StaceyPowers

Off the disc. I don't think space is the issue (I have lots of free space, and just deleted a bunch of saves). But maybe it's the disc being dodgy? It can't be overheating. It's freezing in here.

DA Inquisition ran pretty close to flawlessly to this point for me on PS3, but within the past two days, I’ve had it freeze up tight on me to the point of needing to do a hard reboot on the console. The most recent time, it did this during a save, so my save file got corrupted and I lost progress. Thankfully, an autosave kept me from losing days' worth. Anyone know what causes these freezes or if there is anything I can do to avoid them, especially while saving?

What possibility do you dread most concerning the future of gaming? The end of physical discs? Everything turning into microtransactions? Needing to be online to play any game? No more single player games? Not being able to play your old games because you can no longer purchase compatible hardware? A move away from types of games or game content that interest you? Something else altogether? @kingpotato @skyfire @The Blackangel @Alyxx @DylanC @LadyDay @killamch89

If you had the money and resources to make a sequel to any game you wanted, what game would you make a sequel to? And what direction would you go with it? @The Blackangel @Alyxx @DylanC @skyfire @killamch89 @kingpotato @LadyDay

How often do you replay your favorite game? Most of my games are open world games, so I just keep them on a semi-permanent rotation loop—so I am basically always playing Skyrim, Fallout, etc. I’m finally getting around to my second playthrough of TLOU, will probably start in the next few weeks. And I recently finished my first full playthrough of all BioShock games and DLCs. I think ideally, I want to play through BioShock and TLOU every year. But I am sure it will be impossible to keep up with that as I expand my video game library. How often do you replay your favorite game or games? @kingpotato @DylanC @The Blackangel @Alyxx @killamch89 @LadyDay @skyfire

Do other people here who enjoy open world games spend a large percentage of time just messing around and doing mundane things? I literally spend about 50% of my time in RDR working on the hunting/gathering challenges and gambling. It makes the world feel more “lived in” to me, rather than something I’m just passing through. I mess around a lot in Skyrim and Fallout too, but not to the same degree. I think RDR’s mundane tasks are just more fun to me than, say, the radiant quests in Skyrim. Then again, I spend a lot of time in both Skyrim and Fallout arranging items around my house. What percentage of time do you spend in the open world games you play just doing random slice of life activities? And what “slice of life” type activities do you wish were available in the games you play which aren’t? Like in Skyrim, I like that there are some activities you can do with your kids, but I wish there were more, like taking them to town to shop and such. And there are literally no spouse activities, which is kind of lame. It would also be cool if you could go fishing.

I am playing Oblivion right now for the first time. @DylanC told me about how when it came out, it was a mindblowing experience to console gamers, who never really got into Morrowind. So the whole open world experience was still very new and amazing. I try to picture myself in that time when I play it so I can imagine that excitement. The game I most remember changing what I thought was possible with games as a kid was Half-Life. It showed me that it was possible to have a shooter which did an amazing job weaving in a story and incorporating other gameplay elements. I just had never seen anything like it up to that point. I feel to this day like it was one of the most groundbreaking and trend-setting games ever made. What games do you remember changing what you thought was possible in video games?

What is your favorite time of day visually in Skyrim?

Constant. My chronic pain.

Not bad. You? :)

@LadyDay It is great to see you around here again! :)

As @killamch89 recently pointed out, a lot of free game sites are filled with adware, but there are still lots of opportunities to play free games that don't involve putting oneself at that kind of risk. To everyone here, what free games do you play and recommend?

I was reading @kingpotato's recent thread on infuriating behaviors from online teammates. While thinking about obnoxious behaviors form fellow teammates, I had to admit I could think of some annoying stuff I've done myself, though mostly on MMOs, not FPS games (i.e. being a bully in general in MUDs when I was still in high school--having been bullied in school). Is anyone here ever the annoying teammate, or even the annoying opponent in online games? Hopefully, we all try our best not to be that person, but I'm sure most of us have been so inadvertently or otherwise at some point of time.

While looking at @mont86's thread on gaming chairs, I got to wondering how much people here are willing to spend/have spent on gaming chairs, headphones, peripherals and other accessories? I have honestly spent almost nothing in this department, if we don’t count simply replacing controllers when they die (and even then, I usually opt for cheap third party hardware). I just don’t have the cash to spend on anything other than a few games now and again.

@The Blackangel was talking here about franchises with a LOT of titles, particularly those where publishers just seem to want to make as much money as possible off of their favorite cash cows. Anyway, are there any series of that nature anyone here feels is exceptional in some way, and honestly has mostly great games?

I was reading @kingpotato's thread about people dying from too much gaming. I think most of us have run into these stories in the news sometimes about people who actually died or wound up in a hospital because of too much gaming. But does anyone know anyone personally who it actually happened to?

I nominate @The Blackangel and @skyfire

If you can only listen to one album for the rest of your life, which will it be?

Think fast. A zombie has just barged into the room you are in. What will you do?

Probably the hotel where I used to work. I loved it. Odd things happened there, and I couldn't say it felt like a menacing environment to me personally, but there were things there I could not explain, so at times it was a bit scary. Buy a new one. Unless you mean, what would I do if there were no computers? Probably starve 😞

I’ve noticed that @skyfire and I both love the city of Rapture far more than I expect we were “intended” to. I think most people love its atmosphere and aesthetic. But we felt emotionally attached to it. In my case, I wasn’t attached to Andrew Ryan’s philosophy/politics in any way. But as a feat of engineering, it was spectacular, and though I didn’t like its particular vision, I liked that it had vision. Watching it flood always feels like such a terrible waste. Was Rapture a terrible place? Yes, but did it have to be? A place is what people make of it. It was the people of Rapture (and not all of them) that I ultimately disliked, not Rapture itself. Rapture could have been beautiful. Did anyone else feel more attached to characters, places or concepts in a game than you suspect the writers/developers intended?

Anyone ever have a weird glitch in Skyrim where random characters suddenly get stuck sort of walking in place like they’re on a treadmill for eternity? Including dead characters? @kingpotato @killamch89 @DylanC

I tend to game a lot more on my PS3 than my computer since the setup and controller seem much more ergonomic to me for the console and I have pain issues. Not sure who among you are PC gamers, but does anyone have advice, particularly for more ergonomic mouse use? Using the mouse hurts my shoulder/neck. @DylanC @Alyxx Tagging both of you as I am pretty sure you both game on computers regularly.

In Skyrim last night, I realized I was “going through the motions” rather mindlessly on a quest, and that the experience was becoming repetitious. So, I randomly looked at a tree stump and thought, “playthroughs don’t have to be repetitious; I can stroll over and examine this tree stump right now.” So I did, and was quite startled when I saw ants moving all over it. I never noticed ants crawling on stumps on any previous playthroughs, and I’ve been playing this game monthly for years. It was a cool moment. What are some small details like these which you have spotted only after a long time in a game environment? @kingpotato @killamch89 @skyfire @The Blackangel @Alyxx @DylanC

Just started my third playthrough of Skyrim. The first one, I leveled very badly all over the map before I found a style I like (one handed weapon + conjuration). The second one, I optimized for one handed/conjuration. This time, I thought I’d challenge myself. I never had an easy time with destruction magic, but I have just gotten through Bleak Falls Barrow without any weapon use, and am going to see if I can go no weapons the entire game. So far, it is difficult, and I am dying a lot, but it’s also been interesting. It’s forced me to do more stealth and plan out some of my attacks instead of just rushing in. What are some games where you have deliberately tried a very different combat style to your usual on a playthrough? How did it go? @kingpotato @killamch89 @Alyxx @DylanC @The Blackangel @skyfire