StaceyPowers

When I am playing a game where I only control one character, I usually distribute my points and pick my perks right away (unless saving perks for later, as in Skyrim). But when I am playing a game where I have multiple characters to level (i.e. Dragon Age or Mass Effect), I notice I will wait a long time before doing so. It simply is not efficient to level up immediately. It seems like there is someone leveling up every few minutes (okay, not that frequently, but still), and it just yanks me out of immersion to have to constantly sit in their screen to distribute their points. Plus, honestly, I am totally inefficient with leveling in general because it demands so much executive function. So, I usually wait until every member of my party is ready to level up, and then I handle them as a batch. It takes less time, and it means fewer interruptions in the story/gameplay. I’ll make an exception if there is a tough fight ahead and I need every strategic advantage I can get. Then I will level up anyone who is ready. How about you? Do you like leveling? Or do you find it tedious/annoying like I do? Do you level right away, or do you wait to level until you can batch process your party?

For years, I never liked using stealth techniques in games if I could avoid them. I wasn’t very good at them, for one thing. For another, I just preferred the action of running and gunning. It felt more focus, and stealth involved a lot of waiting and anxiety. What’s weird is I’m on my second playthrough of TLOU and I find myself taking a stealthier approach voluntarily this time. TLOU always pushed me in terms of getting me used to stealth, but the first time through, I did very little sneaking and choking of opponents. This time around, I find that is my go-to approach for most rooms if I can manage it. I sneak around and choke as many opponents silently as possible, and am completing sections in some cases without using any ammo which I wouldn’t have thought I could get through that way the first time. It still takes a lot of patience, but I guess I simply am more patient nowadays. Anxiety has been replaced by a sense of satisfaction at feeling I am in control of a situation and my opponents are not. Have you had any unexpected changes regarding how you feel about a particular combat style? Have you grown to love an approach you initially disliked, or vice versa?

Thank you @Crazycrab @Shagger @Executor Akamia

Thank you, @The Blackangel I second @killamch89 and @kingpotato and also nominate @DylanC, @Alyxx, @Executor Akamia, @Crazycrab, @LadyDay, @skyfire.

What is your favorite MMO, past or present?

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?