Goth Mercenaries

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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I only had the single played in Borderlands, as my internet was down for my 360 at the time, and I had a pretty damn good time. Just saying. I was the Siren, if that matters. I don't unusually like grinding, but the respec kept things fresh as I tried new build and ideas out. Then I hit the level cap and got bored.

Phasewalk's speed boost kept walking from being boring, too. So, the walking was actually kinda fun rushing around at super-speed.
 

blackshark121

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Jan 4, 2009
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But here comes the shameful secret part: I haven't actually player Team Fortress 2 since they brought out the first class-specific update, just under two years ago.

Yahtzee made a typo, bring on the end of the world.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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blackshark121 said:
But here comes the shameful secret part: I haven't actually player Team Fortress 2 since they brought out the first class-specific update, just under two years ago.

Yahtzee made a typo, bring on the end of the world.

There you go.
 

Brotherofwill

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Jan 25, 2009
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Yahtzee Croshaw said:
"I don't just want to play alone; I want to play alone with other people around."
That's a very good point. I got the same satisfaction from Demon's Souls because I was playing it alone but could still interact with some people around without entering into annoying chats or friend-lists. If ever I'll play a MMO, I'll probably go for the goth way.

Better make sure that if you choose to write a single word in bold in your article that it's spelled right.
 

Triggerhappy938

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Dec 10, 2007
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blackshark121 said:
But here comes the shameful secret part: I haven't actually player Team Fortress 2 since they brought out the first class-specific update, just under two years ago.

Yahtzee made a typo, bring on the end of the world.
And here I thought it was just some form of obscure aussie/brit slang I was missing.

On a more topical note, I've always found it funny that when given the chance to play in a game world with other players who can provide more fleshed out rolls than any automated NPC, it always degrades to number crunching and misanthropy.
 

Swaki

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Apr 15, 2009
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thats an pretty accurate description of the feeling i had when playing borderlands, its always enjoyable reading your articles and i must say even if you dont like video games theres still a reason to follow the TF2 blog, its well written and funny.

and true TF2 does become unplayable on the public servers until about 2 months after each class update.
 

BonerMacTittyPants

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Aug 3, 2009
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Good points there about the MMORPG thing. I always disliked the concept of guilds, clans and ect... in those things. So far the only one I tried was Runescape, and the players were nothing more than background for me, but I needed them. Joining an empty server left me with the feeling of severe loneliness.

And the mention of TF2 was a big surprise.
 

Quoth

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Aug 28, 2008
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I both agree and disagree - I've kept myself out of playing FPS MMOGs because of the fact that people really do develop and it can be very hard to become competitive when you can only survive for 15 seconds before being fragged.

On the other hand, I got in Battle Field 1942 very late on it's life and I massively regretted it when it died to be replaced by BF2 or 2142 which were essentially massive updates to the same thing.

On the other hand there are several MMOGs that can be picked up and got in to despite the fact they've been out so long, I guess because they embrace starting zones and you start at a reasonably level playing field that you can get in to over time.

As for playing alone with other people around, it sounds very much like the motto of the wow-multiboxer, which for a while I was one of.
 

Dogstile

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Jan 17, 2009
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blackshark121 said:
But here comes the shameful secret part: I haven't actually player Team Fortress 2 since they brought out the first class-specific update, just under two years ago.

Yahtzee made a typo, bring on the end of the world.
Two comments in, that was relatively fast.

I doubt he cares. I want him to leave it in to see how many people do.
 

300lb. Samoan

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Mar 25, 2009
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So Borderlands is mediocre because it doesn't give you the opportunity to show off what a non-conformist loner you are? Sounding more like a precious brat than a game reviewer here, regardless of how many people agree with you.
 

Daveman

has tits and is on fire
Jan 8, 2009
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Onyx Oblivion said:
I only had the single played in Borderlands, as my internet was down for my 360 at the time, and I had a pretty damn good time. Just saying. I was the Siren, if that matters. I don't unusually like grinding, but the respec kept things fresh as I tried new build and ideas out. Then I hit the level cap and got bored.

Phasewalk's speed boost kept walking from being boring, too. So, the walking was actually kinda fun rushing around at super-speed.
I liked the single player too, though I was the Hunter. I loved the Sniping, it was one game where you can snipe fairly safely without worrying too much about getting rushed, though boss fights were kind of silly as a sniper, it just doesn't feel right. I didn't play it long enough to reach the level cap because I had to get back to uni. Maybe that's it.

Anyway, I don't post on ZP forums because it's either variations on "nice review, can't wait for the next", blatant fanboys and trolls. So maybe it's just a higher class of people who enjoy borderlands single player. [/snootyness]
 

EnigmaticSevens

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Sep 18, 2009
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Borderlands just a grew a tad stale for me during single player... became a bit too repetitive.... And even during Multiplayer, NO ONE TALKED, I mean seriously, I know there's a drought of PS3 players sporting headsets, but I've found more talkative louts in Fat bloody Princess! Went through a hundred different teams in Borderlands and never found a single speaking soul... I begin to wonder if the game actually supported voice chat... and if it doesn't, I've just gone and made a massive fucktard of myself....

On another not, wasn't there an article several moons ago concerning the epidemic of loners in MMOs, I agreed with the sentiments expressed then, and I still agree with them now. Cohabiting a world with other living humans is grand, even when you spend most of the time ignoring them. Hell, sometimes it's a source of amusement, it's karmic though. I remember a while ago in the days of yore, when a few mates of mine got into Maplestory, and all the eyebleeding grind that involved, of course it didn't really matter, because we had the most epic conversations in history, at one point gathering together in massively overcrowded grind spot and holding and equal parts raunchy and hilarious series of conversations with random players. We got party invites, and just spent the next four hours chatting while other souls did the leveling for us. And it was a perfectly equivalent exchange.
 

ldwater

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Jun 15, 2009
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To be honest the only reason why guilds and groups are formed is to gain an advantage that playing solo doesn't offer.

Any other players of WoW will know that guilds and groups are about as disposable as NPCs ever are / were - except the AI is at least slightly better.

Its a shame that MMO games have reduced groups to a band of disposable heros whos only function it to allow you to progress.
 

Suskie

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Nov 9, 2009
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Bash whatever you want; saying you love TF2 puts you on my awesome list.

Very good point about MMOGs feeling "alive." You see all these sandbox games that really try their hardest at creating a living, breathing world, but it almost never works. MMOGs feel populated because... well, they are.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Daveman said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
I only had the single played in Borderlands, as my internet was down for my 360 at the time, and I had a pretty damn good time. Just saying. I was the Siren, if that matters. I don't unusually like grinding, but the respec kept things fresh as I tried new build and ideas out. Then I hit the level cap and got bored.

Phasewalk's speed boost kept walking from being boring, too. So, the walking was actually kinda fun rushing around at super-speed.
I liked the single player too, though I was the Hunter. I loved the Sniping, it was one game where you can snipe fairly safely without worrying too much about getting rushed, though boss fights were kind of silly as a sniper, it just doesn't feel right. I didn't play it long enough to reach the level cap because I had to get back to uni. Maybe that's it.

Anyway, I don't post on ZP forums because it's either variations on "nice review, can't wait for the next", blatant fanboys and trolls. So maybe it's just a higher class of people who enjoy borderlands single player. [/snootyness]
After the fragile wittle Siren, I tried the Berserker, and MY GOD, I had a tough time with the game as him for some damn reason. I was using shotguns as my main weapon and kept getting slaughtered. THAT was unenjoyable. Barely touched the Hunter, I'll give it a go. And Soldier is just too damn generic for my tastes. Assault Rifles and turrets...WOW!
 

jtesauro

Freelance Detective
Nov 8, 2009
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Couple thoughts here.

I was actually in a conversation with someone recently, they asked me what I wanted to see, design wise, in a next gen MMO, and along with the other thoughts I passed his way, I expressed the fact that my own preferences in an MMO is to solo 99.9 percent of the time, because while I enjoy playing in a world that feels alive and not static, I generally dislike people I don't know personally and don't group much. So ideally, I'd like to see an MMO cater to THAT player, which clearly, I'm not the only one.

Some thoughts on Borderlands. I actually borrowed a copy for the PS3 from a friend who insisted I try it out. Here's the rub, HE'S the only friend I have on the PS3, ( I spend more of my time on the 360/PC ) so I had no one I knew to team with. Yahtzee's better then me, I never even tried to group, I just played it through single player.

Despite the loneliness of a dead WoW server, it's not a bad game at all, and I liked alot of the design, but, and this earned me some flack from my friend, I specifically stopped playing right before I opened up the Vault. Yeah maybe I should have seen the story through, but something told me that whatever's in there just wasn't worth it.

Sounds like I was right, so HAH!
 

geldonyetich

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Aug 2, 2006
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So to summarize briefly, people who play MMOGs without socializing are a lot like goths in real life; angry loners who want to be angry loners where everyone can see.
Hey! I resemble that remark. (Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.)

But, yeah, Borderlands... I might just finish that game one of these eons. Honestly, I sort of fell into a funk where I was playing my character with my brother and became afraid of advancing my character past the point where my brother was or else I'd out level him and consequently never got back to playing the game.

I considered going online to play with strangers but I was pretty sure it would turn out as Yahtzee said in his video review: me perpetually chasing 3 specks who were just plowing through the content. I like to take it slow and savor my content, but good luck convicing every Internet monkey I run into on a random matchup of the superiority of my position. Hell, judging by my experiences on the average forum, I'd be lucky to convince them of the time of day - they'd somehow find a way to disagree with me endlessly until my priority to argue with them decreases below my priority to commit suicide. At that point I have to cut off the discussion due to health reasons.

Maybe we need a game that actively punishes people for being dimwits. And it needs to be the awesomest game ever so dimwits have no choice but to play it. We'll make finishing it be a requirement to get a driver's license. In the end, this game will crush the stupid out of humanity like an unusually entertaining Skinner's box.
 

The Lizard of Odd

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Jun 23, 2009
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I totally agree with you on TF2. I absolutely loved it when it first came out...the game had so much character and style. It was fun, carefree and pretty non-elitist. You could get really good at the classes if you wanted to, but it was still perfectly acceptable to run around on pure dumb luck and fun.
I stopped playing after overdoing it for a few weeks, a few updates came out, and have since felt unable to rejoin due to all the changes. I realize that I could probably get back into the swing of it, but why? I liked it how it was, I'm happy to remember it that way, and have no particular interest in getting slaughtered by the obsessive TF2 cultists.

As for WoW, I play off and on primarily due to the friends I've made in the game and love the social aspects, but I definitely understand where you're coming from. I've met a few folks like that, and make characters on random servers once in a while to enjoy that feeling of being the gothic mercenary. It is rather fascinating that an MMO can be so enjoyable on one's own.

Cool article.
 

tscook

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Aug 9, 2009
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Is there finally a vidya game analog to indie dorks declaring that they like a band's early output, but not this new shit? Yes, yes there is.