Question of the Day, March 12, 2010

[GodKlown]

I used to take the time to sit through them and read most of them, but lately it is more of a device so that the writers can input thoughts and ideas that didn't make the final cut of the game. Games such as Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed make some good use of the device, but can easily go overboard with such an idea and use it to explain every little thing in this particular universe.
I don't read them all anymore because sometimes I just want to get back to handling a situation. Nothing like taking a ten minute reading break in the middle of a firefight because a designer decided I needed to read this RIGHT NOW... regardless of what reality is going on around me. But it is kinda funny to think that the world pauses in most games when you are reading something.

 

[Contun]

They make the game seem more alive and in-dept, so yeah I read most of them...

 

[xHipaboo420x]

Only if a game world truly absorbs me. I can see the fallacy in shunning the additional materials because I'm not sucked in, but still.

 

[Jared]

I'll admit I don't read as many ad I should. But I have. Found the ones I have generally alot of fun to read and full of nice little facts

 

[Corkydog]

I am a compulsive reader. I read everything I find. To me, those audio logs made Doom 3 a much more personal experience, and really fleshed out the world. And Bioshock's were perfect, as usual.... The best part is, they are completely optional, so if someone doesn't want all of the backstory and just wants to play, they can simply refuse to pick them up. Win-win.

 

[Nebr66]

always, it's an obsession of mine.

 

[reg42]

I don't honestly, not often anyway. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll sit down and read some, but that doesn't happen often.

 

[Jedamethis]

Most of the time, unless they're hugely long and boring.

 

[Banana Phone Man]

Bioshock did this really well in my opinion. They give you short audios from characters. They are easy to listen too and don't disturb game play. Games like Soul Calibur and ME2 gave you big blocks of text which you have to take the time to read yourself which stops gameplay. It is usually more detailed than what's in Bioshock's audios but unless it is interesting then I don't have the interest to take my time to read it. I would rather just play the game.

 

[Distorted Stu]

I always read them. They seem to give good background of what happened and can tell a side story the main gameplay cannot. It also helps me get a better understanding of events (such as the diologs in FF13.. Too many names, fractions and places. These helped a bunch!)

 

[TheAmazingTGIF]

I would like to read the Mass Effect 2 ones, but alas, Bioware hates SDTV.

 

[mikecoulter]

Hmm yes, as long as they're interesting and I haven't got anything better to do...

 

[xavierxenon]

I only tend to listen to the audio diaries and such rather than text ones.

The only text ones I've ever read was the Thousand Years of Dreams from Lost Odyssey and anyone whos played it would know why.

 

[Mirrored Jigsaw]

I listen to every audio diary I find in Bioshock, but I rarely read books in Oblivion.

It just depends on the material.

 

[ProtoChimp]

It Depends, Fallout 3: Oh yeah
Resident evil: Not so much.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Audio logs: Yes.

Written diaries: No.

If I want to read those, I probably read them online later. That way, I have something to do when I'm not gaming as well!

 

[Galad]

If I have time. And I usually don't, since I don't play those games on my home PC

 

[The Undoer]

Only if I don't have to read, so no I guess. I enjoy listening though.

 

[Veret]

I absolutely love the codex in Mass Effect. Bioware put so much detail into it that they transformed the series from a space opera into honest-to-god hard sci fi. But Dragon Age, not so much. I read a lot of the codex, and found it interesting, but I just didn't have the ganas to keep going all the way through.