StaceyPowers

Are there any games you find both scary and relaxing? Like, BioShock has plenty of jump scares in the beginning, but I still find it relaxing and low pressure.

At what point does frustration with the difficulty level of a game and/or your lack of skill overwhelm your sense of fun or fulfillment?

What are your favorite sandbox games?

What are some games you have played that never seem to lose their magic?

I was watching Ken Levine talk about how he built BioShock up entirely around location. He started with the underwater city, and only then came up with the plot and characters. What are some other games designed that way?

Has a game-breaking bug ever stopped you from completing a game? Like, my friend was obsessed with Subnautica, but can’t complete her playthrough because of a bug, and is too frustrated right now to try again.

Is there a common video game puzzle you know inside and out? Like, I’ve solved the Towers of Hanoi enough times in enough games now to find it quite easy and mindless.

I just started BioShock: The Collection, and decided within pretty much 10 minutes that it was a worthwhile purchase (especially on sale). For the visual and audio improvements to the first game alone, I’m satisfied.

What are some game controls that work well on PC but play awkwardly if you are on a console? Like, I find clicking and dragging to feel very unnatural on a console, but totally expected on a PC game. Moderator Edit; Title change, see "Shagger's" post below.

I've had this thought already, and I've only seen a few planets. I guess building is the main activity.

Well, for context, my basis of comparison is games like Skyrim where followers are like 100% wooden =D

Do you know when the first autosave is in that game? Also, some events in open world games are procedurally generated. I.e. no particular sunset in Skyrim is fully orchestrated--there is an element of random chance to each one, and you won't see the same sunset twice. So if that and the music and your surroundings align in a certain way, it is a coincidence, even though the developers worked hard to create a game conducive to such coincidences.

@Steerminator Out of curiosity, does your friend also react this way to people when she is frustrated with them? I.e. they go from being okay in her eyes one second to being totally wrong and awful the next?

Nope, I got it for him at a hefty discount.

Do you know how long it takes before the first autosave? My friend started last night and it didn't save, so he he has to start over.

Completely agreed on this point. Plus, once one sinks tens of thousands of hours into something, one learns things about how to do it that even someone with thousands of hours might not know how to do. I do suspect @m76 was trying to assert he is good at systemizing. I am as well, but I would say this makes me a "jack of all trades, expert at none"--except, perhaps, for systemizing itself.

Following off of this thread, would you want to automatically be good at every game you played? I'd hate that.

So, I did beat the “Reclaiming the Thaig” quest in The Descent DLC in DA Inquisition last night, but only by running away a lot to bring everyone back to life at half health. Does anyone have some more strategic tips for how to beat that fight?

Whenever Bioware wants to make a fight “hard” in Dragon Age, all they seem to do is make their bosses take a really, really, really, really long time to kill in the most boring fashion. Does anyone else find this annoying? I had an hour long fight last night, and it just involved doing the same thing over and over and over.

When your console is off, do you cover it with anything to protect it? I have a canvas bag over mine right now so my cat does not shed or vomit on it. She sits on a perch above it, and there was nowhere else to put it.

What video game universe feels most like this one to you? For me, I’d say TLOU. Emotionally, it feels more relatable. There is real suffering, losses and consequences. And it has a bleak kind of optimism I find fitting.

What pet from a video game would you want to have IRL?

Lately I have run several times across the idea that one of the reasons video games are appealing/soothing is because we know the rules, and we know that if we work within them, we will succeed. RL doesn’t seem to work that way. There are no guarantees. There are definitely rules though. What do you feel some of them are?

Do you have a set-in-stone opinion about video games that is so strong you don’t think anyone will ever change your mind?

Say you were in charge of running a video game developer. How would you handle project work flow, crunch time, and similar issues?