StaceyPowers

Have you ever encountered scenes or other content which was cut from a game which you wish had remained in the finished game?

Is there a game you adore to the point where to you, it goes beyond being “just a great game?” Like for me, Bioshock has achieved a kind of unique status. Infinite in particular is arguably my all-time favourite story, above books I’ve read and movies I’ve watched, and even a lot of TV. Philosophically, the entire series just resonates with me. It’s almost weird to me realizing that a lot of people get through them and conclude “pretty good shooters, with some fun twists.” What game are like that for you, where you just take them extra seriously?

Closing in on the end of Bioshock 2. I believe I’m playing the last level now, with probably just a night or two left before I’m done. Looking forward to playing Minerva’s Den after this. I’ve read so many good things about it.

... Wow. I don't even know what to say about that, lol.

Quite literally, it was. But even in Rapture, someone was going to wind up being a janitor--or jobless. Thus why Lamb and Fontaine were able to sweep in with their "solutions" for the poor. These games are arguably more relevant to real life than ever.

That's me as well. I don't usually even know what framerate I'm playing at. I suppose this is because I'm not playing games like COD like @DylanC mentioned, where it'd be more important.

Yeah, caves can be confusing. The ones in Skyrim usually aren't bad, but this is because most of them have patterns to their layouts which are fairly linear.

I have to be totally honest ... I literally pay no attention to framerate. How important is framerate to you?

In this thread, @The Blackangel and I were talking about how gaming offered us a necessary psychological escape from abusive households growing up. I'm someone who is usually wary of "escapism," because if it goes too far, it is a mindset which tempts us to avoid solving important life problems. But in the case of childhood abuse where there is no way to solve the problem, escapism via gaming makes sense. I would also say that I use video games for nightly "escapism" now to stop thinking about myself and my problems for an hour before bed. I sleep better as a result, which boosts my functioning each day. This too seems a legit application. Do you use video games for escapism? Have they helped you cope in situations where you were faced with unsolvable problems IRL?

I can relate to this. When I was a teen, there was a strict ban on RPGs in our house, but I realized I could play MUDs through telnet and no one would likely figure it out. I had a whole other life in an online game, and it too was essential to holding me together.

Some stuff I’ve learned from video games: -Playing MUDs made me a very fast typist, which has been an essential job skill for me. -Political aspects of MUDs also gave me some crucial people skills which I was lacking before, and which are useful in business and everyday life. -Both short and long term relationships with people I met gaming have had transformative effects on my life. -Playing Dragon Age has helped me become a more expedient and confident decision-maker, especially in the face of peer pressure. -I’ve learned things about history, physics, metaphysics and philosophy from playing games. -Playing Myst when I was a kid was part of what made me decide to get serious about creative writing. -My particular neurology doesn’t allow me to meditate or practice “mindfulness” effectively, but I can achieve a flow state through gaming which provides similar benefits.

I notice stuff like this a lot, but now that I'm trying to think of a specific example, my mind is completely blank. I'll have to come back the next time I spot something cool like that.

I suppose then it will be good to have it over with :/

I don't even like the larger axes in Skyrim (forgot what they're called--the ones between the regular small axes and the warhammers). They look pretty, but they end up hanging on my wall rather than staying in my inventory. The other problem with these larger weapons is their weight. I have a hard time keeping my inventory weight under control as it is. Carrying heavy weapons makes it worse. With "challenge weapons," the only thing that ever motivates me to use them is if they are really satisfying when you get them to work out, i.e. the gauntlet in Quake 3 Arena. Managing to make a run at your enemy and shred them with a handheld saw is very pleasing.

When you create a new character in an open world game, how do you name them?

I love open world games, but it is irritating to go home and walk in and hear the same things from my spouse/kids every time I do, i.e. “Hello my love, back from some adventure I see?” in Skyrim. But at the same time, I recognize that it’d be impossible to record an infinite amount of dialogue for these games, as they never “end.” Can anyone come up with any ideas for how devs could tackle this issue? I always wonder if procedurally generated dialogue could ever be a thing. Though I don’t know how they’d get around the fact that no one could voice act for it.

I avoid them myself, and I too hope that they will die out. But I also suppose I am not all that much of an optimist about it. When a practice like that becomes so widespread as to be almost ubiquitous (and that kind of thing does sometimes happen), consumers have a tendency to give up fighting/avoiding it.

I remember reading that piece and enjoying your analysis. It's great seeing you around the forum more, btw.

I suppose that is the downside of mixing work with play.

Bioshock Infinite wouldnt' work as a film--too much complexity to pack into a couple of hours. I'm not sure about 1 or 2 though. That might be doable. But I think I'd almost rather they told another story about Rapture if they made a movie. But mostly just because I always want more Bioshock stories.

I'd sum them up as that you cannot choose what the characters do, but you can choose how they go about accomplishing it. In any case, it would not have made much sense to allow player choice in Bioshock Infinite for multiple reasons. First of all, not having meaningful choices to make actually helped me empathize with the "we're stuck in this scenario and never get it to turn out right" problem. Secondly, the ending ... Booker and Elizabeth were in a sense trying to delete a choice from existence and make Comstock's nonexistence a fact. Player choice at that point would have contradicted their success.

I've played a few DLCs that I really enjoyed and thought were well worth the money, but a lot of DLCs fall short for me in terms of value. Obviously what you're looking for in a DLC is going to vary a lot depending on the game, but what in general do you hope for? I look for solid story, a deeper understanding of the characters I love, and hopefully new areas to explore. Closure can be nice too--i.e. answers to questions that were left open in the main game, and/or emotional closure for narrative loose ends.

What are some games which feature truly unique or unusual gameplay mechanics?

@The Blackangel That is true. There are some games with formats that can get redundant fast. @killamch89 Ironically, a good story is more likely to cause me to push forward rapidly through a game, because I'm dying to know what happens next. I usually still try and take my time though and explore as much as I can.

That'd be an example, sure. There are less extreme examples too though. I mean, I routinely see gripes about TLOU being basically a movie-as-a-game, where there are people who don't enjoy all the story elements and cutscenes (or are annoyed that they aren't making choices for the characters). I'd also argue that Bioshock Infinite plays as a kind of movie-with-fighting-sequences. I'm a big fan of both of those games, but the backlash I sometimes hear made me curious to bring up the topic.