How to Talk About Games #1

[Bindal]

But what makes the game suck are the bugs, the countless weaponspawns per map, the easy gameplay, the dumber AI, the nerfed Special Infected, the shorter maps, the overpowered melee-weapons, the bright and more colorful lightning...

WOAH WOAH WOAH!!!

I'll let you say those other things, but calling the the melee weapons overpowered is like calling a a kitty ferocious. Sure, they can do damage, but they don't even come close to the damage that their relatives can dish out. To top it off, melee weapons don't even fit with the overall idea of fighting waves/hordes of enemies, something that the L4D games were primarily built to facilitate.

They can kill multiple enemies in one hit even on the highest possible difficulty and kills even Witches in four hits regardless of difficulty. Yes, they are overpowered. There is nothing to discuss here.
Seriously, I rocked Hard Rain Solo Expert with a Katana as my ONLY weapon (except against Tanks and Witches, were I used a Shotgun).
That makes the Melee-weapons a book-example of "overpowered weapon".

L4D2 is everything BUT hard. I solo'd the campaigns there in record-time without any kind of effort.

Solo'ing L4D2 is an incredible claim; I understand it's been done, but it's extremely difficult, as the game was not designed to be played that way and there are many attacks which are easily survivable with help but automatic death without, and there are items that must be carried that render you largely incapable of defending yourself for the duration. Solo'ing L4D2 "without any kind of effort" is an outright not-credible claim.

It's not an incredible claim. It's freaking easy. The Sequel gives you so many tools so you don't need to rely on teammates any more, it's not even funny. On top of that, it spawns so little enemies, you sometimes wonder if you accidentally disabled the AI-Director.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Thanks for this bit. It'll fit nicely into quite a few of the gaming threads we get here.

So very true. I even catch myself agreeing with one side or the other sometimes!

This comic kinds of comes off like a direct dig at Yahtzee.

How so? Which of his ZP videos or XP columns did this comic argue against?

 

[Draconalis]

Pet peeve stumbled upon!

There's no such thing as a "Valid Opinion"

In order for something to be Valid, it must be based in fact. Opinions by their very definition, cannot be facts.

 

[The Wooster]

The constant harping and controversy around Dragon's Crown over one (maybe two) female character(s) is really starting to feel like nothing but bandwagoning and link-baiting for page-hit revenue on the part of Internet game journalists.

We'll be covering this in later issues, but casting slurs on their opponent's motivations rather than addressing their points is the first sign of an idiot. Not saying you are one, I'm just saying that opening your argument with the equivalent of "well people are only saying this because they want money" is beneath you and only serves to undermine your point. As is in the bandwagon fallacy (just because an opinion is popular does not make it wrong.) Also, you haven't really been paying attention if you think the Sorceress and the Amazon are the only controversial depictions of female characters in the game.

Actually, wasn't it some fucknut at Kotaku who first took umbrage with art style, and the artist trolled him back?

Oh, but by all means ignore this little fact to perpetuate this narrative that all gamers are "loud assholes", when the press is calling an artist's designs, "something only a 14 year old boy would like?"

1: Jason Schrierer's (terrible) Kotaku piece was not the first time someone pointed out the game's artwork could be offensive to some.

2: How does one poorly written piece from one site excuse shitty responses to multiple, well-written reviews on completely different sites?

 

[V8 Ninja]

But what makes the game suck are the bugs, the countless weaponspawns per map, the easy gameplay, the dumber AI, the nerfed Special Infected, the shorter maps, the overpowered melee-weapons, the bright and more colorful lightning...

WOAH WOAH WOAH!!!

I'll let you say those other things, but calling the the melee weapons overpowered is like calling a a kitty ferocious. Sure, they can do damage, but they don't even come close to the damage that their relatives can dish out. To top it off, melee weapons don't even fit with the overall idea of fighting waves/hordes of enemies, something that the L4D games were primarily built to facilitate.

They can kill multiple enemies in one hit even on the highest possible difficulty and kills even Witches in four hits regardless of difficulty. Yes, they are overpowered. There is nothing to discuss here.
Seriously, I rocked Hard Rain Solo Expert with a Katana as my ONLY weapon (except against Tanks and Witches, were I used a Shotgun).
That makes the Melee-weapons a book-example of "overpowered weapon".

I'll admit, my experience playing the L4D games has always been on the Normal and Hard difficulties, but I still can't quite understand the claims of power you're giving to the melee weapons. Whenever I've used a melee weapon, I've rarely been able to kill more than a single zombie with one shot. And even then, melee weapons have not always guaranteed me one-hit kills. Maybe I'm doing it wrong or something, but swinging around melee weapons has not helped me whatsoever.

 

[The Wooster]

Pet peeve stumbled upon!

There's no such thing as a "Valid Opinion"

In order for something to be Valid, it must be based in fact. Opinions by their very definition, cannot be facts.

Nope. Valid can mean simply well-argued or justified. I should have had "can be" in there though.

 

[Bindal]

I'll admit, my experience playing the L4D games has always been on the Normal and Hard difficulties, but I still can't quite understand the claims of power you're giving to the melee weapons. Whenever I've used a melee weapon, I've rarely been able to kill more than a single zombie with one shot. And even then, melee weapons have not always guaranteed me one-hit kills. Maybe I'm doing it wrong or something, but swinging around melee weapons has not helped me whatsoever.

You probably are just bad with them because the melee-weapons are in fact hardcoded to insta-gib enemies - unless it's a Witch (4 hits), Tank (20 hits) or Charger (3 hits). And yes, it is completely indiependet from difficulty, meaning they can one-hit-kill on Realism Expert commons.

 

[ThatDarnCoyote]

Interesting how it takes a Gearbox T-shirt to really highlight that Hitler was kind of an emo slob.

That's it - I'm totally canceling my Reincarnated-Hitler preorder. I don't care that it comes with the Berchtesgaden bonus map.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

Actually, wasn't it some fucknut at Kotaku who first took umbrage with art style, and the artist trolled him back?

Oh, but by all means ignore this little fact to perpetuate this narrative that all gamers are "loud assholes", when the press is calling an artist's designs, "something only a 14 year old boy would like?"

1: Jason Schrierer's (terrible) Kotaku piece was not the first time someone pointed out the game's artwork could be offensive to some.

2: How does one poorly written piece from one site excuse shitty responses to multiple, well-written reviews on completely different sites?

Two responses popped into my head at the same time, but they basically boiled down to, "Hey, glass houses. I hold professionals in the field to the higher standard than Joe Q Public. Those who take comments on the internet seriously need to take a deep breath, step back, and stop being so bloody serious all the time."

Also, how is having an exaggerated art style "offensive?" Is this more of that PC bullshit? You should know that political correctness was invented by the Soviets!

 

[oldtaku]

This is the WORST STRIP EVER. OBVIOUSLY it was written by Robohitler.

(tongue -> cheek for the cognitively disabled)

 

[The Wooster]

Two responses popped into my head at the same time, but they basically boiled down to, "Hey, glass houses. I hold professionals in the field to the higher standard than Joe Q Public. Those who take comments on the internet seriously need to take a deep breath, step back, and stop being so bloody serious all the time."

Also, how is having an exaggerated art style "offensive?" Is this more of that PC bullshit? You should know that political correctness was invented by the Soviets!

So were postcodes and the first video recorder. What's your point?

 

[Ukomba]

Thanks for this bit. It'll fit nicely into quite a few of the gaming threads we get here.

So very true. I even catch myself agreeing with one side or the other sometimes!

This comic kinds of comes off like a direct dig at Yahtzee.

How so? Which of his ZP videos or XP columns did this comic argue against?

Just that Yahtzee in his ZP videos tends to be very binary (almost always towards the bad for comedy sake). Specifically, the panel with the "Non-Delicious cupcake filled with pubes and shards of glass" just comes off like something he'd say in his review. Not only does it look like a cupcake made of sh*t, have broken glass and pubes in it, but also what appears to be a condom. I wouldn't be surprised if he's used that exact analogy in the past to describe a game or an aspect of a game.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

So, you're suggesting there should be a conversation about how to resurrect Hitler better? To make shining examples of games we don't want?

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I hate to say it Grey but this won't help... The people who need it most won't read it.

 

[SirDerpy]

1: Jason Schrierer's (terrible) Kotaku piece was not the first time someone pointed out the game's artwork could be offensive to some.

Also, how is having an exaggerated art style "offensive?" Is this more of that PC bullshit? You should know that political correctness was invented by the Soviets!

Offensive to some, not to all. Not necessarily to him, or you, or I. I can think of a few people who have a stick up their ass who might take offence.

Unless you're trying (poorly) to be sarcastic, your statement would imply a remarkably small understanding of society on your part, if you think that nobody would bat an eyelid at a character model with back-breakingly big breasts.

 

[Whispering Death]

HAHAHAHAHA! Oh man, this is the best comic you've ever done! Bravo bravo encore encore!

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

So, am I to take from this that, while I (and many others) were making breast puns in the comments section of last week's comic about Dragon's Crown, there was apparently a sizable number of commenters who held these polarizing opinions?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

"...most gamers lack the basic cognitive toolset..."
That's putting it mildly.

And if you dared to post some comment like this in forums and not in comics you would receive a nice warning.

Hey, I was just making a behavioural observation.

You sir truly must get out more! It applies to almost anyone on the internet or off. A large number of people I deal with I am forced to ask myself how these people didnt starve to death with their lack of common sense.

No I mustn't. I used to work in Internet Tech Support, I already know how stupid people can be. I just being generous.

 

[Something Amyss]

Not only are you completely correct, I like the sneak punch you took at Gearbox. Seriously, every time I hear they are making something new, I cringe...

"Sneak?" That hit with all the subtlety of a freight train.

AND I LOVED IT!

Yes, I'm immature sometimes. Most of the time. Quite a lot of the time.

Unfortunately, the whole Mass Effect 3 ending controversy taught me many a lessons along these lines. It was a good game 90% of the time (and most people won't refute that) but it's ending was *cough* controversial at best. Some hated it, bombed MetaCritic, and spammed anyone who even thought the ending was acceptable (ie not bad). At least they had some decent arguments but you don't need to ostracize others.

The ending was shit. Even worse, they marketed it as Fillet Mignon. Now, I'm not going to tell you to go to Hell or die for disagreeing, because that's stupid. I didn't review bomb Metacritic or send threats to Broware, either. I think controversial "at best" is soft serving it. But at the same time, I feel that we, as human beings, can hold different view points.

Also, I didn't like what I played of the rest of the game. But again, I can accept that for others, it was worth it except for the ending. for the same "human beings" thing.

I can have a very harsh opinion, and I will make no apologies about that. I just don't get the point of turning it into a screaming match or death threats or the things we as gamers are expected to do.

But Mass Effect 3 sort of confuses me. The mature part of my brain, the one that tells me mature responses are the best way to handle things and yelling doesn't solve things, noted that even with the dickery Broware threw at critics, eventually there was some form of resolution. Now, that one I'd call controversial at best. But it was a resolution.

Similarly, it was tantrums that got us an end to the constant online connection issues of the Xbone. In gaming, it ALMOST seems like acting like histrionic children is the better response. I suspect, in part, this is because game devs are often hyperdefensive histrionic children themselves, and the only think more horrendous to them than criticism is the threat that their jobs might be threatened.

And I know the bone was also threatened by sales, but I think those were related. Most of the coverage of the online DRM and the like came from the community making a stink. I think even people who wouldn't know otherwise caught it solely because everyone was so mad.

This is why the mature part of my brain ends up locked up so much. >.>

 

[thanatos388]

What has Valve made that's full of pubes and broken shards of glass?

Team Fortress 2 hats because they look stupid on the characters. And they cost real world munny.