StaceyPowers

The first time I heard it, I was so busy asking myself "did he really just say that?" that he killed me hahah.

With most video games, the player is in control of the game’s hero, the character who has the most influence and who alters world events in the biggest way. But there are exceptions. I recently finished Dragon Age II. Without getting too spoiler-heavy, there is a character named Anders who takes quite a bit of flak from players for a variety of reasons involving everything from his sexual orientation to his politics. But suffice to say, he eventually makes a world-altering decision with zero input from the player. It doesn’t make him a “hero” in a classical sense, but it does arguably make him the most important character in the story, and not the player. My theory is that this is the real reason why so many players complain about Anders, whether consciously or unconsciously. One of the main reasons we play video games is to feel that we are important, influential, and in control—because that is how we rarely feel in our real lives. I wasn’t upset with Anders throwing me out of the driver’s seat, perhaps because I sometimes like more true-to-life experiences in games. But I can see why that loss of agency might annoy some players. How do you feel when you don’t get a say over major actions your followers take? And how do you feel when another character is the ultimate “mover and shaker” in a game world, not you?

I finished my first playthrough of DA II the other week, and I thought it was a really great game. While I liked Origins better in some respects, in others, I ended up thinking DA II was superior. But I’ve noticed both online and offline when people talk about DA II, they usually don’t seem impressed with it as a follow-up to Origins. While I rarely hear anyone say that DA II is “bad,” it seems to be damned with faint praise. Explanations I’ve seen range from ridiculousness like “Aveline has a square jaw and a monotone voice” to “the game has too many side quests” to “Anders is bi” to “Kirkwall is an inadequate setting.” I’m sure there are legit criticisms of the game (I can easily come up with a few), but none of the arguments I’ve seen really serve to convince me that these are the explanations for why the game wasn’t received more positively. Does anyone have any theories for why DA II wasn’t more liked?

Has anyone here played DA Inquisition on PS3 by any chance? I started a few days ago, and sometimes the action gets a bit “stuttery,” especially if there are a lot of characters in the environment doing stuff. It was pretty minor until I got to the Hinterlands, and now it is quite obnoxious. This seems to be an issue related to frame rate (I think). If anyone knows any fixes for this, please let me know. Thanks!

That would be really hard to do. You can't upgrade a torch, can you? And the fire damage wears out when the torch burns out. At least with the wooden sword, you can upgrade the sword the way you do any other weapon if you grab some wood.

The splicers in Bioshock say some pretty crazy things. There's a doctor one that shouts something like "There's SEMEN on everything. EVERYTHING!" But for some reason, the one that makes me laugh the hardest is the splicer who when he kills you says to the voices in his head, "He's DEAD. Now will you ... SHUT ... UP!" It's more the delivery than the line that makes it so great. Dragon Age games also have a lot of funny, campy lines. Like there's a point where a duke falls off a cliff, and Hawke announces in DA II, "Looks like the duke ... has fallen from grace." Gotta love bad puns.

German, Polish and Czech. So we have something else in common :) With the letter G? "Going to appointments."

I ordered it. The seller has to make them to order, so I haven't gotten it yet. It's tungsten, btw, not gold and silver, so that is better.

Thank you so much!

Recently finished up Minerva’s Den DLC for Bioshock 2, and concluded my first playthrough of Dragon Age 2. Minerva’s Den was great, though it left me with a lack of resolution in some respects. Dragon Age 2 is ridiculously underrated.

That does sound interesting, as does the description of the game now that I've Googled it.

Ah cool. I shall check into it then.

Oh yeah, that happens to me sometimes too. One thing which has helped is adding it to the shortcuts menu. But then I forget that I have a shortcuts menu ...

I haven't. Honestly, I don't even know all that much about them. Have you?

That's quite cool. Where have you acquired all the skulls? I collect abandoned toys.

Watchdogs Legion.

Good point. When I played multiplayer games more, I also ended up soaking up a lot of fellow gamers' interests, many of them barely related to what we were doing in-game.

Thank you! :) I second all of those nominations. I think those are most of the members I've noticed being most active.

Seeing another teaser from the game would have been quite reasonable if it will release in two years, IMO. That wouldn't be unusual at all.

@kingpotato @killamch89 @The Blackangel Thanks for helpful suggestions. Wouldn't having a fan blowing on the console actually reduce dust settling on it, not make more dust settle?

Crisps, popcorn, pretzels, standard junk food fare really. Beverage of choice is Zevia.

Playing Minerva’s Den DLC for Bioshock 2 right now, first playthrough.

Interesting question, but I can't think of an answer. Even if there were a game I really hated, I know someone somewhere probably loved it, and it still might have contributed in some positive way to game development. I don't have one.

When the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett release, how long will you wait to buy your next console? Will you get it right away, or will you wait for a while for it to come down in price? The latest rumors say that they will both sell for around $400, which sounds pretty decent considering the technology.

What are your favorite co-op games, and what makes a good co-op game?