Jimquisition: Only The Lonely

Rad Party God

Party like it's 2010!
Feb 23, 2010
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This is why I utterly prefer to play Dark Souls offline, because I don't want other little shits stabbing me on the back while I'm spelunking and being careful in a dungeon.

Seriously, Dark Souls is the Super Metroid of this generation, this game has an incredible atmosphere that even beats some of today's "horror" games, I wouldn't like that ruined by other people running naked trying to kill me, heck, I don't even want to play this game with friends, as tempting as that idea sounds, that would completely ruin my feeling of loneliness and isolation.

As much as I love playing MMO's (The Secret World being my current addiction and it's utterly awesome), sometimes I just want to pop-in a game and start killing some shit, or just playing an RPG all by myself.
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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When I saw the title I was fully prepared to hear Jim belt out a few Journey ballads. I am disappoint.

If video games went totally multiplayer only, I'd be forced to abandon them forever. I can't add anything more constructive because Jim has said it all perfectly.

Fucking Fear 3 indeed. F3AR...

I'm surprised Silent Hill: Book of memories didn't come up here. A co-op Silent Hill title on a handheld? Then again, Jim rather vehemently defended it before its release because people hated on it simply for being different. I wonder what his views are on it after it's release.
 

A Curious Fellow

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Nov 16, 2010
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There is absolutely no problem with having more options in a game. I've enjoyed, greatly, playing multiplayer in Minecraft and Mass Effect 3, for example. I wouldn't play Minecraft if I was FORCED to be alone, and the multiplayer in Mass Effect is incredibly deep and rewarding, nevermind wildly well-supported by the Bioware and EA.

I don't understand why you would talk down at a game developer for wanting to make a more rounded experience for the player.
 
Mar 30, 2010
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Well said. People lead increasingly busy and hectic lives and the solid single-player experience is an important way of unplugging from the hustle and bustle of professional and social life. Multiplayer as an option is nearly always a nice plus, but when it is the lion's share of the experience then the quality of that experience hinges on the online community. Which is to say that it is blown to holy hell.

Thank You for God, Jim.
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
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Hey, folks, lay off the "hahaha devout people are so stupid" characterizations. Mocking someone for their faith is decidedly uncool - as would it be if they mocked you for your lack of it.
 

gphjr14

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Aug 20, 2010
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While I don't mind multiplayer I do get tired of people saying games like Dishonored need co-op or multiplayer. They weren't designed to have it and don't need it.
Now you have great games like God of War tagging it on and putting the same crap death matches and same crap capture and hold that we've seen for almost 10 years now.
 

irishda

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Dec 16, 2010
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I do enjoy the single player experience. Growing up with a PS2 and no internet connection to it, single player is always the first mode I try. Even in the multiplayer focused games. However, me owning a game boils down to how often I can replay it, and in that regard multiplayer has the advantage over single. Multiplayer enjoys a truly unique experience for being completely different every time and the most challenging. No matter how good your AI is, it can never really compare to the tactical genius of a person. While humans are also easily susceptible to predictable patterns of behavior, it's far more prevalent in AI foes, and you're more likely to discover variations and anomalies outside the statistical norm. Thus, I tend to own multiplayer games (or games with extensive amounts of content) and simply rent or buy when they're cheaper single player games.
 

Gottesstrafe

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Oct 23, 2010
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Anyone else reminded of Garth Meregnhi when they see Jim up on his podium? I mean, I've always had the sneaking suspicion that Jim might've been influenced (at least appearance-wise) by Matthew Holness, but this little deliberation about God sort of clinched it for me. And what Jim, no John Lennon call out?
 

RJ Dalton

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Aug 13, 2009
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So, if things I do by myself are bad, tell me how reading is good for me, because I can't think how reading a book can be done with more people than just myself.
 

braincore02

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Jan 14, 2008
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Good watch. Are they making SimCity have some mandatory online crap? I'm looking forward to the new one but I would prefer to play solo myself.
 

Chimpzy_v1legacy

Warning! Contains bananas!
Jun 21, 2009
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I'm one of the people Jim described. My job requires me to deal with a lot of people and being social in general, day after day. I play singleplayer only games to get away from that. Or sometimes I just want to play the game my way, without having to think about others. I've been doing that all day, now I want my 'me'-time. I want to shut up and enjoy some peace and quiet while I subjugate virtual empires or something like that.

So yeah, thank god for you, Jim.
 

Elate

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Nov 21, 2010
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Well that heart attack line nearly made me spew lemonade over my computer. Considering I hated the first few shows, you've pulled a god damn u-turn and struck a fine balance between actually thought provoking commentary (ironically without sounding self righteous) while still adding enough humour (without it turning into a damn gag reel).

But I disagree, with the Fallout bit anyway, optional AND I STRESS, OPTIONAL, SUPER OPTIONAL multiplayer could have been kinda fun, romping in the wasteland with a buddy.
 

Tombfyre

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Feb 7, 2008
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Multiplayer has a time and a place, especially if the game is built up around it and actually enjoyable. But yeah, the concept that single player gaming is dead is absolutely foolish to say the least. I love my single player games. Besides, considering you can load everything up through Steam and such, you can be playing a single player game and still interact with people socially via one conversation or another. They don't have to be tagging along with you in meaningless tacked-on co-op just because.

As for the accusations of Blasphemy... I think the bible thumpers should realize that not everyone in the world shares their particular delusions, and most of us in the civilized world do not live in countries governed by their particular brand of church. So yes, fuck 'em. :)
 

Abomination

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Dec 17, 2012
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Most of the fun I have had in video games has been in single player titles: The Fallouts, Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate series, Far Cry III's single player, Bioshock's Single Player, The Deus Exes (not 2), The Civilization Series, Alpha Centari, Crusader Kings II, Europa Universalis series, Total War series, Mass Effect series, Amnesia, Bard's Tale, Batman: Arkham City/Asylum, Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls Series, Galactic Civilizations series, Grand Theft Auto series, Jade Empire, Just Cause 2, L.A. Noire, Spec Ops: The Line, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and The Walking Dead... not a single one of those games was played using its multiplayer or if it was the experience felt tacked on or was non-condusive to play (apart from Grand Theft Auto but that was mostly a chaos simulator).

On the flip side, games that I really enjoy the multiplayer of are Team Fortress 2, Natural Selection 2, World of Warcraft (for awhile), Guild Wars 2 and Planetside 2. Games DESIGNED around Multiplayer first and foremost.

See a frigging trend? The games designed around multiplayer have the best multiplayer, those that devote at least 90% of their resources to single player have great single player.

At the same time I do like the idea of co-op in Dead Space 3... I think they really can do something with it. Making one of the characters freak out suddenly and perceive their team mate as a hostile -while cutting off voice communication- could make for some frantic situations. Suddenly your sane team mate needs to subdue you as you attempt to shoot him, every time he dodges your attacks the monster he appears as dies and a new one busts out of the ground where he rolled to. The trick will be to make it impossible to tell if it really is a fight or if your character is having a freak out.
 

Remus

Reprogrammed Spambot
Nov 24, 2012
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WTF kind of fish is that? It's like a hammerhead shark, but with bad teeth and a dick for a nose.

On topic, multiplayer can be a giant f'ing immersion breaker if I'm playing a game for the story. Take Guild Wars 2 - I rarely ever dungeon crawl in that game because if I did, I might want to watch the little story bits while everyone else stands around and waits for me. I'd much rather just be saving this or that town from giants, skritt, or centaurs, getting my Hero on, without getting in the way of somebody else who wants to move shit along. I play single player games to get away from people, multiplayer when I want interaction. They're separate playstyles and should remain as such.

As an atheist, I thank Darwin for me. Although at this stage of human history, with medical and scientific advancements, evolution has kinda fallen to the wayside. Perhaps I should thank Tesela, or Jobs.
 

1337mokro

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Dec 24, 2008
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First thing that came to mind when reading the title.

Resident Evil 5. We can all agree how that Horror game was made better by being turned into an Action game by adding a coop partner.
 

Drauger

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Dec 22, 2011
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Whats up with the fish at 1:47 ? anyway as far as the developers don't make it necesary to co op im okay, i love dark souls but i ussually play it offline, but my brother seems to think its awesome play it just bothers me , i want to play the game alone.
 

DrunkOnEstus

In the name of Harman...
May 11, 2012
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Obviously I agree with this, and the sales numbers of Dishonored, Skyrim, and The Walking Dead back this up. Of more importance is that I may need to revisit my sexual orientation due to man Bayonetta still being rather sexy. Of ever more importance than that is my conviction that Jim is not dead only because God is afraid of all the Ragnarok business. What a good day.
 

Callate

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Dec 5, 2008
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There's a quote attributed to Giovanni Gravina: "A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company." The steps made by companies like EA and Blizzard to foist multiplayer and social elements onto us ignore the question of whether solitude is what we desire, or whether our experiences will necessarily be improved by the presence- to whatever degree- of other players within our play-space.

In some ways what I find even more offensive, though, is that I feel the pressure to put multiplayer into games that would have gone without it in the past is built upon a lie. I truly don't believe that this desire to force us to share all our game-playing experiences is something that has risen out of an unquenchable customer demand. Rather, multi-player is frequently a way to add "value" to a game with a minimal investment in content. If you actually have to build more maps and skin more characters and write more dialogue and render more cut-scenes, that's a much bigger investment of time and energy that every "single" player will churn through more or less simultaneously from the time they start playing the game. By contrast, if you make a smaller investment in multiplayer, you add apparent value while all those "single" players entertain each other for hours on end without you having to make further contributions. It's like sending the older children to take care of the younger ones.

What's similarly perverse is that, even as many of these big companies push these "go keep your siblings occupied" measures, they seem to be more and more willing to crack down on mods and fan-led efforts that used to be a similar source of genuine fan desire to expand the experience for their fellow players. We want you to babysit, but in our house, by our rules, no heading off the reservation.

Ugh.