. In fact, it isn’t uncommon for me to successfully get through a hard fight only to voluntarily re-play it if it hasn’t yet auto-saved just so I can conserve a single bomb or health kit. Mostly though, I just wonder if my resource management anxieties are completely unrealistic, or whether it is possible to wind up in a situation where you just don’t have what you need to proceed. Has this ever happened to anybody in any game? Which game, and how much progress did you lose? Sometimes I wish games would flash a warning at you if the game determines you are about to proceed poorly stocked, like, “Warning: If you proceed at this point, you are likely to have a very hard time making further progress. Would you like to replay from the last checkpoint?” What do you think of this idea? I feel like situations which would warrant such a warning would be relatively rare, so it wouldn’t be all that disruptive, and you could always switch it off in the options. @skyfire @Alyxx @DylanC @The Blackangel @killamch89 @kingpotato @Shagger @Crazycrab @LadyDay

I just got to a rare timed mission in Dragon Age: Inquisition. I actually kind of like it, since it isn’t the entire mission that is timed, just sections of it, and the reason for the time limit makes sense logistically and arguably enhances immersion in the situation. That being said, for me, putting up with this is an exception—usually I hate timed missions. And the worst of all for me are timed games. They instantly make me feel stressed. It is also hard to predict how much time you have for each segment of the mission or game, so you have to rush through everything by default at full speed, and you never get a chance to appreciate all the details. It is easy to miss a ton of content that way. The one that stuck in my memory as driving me crazy this way as a kid was Wishbringer by Infocom (a text adventure). As a small child, the time limit was enough to stop me from ever getting through the game successfully, though I believe it is one of the easier Infocom games. How do you feel about missions or games which are timed? Do you love them, loathe them, or are you more neutral in how you feel about them? @skyfire @Shagger @DylanC @Alyxx @Crazycrab @LadyDay @The Blackangel @killamch89 @kingpotato

One cat and many plushies.

What video game songs get stuck in your head most, and which drive you crazy? I think the absolute worst one for me is the song that plays the entire time you are in Orzammar in Dragon Age: Origins. It is quite an energetic song for something that you have to listen to for such a loooong time, and after hearing it loop enough times, I feel like putting my fist though a wall. It then loops on and on and on while I try to fall asleep at night. Another one that can get bad is the combat music in Skyrim. Most music in Skyrim does an amazing job not getting stuck in my head or not annoying me of it does, but if I get stuck in combat for like 20-30 minutes in a hard fight and that song has looped the whole time, I find it is super annoying and sticks there for a long while afterward. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen so often that I have felt a need to switch it off, and normally it doesn’t bother me when I just hear it for a couple of minutes. In general, it seems like compositions which are “active” and “purposeful” are the worst earworms. Oh, heh, another one that gets stuck in my head relentlessly is “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” since it is featured so prominently in Fallout: New Vegas. At first that annoyed me, but then I just sort of surrendered to inevitability and eventually stopped caring that it is constantly going through my brain. @The Blackangel @Alyxx @killamch89 @kingpotato @Crazycrab @Shagger @LadyDay @DylanC @skyfire