Withywarlock

Not being able to find the exit shortly after the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I spent my whole weekend looking around not realising the hidden entrance where the assassin came through was still open. I could've just reloaded a save but never thought to. For context, this was the tutorial zone. Not the best place to get stuck. I don't think I've ever topped that moment.

I think the punishment can only be as good as the system itself. We've seen countless stories of devs banning the wrong people, and sometimes lifting the ban due to social media pressure. That's not the kind of system I want judging me for joining a match containing cheaters, especially when I don't have the pull to see a ban lifted. I realise these occurances are rare but they shouldn't occur at all. The question then is, what is a suitable punishment? Personally I like the humiliation route - turning the player into a shrub, giving bonus progression to the opposition, just blowing the player up randomly.

As @The Blackangel rightly says, you've done a cracking job getting us all registered and keeping the forum going. And I think everyone on the list is worthy of their name being there, though I'm rather surprised I made it given how new I am. Cheers, chum. Happy New Year to everyone on VGR! Keep on keeping on. ^^

In what must have been a shocking revelation at the time, Overseer Jacoren in Fallout: A Post Nuclear Roleplaying Game refuses to give the Vault Dweller the recognition and respect they deserve. While I can understand the Overseer's complaints, his dismissive attitude tells me he was trying to save his own rear more than his fellows. Still, had it not been for Overseer Jacoren's choice, Fallout 2 would've looked very different. Apologies for the vaguery, I'm unsure how to hide spoilers via formatting if such a thing is possible.

The demos of Bioshock and F.E.A.R: First Encounter Assault Recon made me the most excited for a horror game I've ever been, and likely ever will be. Nothing has come close to the slow build of tension and spine-tingling fear than those two on the Xbox 360. That said, I'm currently enjoying Call of Cthulu (2018) and have to say I'm loving it!

I think the most complicated morality system is the one that isn't expressly intended to be about morality. Take a city management game like Tropico 4 - you've no moral obligation or mechanical reason beyond your citizens' joy to provide each of your people with mansions, which is possible but incredibly energy consuming and requires a lot of money. It's far cheaper to provide them with lower quality tenements, charge little rent and transfer the costs to funding your more expensive greener energy. I realised by the 7th mission I could better spend the money on pollution reducing techniques on industry, make more money and ultimately beat the game faster rather than try to build paradise on Earth each mission. While Dragon Age: Origins has very basic moral choices, they're still not labelled as good and bad ones all the same. Even intimidation, often seen as the "bad" option is something that can spare a life that would be unfair to take. So when a game hides the morality, I'm fine with it as long as the consequences are clear (full sentences, not dialogue wheels; voice acting and text are not mutually exclusive). If it has to be a system rather than a feeling the game gives me, then I like Fallout: New Vegas' system of reputation. Where karma still exists from Fallout 3, it has nowhere near the prominence it did before and instead your reputation with each faction lies on a broad spectrum of good and bad. It's one of the few games that is forgiving of you doing both good and bad things to the same people. Each faction has the ability to do good but is brought down by a single flaw: the NCR's inherent problem is corruption and ineptitude; Caesar's Legion (the least "grey" of all the players)'s inherent problem is the cult of personality; the Brotherhood of Steel's inherent problem is rigidity and internal strife; House's inherent problem is the inability to live beyond his fraction of the Mojave. You will do saintly and obscene things for each of these factions, and they will do saintly and obscene things in return. Even the Legion allows certain peoples a sporting chance to flee its havoc.

Just finished Garfield Kart: Furious Racing in ~10 hours, having got all the achievements and seen all the content, and will be posting my thoughts on r/patientgamers soon enough. In the meantime I'm currently playing and rather enjoying Call of Cthulu, an investigative first person game. I've not read the book nor played the tabletop game but I may have to see the former before finishing the game.

I think what you say here and go on to say in your next paragraph is a fair assessment. I brought up the selfishness (again, survival if boiled down to its most raw substance) as an additional angle to the heroic/cowardly spectrum, like I typically do law and chaos to the debate of good and evil. Joel can be considered heroic for saving a life at the risk of his own, and that was likely the intent because it makes for a more dramatic story. Much as I disliked Joel's actions and wouldn't call him a hero, I can't call him a coward for the aforementioned risk of life and limb. Plus he's a human with limited time to act; logic doesn't fare well in such circumstances. To quote Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "love makes you do the wacky." My apologies, I meant the latter. I feel as though fighting 'evil with evil', in the sense of Lawful Evil versus Chaotic evil, or Chaotic Good versus Lawful Evil is a much more interesting story than Lawful and Chaotic good fighting one another. But even while I use those terms liberally they're still only archetypes and still require competent writers to flesh those roles out, or add their own perceptions to them as you do. ^^

I'd like to see Tombi! (AKA Tomba!) make a return. It was one of the original platform games I ever had the joy of playing, and easily one of the Playstation's most envy-inducing titles. While developer and distributor Whoopee Camp made enough money (and a long lasting enough impression) to fund a sequel, they unfortunately went bust immediately after with little to no information being out there on what troubles they faced. Along with that I'd say the Klonoa franchise, a similar 2.5D platform game that fully deserves the high praise it had since its launch. While Klonoa has seen a few more sequels and remasters, as well as a volleyball game, things have been rather quiet on Namco's end. I hope we see a new Klonoa game soon enough.

I remember being rather lost in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion because shortly after Emperor Uriel Septim's assassination, I couldn't find the way out. I hadn't seen the alcove from where the assassin sprung, so I spent about three days waiting to talk to my mate who had first shown me the game so he could tell me what to do. After that I had a great time, if I barely understood the mechanics. I'll not forget my first character's name, a very non-RP "Lizarra". Final Fantasy X HD Remaster took some getting used to, but I'm glad it became a bit more cohesive once the protagonist was out of the prologue and soon into the first act. I struggle to see why it's often considered one of the worst Final Fantasies, but given how hard it is to beat some of the older ones I can definitely see some grievances with it. Tropico 4 is the most recent game that took time to grow on me as I couldn't quite wrap my head around all its mechanics and its liberal use of waiting times during a deficit. I completed it yesterday and will perhaps move onto the Modern Times DLC today, or I might pack it in all together.

Two questions: What drugs were Nintendo on when they came up with that? Can I have some? And here's me thinking the Game Boy Printer was daft.

This is a recent one: my El Presidente of Tropico 4 having a nice slo-mo Baywatch run on the beach. I'll see if I can dig some more funny or awesome shots out.

Path of Exile is the game that makes me wish I could enjoy ARPGs, a compliment I don't think I've given to any other genre. It looks phenominal and yet I can't bear to play any entry of this genre since completing Diablo III's campaign, knowing that I'll stop once the story's over (which I realise isn't the strong suit of a lot of ARPGs, but it's the hook for me). Who knows, maybe with it being on mobile I might enjoy it in shorter, idle bursts.

According to Steam Charts it's fallen out of favour since October, its biggest peak since its consistently high numbers in September. It's still doing decently with over 10,000 players which I consider a good number for a multiplayer game with a price tag, but I can't see it holding even that much into the end of Q1 2021. I've had my fun with it, easily getting my money's worth in the one season I played, but I binged too hard to play it again any time soon, no matter how good or plentiful its updates might be. This doesn't seem surprising though. Among Us' return and Phasmaphobia's popularity came out of nowhere from what I understand, otherwise it may well have stood firmly in the general multiplaying public's eye for much longer. Still, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout's success came from that very same source, so this shouldn't have come as a big surprise to the developer and publisher. If the game is to die out, it's had a very good run and I'll remember it as one of my favourite - if flawed - multiplayer experiences.

@skyfire's nailed it, but to answer the other questions of it retains users, yes and no. Sure some people only go for the free games, but in order to play those games you've got for free you need to use their launcher. It might not be enough to turn a regular Steam user into a regular Epic Game Store user, but they're still an EGS user all the same. Their details are logged, and the temptation to pour money back into the store via Fortnite or paid games on their store (thus paying off Epic's incentives to the developers) is ever greater. It's about taking up the user's headspace, and those who look forward to a free game are giving them enough. If the Fortnite and Unreal licensing money starts to run out then the questions worth asking again and my answer would probably be different, but that's a hypothetical scenario long into Epic's future that I'm not willing to entertain until their demise is evident. I've not recovered from the epic burn that was being wrong about Fortnite having a successful Battle Royale mode while its Save the World mode was the only one at the time.

Like with your example with Joel, I like the whole lawful/chaotic/good/evil spectrum to be blurred so we all get to decide for ourselves what is right, rather than a game telling us it is or not. I don't think Joel is either - he's just doing what it takes to survive which, taken to its most logical, pragmatic conclusion, is a very selfish goal. Selfishness is rarely - if ever - seen as heroic or the ends justifying the means, but he might see his actions in the final act that way. The writers might. I don't but I accept that a lot of his actions were necessary, just as cordyceps aren't evil when they spread spores to infect hosts solely for their survival. Much as I like to lean toward anti-heroes, they're only as good as the ends which justify the means. An anti-hero isn't much good against a lawful-good leader; they have to be pitched against someone who also believes their way of survival and luxury is the right way. See the Punisher, who was made as a criticism of his world's judicial system which failed his wife and children, and a foil to Spiderman's own vigilante justice. Is not the road to Hell paved with good intentions?

I'd love to see a sim based on Dante's Inferno in the vein of Papers, Please or quite possibly Frostpunk wherein you're sorting damned souls for the sin they're most guilty of, or running your own Hell dimension. However it doesn't have to be as fantastical as that, as I'm enjoying PC Building Simulator, so maybe a guitar repair shop sim where I can diagnose instruments, add strings and customise them, while having a framework for how I'd do that IRL as a bass player.

It's been a while so maybe you've got around to trying them (and if so, do update us on your thoughts! ^^), but I'll say they're some of the best platform games on the PS1 and 2. While they're not of the same tier as Spyro the Dragon or Crash Bandicoot, I wouldn't put them much lower. The basic praise I give them today is overwhelming in the context of them being 3D PS1 platformers, such as Pac-Man having three whole moves that see regular use, good controls and each level being packed with reasons to stay or go back to. Plus the music is phenominal, and remains one of my all-time favourite retro soundtracks. The first is a forgotten classic. I can't say the same of the other two because I have very vague memories of them (so, definitely forgotten.... classic, I don't know). I think they just got lost in the whole mascot craze the Playstation was going through, and felt like more of the same come the PS2.

I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Basically it's just a farming sim where you vacuum up slimes and feed them their own leavings, or sell them, and explore the planet you're on to capture more slimes, rinse and repeat. Alas, I dropped off it after discovering the final area and having seen (albeit not fully interacting with) everything. If ever there was a game that epitomised being about the 'journey more than the destination', it would be Slime Rancher. Its charming in its own way, but I can appreciate that not everyone has the time or patience for its mechanics, however much I agree with its Overwhelmingly Positive user review aggregate on Steam.

I'm sure I'd have some fun with the end result, if a lot less than Left 4 Dead, but this trailer doesn't make me at all enthusiastic. Between the sluggish presentation of combat and zombies and features that seem too good to be true (remember the Aliens: Colonial Marines E3 "gameplay" footage?) I'm not at all hopeful the game will even be as average as it sets out to be. Were Turtle Rock Studios so short for time cobbling this together that the only person they could get to play this was, err, me by the looks of that shooting? After the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott campaign, 2K's involvement with Evolve and Back 4 Blood publisher Warner Bros.' history as having awful practices I'm not optimistic for what may end up being the death knell for this very talented studio. They can't seem to catch a break. The worst thing about all this (OK, second worse thing if TRS' closure is likely) is that people won't have learnt from previous pre-orders that are priced sky-high. £89.99 for early access and some season pass content there's no obligation to make if the game goes under? Say it ain't so.

Most of them nowadays, but in fairness that's more a testament to how good side quest writing is. I often ponder if The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim would be as good if it scrapped the Dragonborn plot with solely the Empire-Skyrim civil war, but then I think it has to be offset by the Godawful main questline to stand out. How fun would Yakuza 0 be sans main plot, even though its side quests are great in their own right? Probably not as fun. I think the main story is the binding agent - you don't necessarily want it, but you're fully conscious of something being absent when it's gone.

In addition to what others have said, it's not just about mental health but physical health. However sweaty your session of DOTA 2 gets it's not enough to burn off the amount of sugar contained in a 'gaming' energy drink. Even sugar-free ones like my go-to Sneak contain about 1/3rd of my daily recommended allowance of caffeine, which will improve my reaction times but not my aim. Also 'gaming' chairs aren't that good for you either. For starters their purpose was inspired by Formula One cars which move at high speeds and have to be secured properly. F1 seats are also moulded to the shape of the individual driver via expanding foam, whereas the bucket seats used for gaming chairs use a generic design. Driving a racing car is also different to sitting at a desk, as I'm sure the sensible among us can imagine. Their lumbar 'support' is a joke, typically a pillow that you may have to pay extra for or an internal mechanism that could give up the ghost with the knob getting stuck or the mechanism falling down the back of the leather with no way to fix it yourself. Even though mine has the built-in support, my head doesn't reach the back of the seat so I need to pay for an extra cushion. Thanks, noblechairs. The above is just complaints about chairs with the 'gaming tax' attached, I should explain why they're bad. Mostly it's due to the poor posture they encourage, as well as circulatory issues that will come from longer periods of sitting. They're also germ magnets compared to a mesh office chair which will allow your sweaty carcass to to breathe more easily, rather than trapping farts in the foam past the faux leather cushion, or an excess amount of skin flakes in the arm rests. Of course this applies to any hobby that encourages being seated for long periods of time, be it binging TV shows, reading books or painting still life.

I've not played the sequel so I can't comment on a direct sequel, but I could imagine The Last of Us will have its universe expanded. Perhaps we'll get a prequel showing more of what life was like during the opening act of the first game, or around the time of Joel & Ellie's exploits in another part of the US or even another country. As for genres, the list is endless. I'm sure people are still hungry for a The Walking Dead-esque adventure game, and I believe TLoU lends itself to that quite well.

I know someone had handmade a replica Doom (2016) Super Shotgun, which I wouldn't mind myself but in order for it to be "merchandise" I would've thought it'd have to be official and for sale. So if Arkane want to send me the price list of Corvo's folding sword in Dishonored, my email address is....

Be warned for I am about to invoke Troika's Law: Upon mentioning Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, someone, somewhere will reinstall it. For those not familiar, Vampire: The Masquerade is part of the World of Darkness tabletop (and live action) roleplaying game universe, alongside Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Awakening and Changeling: The Dreaming, among other variations set in contemporary and older time periods (Vampire: The Requiem, Dark Ages: Vampire, Werewolf: The Wild West and so forth). It's very much a product of its time with once fashionable tropes like trench coats and katanas, wearing shades indoors and calling vampires by another name, but over the years has had to move with the times so not to be caught up in its own angst. Vampire among other White Wolf properties has tried to subvert expectations in all its lines: in V:tM you are the bad guy, a predator who must slake their thirst or give into the Beast inherent in all vampires; in Hunter: The Reckoning, you're not a badass monster slayer but rather a generic Joe Bloggs who is suddendly "gifted" with being able to see all these once-thought-mythical beings. You get the idea. With that said, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines was one of the original games to show off Valve's new Source engine, and released shoulder-to-shoulder with Half-Life 2 (and Half-Life with V:tM-B's European release). The problem was, as is quite typical of its studio members' history, it wasn't given time enough. It has murky textures, sound issues every now and again, some physics complaints, garbage balancing and is ultimately missing content. Without the community patch that is still being worked on to this day, it's a good experience but it's not the great experience it's heralded as. Speaking of Troika Games' history, members of the studio had formerly worked on Fallout 2 which was also missing content and lacked the time and budget to be as good as design blueprints and unearthed code would suggest. Luckily its development history and lore has been recorded in old Fallout Bibles. I'd go on but I'll keep this post to the length it is. If I'm going to talk about some other buggy game, I'd like to do so with as much detail as I have here. ^^