staticradio725

I think I disagree with that. The fiction that we consume as a society says a lot about us and who we are and what we value. Conversely, the fiction that we consume also plays a role in shaping our society. I can't think of an example from a specific video game, but let's say there was a video game that had a negative/stereotypical portrayal of a trans person, for instance. For the people that are out there who think it's OK to be transphobic, playing that video game reinforces that belief in their minds.

That giant battle nug in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Something of an easter egg, quite expensive, but worth it! I don't even use mounts in that game, but I used that one.

At the very least, definitely the Fade portion of that questline. The first time you play it, it's frustrating. Every subsequent time, you wise up and use a walkthrough, and then it's boring. For me, any open world game that forces you to travel for ages through nothingness to get to your destination. Mass Effect: Andromeda strikes me as a big offender here, but certain worlds in Dragon Age: Inquisition were also like this. You can't just give me a big empty expanse and sprinkle some enemies in and think I'll be suitably entertained, Bioware!

None. Zero. Zero hand-holding. Because you know what this thread reminds me of? Back when Myst first came out. One of the biggest things that game reviewers talked about was that the game literally drops you into a fantasy world with no instruction, no goals, barely any opening cutscene even explaining how you got there. There's no NPCs to talk to. No journal, no quests. You literally just have to figure out on your own what you're supposed to do. And you do that by exploring. That series was definitive of my childhood. I know there were tons of people who didn't like them for that exact reason. And I know I spent a lot of time looking up walkthroughs online. But I could get the help and the hints and the information at my own pace. The game wasn't giving me any help I didn't want.

Ohhhhh boy, my friend, I'm sorry you had to go through that. Lucky for me, my sister was a big Death Note fan long before I was, and warned me away from it. "Don't touch it," were her exact words, I believe. I listened to her, and from what I've heard, it was some sage advice.

I thought the majority would be in the 21-25 range, but apparently I was wrong. Pleasantly surprised to see myself in the majority category! (I'm 28) Not to be ageist or anything, but I'm guessing all the under-13s are too busy spamming their TF2 binds or doing their Fortnite dances or whatever to come over and chat with us xD

Oh, I thought you meant the score. My bad xD

I'm one of those stupid people who thinks every game would be better as an open-world game even when it wouldn't be. Or, at least, I used to be that way. Then MGSV was kind of open world ish, and it made me miss the linear nature of the previous games in the series. But I'm still not one of those gamers who likes to be told, "Go here, pull this lever, do this thing." I mostly prefer to wander around aimlessly and figure stuff out on my own 🙂

It's funny you mention that, because I don't recall Spec Ops: The Line having a particularly memorable soundtrack. I could be wrong, though, it's been quite a few years since I've last played it. Mine would have to be Undertale and Ace Attorney, with Dragon Age: Inquisition coming in at a close third.

Pros of being voiced: gives the character more personality, makes them seem more "real", instead of just a player stand-in. Makes it clear what the intonation and affect is of the lines you deliver. Pros of not being voiced: More dialogue available (because it's just text and no one has to voice it). More complex dialogue trees / conversations. Easier to insert yourself in the character's shoes, or imagine the character how you want them to be.

I googled "video game forums", and, out of all the ones I found, this one looked the most active. It was literally that simple!

My first thought was horror games, and then my next thought was how fun it would be-- if unlikely-- if we got a version of PT that was in VR. I don't think I would ever sleep again xD

I could be wrong, but I've heard that Wolfenstein 3D is banned in Germany because there are Nazis in it. Even though you're literally fighting the Nazis. Go figure.

Honestly, I think time is a big factor as well. I'm reminded of back in 2001(?) when Metal Gear Solid 2 came out, and, surprise!, the protagonist was this guy called Raiden, and not Solid Snake. From what I remember, people practically had a meltdown over it. Particularly because Raiden was such a wuss in that game lol. But after a good number of years and a few more installments in the series, Raiden eventually became a series staple, and actually kind of a badass to boot. Now it's hard to imagine the series without him in it. I seem to remember a similar fan reaction to a certain big plot twist at the end of MGSV. I think it's hard to tell, when some big dramatic change happens in a series, how that change is going to impact the series as a whole. Is it going to be the franchise's next big new thing? Or is it going to disappear when the next game comes out, as if it never happened? And that sort of perspective only really comes with time.

Amen! I play a good number of single-player games with my sisters and my friends. That is, we take turns on the controls. They're typically very story-heavy games, so we just enjoy the story together, as if we were watching a TV show or something. A TV show with occasional boss fights xD But it would great if more games would have modes for two or three players. I remember doing the Portal 2 co-op campaign on two separate occasions with both my sister and my friend (once I'd had enough time to forget all the puzzle solutions lol) and it was a blast both times. More stuff like that, please! I own two controllers! Let me use them!

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum, here. I'm as busy as I ever was. Everything that existed in my life prior to COVID still exists and still takes up just as much of my time, it's just all online now and done from my bedroom/office. I feel like I almost have less time to play video games these days than I did before the pandemic. Of course, when the pandemic first started (March through May, basically) and everything was cancelled and everyone was on lockdown, I probably played a lot of games then. And went on a lot of walks. A looooooot of walks.

I'll only pre-order if it's the latest installment in a franchise I'm already invested in. I know I'm going to play that bad boy the day it comes out, no matter how much it sucks or doesn't suck. Because it's just that much easier than walking around the internet with horse blinders on trying to avoid spoilers. Otherwise, if it's not part of a series, I'll wait a year or two until the price drops and/or I can buy a used copy. Unfortunately, buying used copies of games is going to get harder in the future, I think, with most game purchases being digital these days.

I'd totally be down for a remake! I remember when they redid the graphics of MGS3 for that stupid pachinko thing, and they were so beautiful I almost cried. Shame it was wasted on pachinko, though xD

Yes, although it's all on Zoom these days. I don't necessarily know if this program is something that would be beneficial to me personally, at least not without knowing more about it. But I do know a lot of people who would benefit from something like it. My only concern is that, if it were to be part of therapy or something, that insurance wouldn't cover it, or that clinics wouldn't want to pay for the VR equipment or whatnot. Maybe it would have to be something that each individual person purchases for themselves.

Personally, for me and my life situation, I prefer mods to DLCs. Why? First of all, as far as DLCs go, a lot of them always felt to me like the game company was just trying to milk more money out of the customers. It's like, rather than buying a whole sandwich, like you used to, now you have to buy all the ingredients separately. I've seen so many DLCs that really should have just been included in the vanilla release of the game, but weren't. Why? Ker-ching, that's why. Secondly, I'm what you might call "financially challenged". I can't afford to buy DLCs the vast majority of the time. I can't even afford to buy new games most of the time. So what do you do when you've played the same game for nearly 1000 hours and you're bored with it, but you can't afford to buy any new games? You mod it. You mod it until it doesn't even look like the same game anymore. You mod it until it breaks, and then you really do have to buy a new game. Besides, even if something doesn't really "fit" with the lore or the feel of a game, that doesn't necessarily mean it's not fun or worthwhile. I'm sure Bethesda would never have released a DLC to make all the dragons in Skyrim sound like Macho Man Randy Savage, but that mod gave me endless hours of entertainment nonetheless. 😄

Welp, I'm scared. Sounds to me like a Black Mirror episode waiting to happen xD

I have a social anxiety disorder, and I'm on a forum for people who have that sort of thing. One of the users was showing off a VR program/game they were in the process of making, designed to help people with social disorders or autism learn to socialize with other people. It was very cool! There were different settings (like a store, or a party, or whatever), and lots of different difficulty settings to tinker with, including the "friendliness level" of the NPCs. It was very realistic looking, too. I signed up for their email list to hear about future updates, but haven't heard anything yet.

Yeah, I was always sad I couldn't romance her as Femshep, especially since, the first time I played, I look at her and went, "Oh, she's *definitely* a lesbian" lol I think there was a period of time when ME1 and ME2 came out where a woman sleeping with a female-looking alien was somehow more acceptable to the moral guardians than sleeping with an actual woman. You'll notice that three of the Femshep romance options you mentioned (Sarmara, Morinth, and Liara) were all asari. And I don't remember there actually being a Femshep romance path for Kelly Chambers, I think you could just kind of flirt with her. But I could be misremembering. I think this hangup over gayness was mostly gone by the time ME3 came out, though. Because not only did we get Samantha Trainor for Femshep, we also got Cortez and Kaiden for Dudeshep.

Good question! I actually had to get up and go check lol I have an old copy of the first game in the Tomb Raider reboot that a friend of mine gave to me once, over four years ago. I still haven't gotten around to playing it, apparently.

Honestly, I think it might be inevitable at some point, considering how all of our electronic devices are becoming more and more interconnected with each other. You can already play games on your phone, and you can already sync your phone up with your car. (At least, you can if your car wasn't made in 2014 like mine was.) I feel like this is just the next logical step from that, unfortunately.