Rule of Cool vs Practicality

[The_Blue_Rider]

I was looking around the forums just now and i saw a thread called "Weapons too seldomly used" I havent looked at it, yet, but it give me mind jolt about scythes which i think are seldomly used, which then led me to remembering that they are very impractical, but id still use them because they just look badass

So yeah, my monologue aside, what do you prefer in games? The Rule of Cool (I'd link you to tvtropes but im not that cruel) or practicality?

Personally I love the rule of cool, however there is a point where i think wow this just cant convince me that it will work. My look on it is that there should be a balance between looking cool but also making you believe that it could actually work
For example, I actually dont mind, in fact i like giant ass swords, simply because i think it looks freaking awesome, but i dont like people using sheilds as weapons (goofy im looking at you, great games, but you're an idiot)

So yeah escapists, what are your views on this?

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

No one caring makes me a sad boy

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

It depends on the game really, some games need practicality, others don't.

Man, it feels good to be posting somewhere other than the puzzle thread.

 

[ethan22122]

Probably a mix of the two, like a riot shield with spikes that you can smash people with.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

Rule of Cool, hands down.

Rule of Cool gives us...

Spoiler: This

Spoiler: THIS

Spoiler: AND this!

 

[Omikron009]

I like rule of cool, but only if the entire movie/game/book is based around it (Just Cause 2, Warhammer 40k, etc.) In general, at least in games, I generally choose the most efficient option.

 

[Erana]

I'm a bit of an odd duck, 'cause for me, my rule of cool is typically the rule of practicality. Like, I'll stick with the warhammer or axe over the sword because they're practical, even though swords always get the best enchantments, which is practical, but they look the most cool, too.

 

[LostAlone]

TBH for me it's strongly related to the game in question.

In generic shooters (Im looking at you CoD and MoH) then sure I'll hook up the weapons that I think are cool. It was awesome to see the (sadly never realised) G11 show up black ops, and I used the crap out of it and felt cool all the while. Same for the Vector in MW2. Thing is though, that basically all the guns work the same there, and so picking the 'cool' doesn't make much real difference.

In the fantasy/sci-fi realm, I'll always pick the magic/psychic/whatever option over the hack'n'slash or space-marine respectively, but that's more to do with game designers who just don't give much variety to combat characters. You just splat away and then things die. The other route is just a lot more fun. You always seem to get a really big choice of powers and abilities. Going back to my NWN days, there's a good half dozen 'good' wizard builds, all of which are different but all are cool. You can control the opposition, do huge damage in spectacular ways, summon minions to do the dirty work or point a finger and have the guy drop dead. That's cool to me, and I'll always pick it.

However, that's more to do with the regular combat being just plain boring rather than it being more practical.

Well designed games make everything cool to use, and practical too. Particularly Borderlands does this really well. All the weapon classes have awesome weapons, they all look really cool, and although there's a change in tactics if you wanna use the shotguns (for example) its still totally practical.

Other games really piss me off by making you stick to the bland assault rife 95% of the time and force you to save 8 other really cool guns for specific situations.

So yeah... You shouldn't have to pick. In my experience, the cool stuff is normally at least nominally practical even if its not your go-to every single time. I can't think of a weapon that is genuinely cool while being totally impractical, because the cool guns almost always do great damage.

Although actually... The Bio-Rifle and the shock-core combo are really cool but fairly useless, but then the rocket launchers, flak cannons, link gun and so forth are more cool... So you know...

 

[ZephrC]

The rule of cool is great when used sparingly. I don't mind a bit of impracticality every now and then just for awesomeness's sake. It just gets lame and, worse yet, boring when overdone though.

Basically, every game can use it on occasion, and every once in a while it's cool to play a game that just goes way over the top with it, but when a game is invoking the rule of cool left and right while also trying to take itself seriously it simply doesn't work.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Rule of Cool, hands down.

Rule of Cool gives us...

Spoiler: This

Spoiler: THIS

Spoiler: AND this!

The BFG is very practical though, how else are you supossed to slaughter the monsters of hell D:

 

[slipknot4]

I love the rule of cool, after all. I'm playing a game, not a sim.

 

[legion431]

Probably a mix of the two, like a riot shield with spikes that you can smash people with.

That is a good mix; but God help us all if the Metropolitan Police hear about this.

 

[sambaynham]

I think it's less about cool and more about fun. If a game can make practical weapons fun, that's awesome, but sometimes it's a little hit and miss. (If you'll pardon the pun.)
I always fall back on UT2K4, the only game I've ever bought that I'm still playing heavily after five years. The weapons aren't realistic in the slightest, but they *are* fun as hell, well balanced and a nicely specialised.

 

[GloatingSwine]

The BFG is very practical though, how else are you supossed to slaughter the monsters of hell D:

When I were a lad we didn't have fancy schmancy BFGs. If you wanted to slaughter hellspawn you used a shotgun, and not even a double barrel shotgun either.

The shotgun is the practical doomguy's weapon, it's the one weapon in the game that you can use to take on almost* anything.

(* It's hard to kill the spider demon with the shotgun, because it has a high damage hitscan weapon so no amount of circle strafing will help you, and using it to kill archviles gives them ages to res all their mates)

 

[Jedamethis]

If I had to pick only one, I'd go with practical.
Because rule of cool means nothing if you can't use it.