Videogames: Spooktober Season

[IlyaP]

On 11/14/2021 at 5:35 AM, Kalsandra said:

I'm not saying that it's a bad game or anything, but I think that the main thing it improved on was in the graphics. Some of the levels were as good, and many were interesting - but I don't think that it is nearly as interesting or smart as the first game and it didn't allow for as much freedom in play. 

The less said about Death of the Outsider, the better.

[IlyaP]

Even with the FOV mod for Mass Effect 2: LE, I continually find myself wondering what the hell is going on with the UI, the interface, why were things that worked so well in the original jettisoned? And *what* is going on with the colour in this game? ME1 was so vivid and bright and this one feels drained of colour, and I've yet to find a mod that can fix that. 

(I'm trying my very best to get through this game, but after the big technicolor joyfest that was ME1, this just feels so grimdark that I can't help but wonder if it's part of the DC universe!)

[Fez]

Hell of a new story from the Wall Street Journal on Activision's ongoing scandals. It's paywalled, but here's the tweet thread from one of the reporters:

Fuck this company so much. I'm so glad I haven't spent any money on them in years.

[Werthead]

Activision's board is backing Kotick, but investors seem to be jittery and there's a feeling this might be it for him.

It'd be interesting if one of the most consistently poisonous, toxic figures in gaming from the last twenty years was suddenly forced out.

[Clueless Northman]

I'm going to experience an amount of Schadenfreude that will rival the Everest if that smug ass Bobby fuckin Kotick is ever brought down.

[IlyaP]

15 hours ago, Clueless Northman said:

I'm going to experience an amount of Schadenfreude that will rival the Everest if that smug ass Bobby fuckin Kotick is ever brought down.

Is it hat-eating time yet for any of us?

[Fez]

Played a bit of the Halo Infinite multiplayer. It seems really good. But I've always liked the Halo style of combat more than most other multiplayer shooters; I hate having too fast a time-to-kill in games.

[Mark Antony]

Halo mp feels polished as hell. Loving it

[RumHam]

Battlefield 2042 immediately has thousands of negative reviews on Steam

People complain about delays, but this is what happens when you say "fuck it we need to get this out there this quarter."

That said I went right back to it when it came out officially. Halo is fun but I seem to prefer this broken mess of a game. 

[dog-days]

Nice tweets from David Gaider and Mary Kirby apropos game development personality types. 

An RL acquaintance was very much into revering the creative powers of the lone arsehole genius, largely because he wanted to be one himself on some level. Always happy to see some push-back. Humans must have some innate weakness for the lone creator myth (rather like Terry Pratchett's "KINGS: WHAT A GOOD IDEA" thesis). We know that most of the products we enjoy, creative or not, are the work of teams, and built upon the work of previous generations, but we still latch onto individuals, and give them so much attention/lucre that whatever gifts they originally had are liable to be eroded. 

[Werthead]

13 hours ago, dog-days said:

Nice tweets from David Gaider and Mary Kirby apropos game development personality types. 

An RL acquaintance was very much into revering the creative powers of the lone arsehole genius, largely because he wanted to be one himself on some level. Always happy to see some push-back. Humans must have some innate weakness for the lone creator myth (rather like Terry Pratchett's "KINGS: WHAT A GOOD IDEA" thesis). We know that most of the products we enjoy, creative or not, are the work of teams, and built upon the work of previous generations, but we still latch onto individuals, and give them so much attention/lucre that whatever gifts they originally had are liable to be eroded. 

The Apple+ dramedy Mythic Quest is pretty much 100% about that, with the recurring gag of the two "genius" lead characters (who are not as genius as they seem to think they are) making off-the-cuff decisions which keep the art and programming teams in a permanent state of crunch and increasingly despising the leads, who are confused when they get wind of this because, well, they're the protagonists and shouldn't everyone love them?

[Darryk]

On 11/22/2021 at 12:36 AM, dog-days said:

Nice tweets from David Gaider and Mary Kirby apropos game development personality types. 

An RL acquaintance was very much into revering the creative powers of the lone arsehole genius, largely because he wanted to be one himself on some level. Always happy to see some push-back. Humans must have some innate weakness for the lone creator myth (rather like Terry Pratchett's "KINGS: WHAT A GOOD IDEA" thesis). We know that most of the products we enjoy, creative or not, are the work of teams, and built upon the work of previous generations, but we still latch onto individuals, and give them so much attention/lucre that whatever gifts they originally had are liable to be eroded. 

Yeah I've encountered this type. It's because of the mythology that has been built around Steve Jobs, who in my view is the most overrated individual in the history of humanity.

[dog-days]

7 hours ago, Darryk said:

Yeah I've encountered this type. It's because of the mythology that has been built around Steve Jobs, who in my view is the most overrated individual in the history of humanity.

Yeah, agreed re Jobs. But I think Jobs's role in the pop culture of today is also an adaptation, or an evolution, of an archetype that's been around for longer. Head chefs in kitchens, film directors, football coaches  - "should be a mild sadist" is almost listed as desirable on the specification. Trying to pinpoint when the idea that genius and leadership go hand-in-hand with cruelty and that this is okay, and somehow a necessary part of the creative process, came about is difficult. It feels related to the idea of the drill sergeant that abuses his recruits for their own good, to make proper men out of them. 

More OT, I played Tyranny a few months ago. It was alright, but I found the crapsack world fairly tiresome and joyless, and was frustrated that some important material for one of the main characters was apparently in the expansion pack, and not the game itself. Glad I played it, but won't be going back to it. 

[Werthead]

Completed Age of Empires II's new Dawn of the Dukes campaign, which, daft title aside, was incredibly impressive. Lots of brilliantly-designed missions and maps which pushed the 22-year-old game's design to the limit. Lots of clever ideas like a map with a day/night cycle, where the enemy attack during the day but camp at night, allowing you to raid their supply convoys, and another one where you use the Chat function to instead order your AI allies around, which works so well that it's a shame you can't do that in the base game. Apparently there's another expansion coming as well.

With 170 hours down in the game and still not done (I still have all of the Asian campaigns to undertake) I might take a break and play something else. I fancy giving Skyrim another run-through - I haven't played it since completing my original 210-hour run-through in 2011-13, so it feels about time. But I might try to fit a shorter game inbetween.

[Werthead]

Amazon developing a Mass Effect TV series.

[Corvinus85]

48 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Amazon developing a Mass Effect TV series.

I knew it was coming sooner or later, and look forward to it. But I wonder what this will do for the prospects of another Stargate TV show. Amazon has enough money to have to solid SF franchises, just like now with WoT and the upcoming LOTR for the fantasy genre.

[mcbigski]

I'm finding myself surprised at how much I like that idea.  There are a decent amount of potentially great moments.  Not sure about all the aliens.  Going to be hard to do a lot of them well I think.  

Though as long as we get Blastar(?) The Hanar Spectre and some Elcor Hamlet, i'm all the way in.

[Rhom]

8 minutes ago, mcbigski said:

I'm finding myself surprised at how much I like that idea.  There are a decent amount of potentially great moments.  Not sure about all the aliens.  Going to be hard to do a lot of them well I think.  

Though as long as we get Blastar(?) The Hanar Spectre and some Elcor Hamlet, i'm all the way in.

Blasto was a movie character.  Similar to a Lethal Weapon type movie series in the game.

[mcbigski]

Yeah i know he wasn't onscreen.  But they could take some liberties.

[karaddin]

I'm not sure if the trilogy are the right events to adapt, or at least whether it might be worth starting with something else and leading into it, but I'm absolutely here for shows within the setting. It could accommodate many different ideas and wouldn't even need to stick to the regular SF genre. I've joked with people before that you could easily transplant Brooklyn 99 to be Zakheera 99 and none of the characters even need to be changed beyond making some of them aliens.