StaceyPowers

Regarding the Aldmeri Dominion, Skyrim is probably screwed either way. But the Imperials are far better equipped to fend off the threat than Skyrim is on its own at this point, which is an unpleasant but practical reality. Now, there are other factors to consider as well. The way I see it, the evils stand thus: The Stormcloaks are racists. The Empire enforces a policy of religious oppression. It was the specifics of the situation that made me decide the Stormcloak issue is the bigger problem. There’s a point during Solitude quests where the queen asks you to take an item to a Talos shrine on behalf of the dead king. That moment made it evident to me that those involved with the Empire’s administration of Skyrim are not fond of the anti-Talos policy. Indeed, it seems clear to me that nobody was particularly keen on it—it was just the only option at the time to hold the Aldmeri Dominion at bay. As such, I would expect this to be a “lax” policy of oppression, enforced only at the minimum level to convince the Dominion it was being observed. But the Stormcloaks’ racism? That’s coming from within, not being pushed on them from outside, and it seems to be embraced with enthusiasm, given the state of affairs in Windhelm. The other trouble with the Stormcloaks for me concerns Ulfric’s actions in the Reach as described in “The Bear of Markarth.” That book makes it quite plain he was guilty of full-on war crimes against the populace. Even if I weren’t fond of the Forsworn, I would be troubled by that. I tried to play neutral the first time, and was furious when Markarth got traded right into Ulfric’s hands during negotiations. As a result of all of the above, I end up playing Imperial now every time. @Bravosi @LadyDay would love your thoughts.

I haven't played it yet, but A Plague Tale: Innocence looks like it has some serious potential as a survival game.

Do you have any all-time favorite moments in video games? I actually have to think about this one to come up with my own response. There are a lot of memorable moments in TLOU and Bioshock games, but I’m not sure which are the most standout ones to mention. @LadyDay @Bravosi @The Blackangel @DylanC @UleTheVee @skyfire @SpaceExplorer @Executor Akamia @xXInfectedXx @kingpotato

Does anyone else care more about story than gameplay? I find that when I play games, my considerations go like this: 1-Story and characters 2-Setting and atmosphere 3-Gameplay If story, characters and atmosphere are solid enough, I almost don’t even care about gameplay (it’s a plus if it’s really great, but it’s not a deal-breaker if it isn’t). I think this is kind of odd though, since it seems like most gamers rank it as high or higher in importance than other considerations. But I’m not sure that’s actually true, or if that’s just the impression I get from reading posts. Obviously this applies to single player games most. If I’m playing a multiplayer game, I have other considerations, and gameplay is much higher (or even on top). What is most and least important to you in a game? @LadyDay @Bravosi @The Blackangel @DylanC @UleTheVee @skyfire @SpaceExplorer @Executor Akamia @xXInfectedXx @kingpotato

Not a bad answer to any question about a future Fallout game, really. Whatever it is ... give it to Obsidian.

Eep, there you and I differ. I'd love to hear the alternate point of view though. I felt the Empire was the lesser of two evils. Why do you pick the Stormcloaks?

This Orchendor guy in Skyrim, during the quest “The Only Cure”: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Orchendor I got so mad at this bastard. He teleports all over the place, frequently to the upper or lower floor, he is immune to many kinds of damage. I don’t recall what difficulty level I was fighting him on, but I had I think three followers and an atronach (counting Barbas as a follower), and it took me around 20 minutes to kill him. The worst part was that a lot of Skyrim bosses are no big deal, so I waltzed in there five minutes before my bedtime, expecting him to be dead inside of minutes. But he wasn’t—and I was angry. So I just kept fighting him, over and over and over. By the time I actually went to bed, my brain was addled from fatigue, adrenaline was coursing through my veins, and the worst thing was that I had the Tetris effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect) from repeating the elements of the fight so many times so late at night. So my brain was still fighting him like an hour later, and I couldn’t sleep. It was awful. I couldn’t stand to look at a Skyrim dungeon for weeks.

Yes, definitely. Bioshock Infinite gave me a number of historical topics to research, and I was glad that I did.

That is so the kind of thing I could see doing to myself. Sometimes I get really angry at a certain boss and get determined to beat it that day no matter what it takes, and/or I feel I must beat it using a certain weapon or strategy, and by the time I'm done, I don't want to look at the game again for weeks.

I noticed @killamch89 and @Darya chatting over here about about how online games with too strict of rules are not enjoyable environments, and I thought this would be a good topic for discussion. I used to MUD, and I was very dedicated. But I remember that there were constant issues with administrators. @killamch89 mentioned that overly strict admins seem like they’re trying to be GOD, and in the games where I was playing, the admins were literally present in their own games as gods. It wasn’t an altogether terrible way of doing things—it did have some interesting results—but talk about overly involved administrators. Way too often, the rules they imposed were arbitrary, and were driven by their personal feelings rather than those of players. They fought the organic development of their games at every turn, trying to steer them along artificially imposed pathways. On the other hand, all too often when someone should have come down on something really bad (i.e. in-game sexual harassment), they were nowhere to be found—again often for personal reasons. So it was often the worst of both worlds. I never did find a “best of both worlds” in terms of the perfect balance of rules versus freedom in an online game. How much admin involvement to you look for? Do you prefer a strictly controlled environment with firm rules, or more openness when it comes to behaviour which is allowed in a game? Have you ever found an “ideal” game in this respect?

Has anyone had a chance to play this yet? I've been following news about it for a couple of months, and it's getting rave reviews now that it's out. It looks like it'd be right up my alley. Game play looks a bit like TLOU.

If a game in your collection could never be played again for some reason (i.e. you just can’t get your hands on a compatible console), which would be the worst for you to lose? My heart would break at not being able to play any of the games I love anymore, but the worst loss for me would be Bioshock Infinite.

I’ve posted a few times about how gaming helps me reduce my anxiety and sleep better at night. Over the past few months I’ve discovered another surprising benefit. I’ve had lifelong difficulties making decisions on my own, which reflects childhood issues (pretty standard stuff). Recently, making decisions has become a lot easier, and I feel a lot more confident about my choices. There are a number of reasons for that, but it turns out gaming is one of the factors. I’ve discovered that when I am faced with a set of choices now, I literally line them up in my mind as if they are dialogue options in a game. If there is one obvious right choice in a game, it’s easy to take it, even if party members protest. And now I am basically just doing the same thing IRL, without overcomplicating things. It’s a small thing, but it’s been surprisingly powerful, and I’ve made some significant changes to my life with it. It doesn’t apply with decisions which really do involve a lot of gray areas and complexities, but a lot of choices really are surprisingly simple if one just doesn’t overthink things. Has anyone else found that gaming helps you weigh decisions effectively?

Tell us about them :)

Which would be your number one choice, and how would you want to see it re-interpreted?

One can make a pair of cardboard goggles from scratch?

Oh man, don’t even get me started on that. I can’t tell you how many times I die for no other reason than that I’ve pushed the wrong damn button.

I glanced at Wikipedia and it said that there are indeed still gaming books being made (or made recently, can't remember), though I think they are relatively rare compared to in the past. If you do find any new gaming books and check them out, please let me know!

Is there a classic game you remember from, for example, the NES days, which hasn't been revisited in decades, and which you think would be cool to be re-imagined now in a different style? @The Blackangel

I’m playing Bioshock 2 for the first time right now. So far I’m enjoying the heck out of it, but I have to say that Rapture through the windows totally looked more atmospheric in Bioshock 1. They changed the lighting entirely (it looks kind of "washed out" now), and took away all the colourful neon. Did anyone else also prefer the look of the city in the first Bioshock more?

I can't remember which game it was that someone here mentioned to me had a lot of mist/fog to hide the low-quality graphics, which had the end effect of making the game fantastically atmospheric. @DylanC @killamch89 I think one of you was the one who mentioned it.

Dying tragically in so many ways always made me feel extra satisfied and oddly kind of "relieved" when I found the happy ending at last. My favorite series I think was called "Time Machine" books? Something like that. You jumped through history on adventures, and learned a fair amount of actual historical stuff along the way since they were well-researched and aimed at realism.

I feel like Skyrim and Fallout do a pretty good job in this respect as well. I also don't mind if a DLC adds more than enough value to justify its price tag, even if I'd consider it essential. I would say that Left Behind is essential to The Last of Us, for example--at least in terms of understanding character motives and perhaps in terms of moral framing for the main story--but the amount of excellent content they packed in more than justifies paying for it. I tend to think of it almost as a full title in the series, just a really small one. If you didn't know it existed, you could complete TLOU and feel totally satisfied, but if you do play it, it enriches the story in huge ways.

Imagine if Zork had other players running around in it with you, and that is essentially what a MUD is. Even larger MUDs are often small and tight-knit compared to the huge graphical MMOs around today. So most of the weird stuff that happens seems to involve either interpersonal drama, glitches in programming, or both. But sometimes it’s the “small” nature of the games that generates weird situations. If you join a MUD not long after it opens, everything is a “first.” And firsts make you famous. I was an early player in a large MUD, and happened to be the “first” player to commit high treason against a city. This resulted in the following series of events: An immediate lifetime ban from entering the city (automated systems would kill me if I tried). Thrown out of my guild. Banned from every guild in the game except for one, which had to take everyone. I stubbornly refused to join it for months, during which time I literally had no fighting skill except “kick.” I was recruited as being essentially second-in-command in a major in-game mafia. I played for over a year, and during that time, a ton of people committed treason. Since it became commonplace, most people would be banned from a city or guild for a few RL days, a few weeks at worst, and then let back in. But nobody would unban me from my original city until well over a RL year had passed. The crazy part was what the specific act of treason was that earned me this game-wide notoriety. All I did was read a confidential log entry to another player about why he had been banned, which was, “Need I state the reasons?” Those five words took me from being a complete nobody newb to being a notorious criminal =D

Or maybe it's just that it needs the bad feedback. The moment the right screen isn't pulled up, the brain is like "oh, it's this button this time."