The Escapist Lounge.

[Drathnoxis]

You know, there are a lot of times when I have some thought on a game or an idea that I want to talk about, but it's not really worth making an entire thread for. Therefore, now we have this thread!

This is a thread to post little thoughts about a game, or interesting gaming facts you've discovered, really anything you want to say about a game/console/peripheral/etc. that isn't worth making a thread over. People can then respond to what you've said if they feel like it, or not, it doesn't really matter. However, if we get too much discussion on one subject it'd probably be best to move it over to it's own thread. The traffic on the site these days is low enough that I think a thread like this can exist and not get absolutely flooded with comments. I'm kind of envisioning this as a more permanent fixture to the forum, so if people like it, maybe it could be stickied or something for better organization, if not, well I guess it'll take care of itself.

There's just one rule I'm laying out from the offset: No Politics! No -isms, no -gates, none of that! As soon as that kind of thing gets involved it tends to take over all discussion and just makes people bitter, so leave it at the door.

So that out of the way: a Rupee for your thoughts?

 

[Drathnoxis]

I'll start things off!
So you know those timeshift stones from Skyward Sword that cause a localised time distortion, and there's that section where you are in a boat sailing across a sandy desert which become water in the location that your boat travels? The implementation of that always really bugs me whenever I see it. The timeshift stone has a definite sphere of influence in which the sand is affected and changed back into water, that's the concept, and it should look really cool, but it doesn't. What it looks like instead is that there is like a layer of crud on top of the water that the timeshift stone is removing. It looks this way because you can actually see all the terrain underneath the water, even the stuff that should be under the sand. Look!
How did Nintendo manage to mess up the concept on such a basic level? It looks more like the camera is clipping through the sand rather than being in a bubble of time distortion.

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

People can then respond to what you've said if they feel like it, or not, it doesn't really matter.

I feel like one of the pitfalls of a thread like this is that the above sentiment stands in direct opposition to the Code of Conduct [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/codeofconduct]. Specifically,

Topicless Thread Creation
Posting a thread without any discussion value, or with a deliberately misleading title, will get you penalized and your thread locked. This includes creating a poll without an accompanying discussion or beginning a thread with an original post that does not sufficiently explain the topic at hand.

Having a thread that exists for its own sake, rather than any particular desire for discussion, either runs the risk of becoming its own insular little community of in-references and jokes in place of any more universal discussion topic, or piling into itself and running several topics of discussion into one another, flooding the thread with different answers to different posts, in whose mazey meta-avenues much of the discussion would take place.

Given that, my first inclination would be to put a lid on the thread and suggest just making individual topic threads for all ideas, big or small, so that conversation can flourish with the risk of in-references or ballooning cross-chatter. That said, there isn't anything expressly wrong with the thread as it is, just that it runs the risk of maybe being pointless if people don't use it well.

I'll leave it open for now, but bear in mind that it's fairly probable that it'll end up being locked anyway.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Snip.

I just thought it'd be nice it'd be nice to have a thread where people could just post whatever it is they are thinking without worrying about making an entire thread for it. It's always pretty disappointing to go to the trouble of making a thread for only like 4 people to comment. These forums are kind of stuffy, so it'd be nice if there was part of it where people could be a bit more casual. I was kind of hoping that having a more relaxed thread would help and bring the community together more.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

So kinda' like a Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy but for Video Games? I can get behind that!

Ahem!

In order to fully understand what makes good gameplay, we have to look at the word itself. Gameplay is made up of two words, "Gam" and "eplay". What do these words mean? Its a mystery. As in fact what makes good gameplay.

 

[Leg End]

So, random bullshit we think of that's game related? Shit talking possibly? Awww yeeaaah.

How did Sony manage to screw up a microconsole as bad as the support they gave the PSTV? Supports games based on a whitelist so even though it has all the proper Vita hardware, your game might not be supported. Storage? 1GB internal like the PSV2000 model and yet it still uses the proprietary Vita cards that are so expensive that to get a 64GB version of the card, you're at the moment going to pay half the cost of the system and that it wasn't released outside of Japan. Supports download of a lot of the Vita's streaming apps but most/all of them do not work? Launching it at a $100 or so price point without an included controller(which I can somewhat forgive I suppose)? Supporting PS4 remote play and making that a major part of the sales pitch you give for it but don't support PS3 remote access even though the regular Vita can do it? Abandon it less than a year later and stop all Vita development?

Welcome to smart ideas by Sony.

 

[Drathnoxis]

So kinda' like a Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy but for Video Games? I can get behind that!

Ahem!

In order to fully understand what makes good gameplay, we have to look at the word itself. Gameplay is made up of two words, "Gam" and "eplay". What do these words mean? Its a mystery. As in fact what makes good gameplay.

Heheh, that was pretty good!

 

[FPLOON]

I've always wondered if there was a video game equivalent to "A113"... At first, I thought about the Konami Code, but considering that "A113" is more of an inside joke, it doesn't work because the Konami Code is [kind of] the inverse video game equivalent to "A113"...

Other than that, I've contemplated about Steam Guides after finally writing my first one during this year's leap day... It mostly came from the fact that the game I was doing a guide for already had a general guide that could have talked about what my guide was, well, talking about albeit with even less words/characters...

 

[Drathnoxis]

I've just learned that the fire temple in Ocarina of Time had different music in an early release. Apparently it was changed because it was pointed out to them that it contained a muslim prayer, and that conflicted with Nintendo's no real world religion policy. The most shocking thing to me, though, is that according to a statement Nintendo made in 2012 the song came from a library of commercially available clips and wasn't developed in house. That makes me wonder how many of the other tracks in the game were also taken from the same library. My faith in the originality of Ocarina of Time has been shaken! The whole game could basically be an asset flip for all I know.

So kinda' like a Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy but for Video Games? I can get behind that!

Ahem!

In order to fully understand what makes good gameplay, we have to look at the word itself. Gameplay is made up of two words, "Gam" and "eplay". What do these words mean? Its a mystery. As in fact what makes good gameplay.

Gam is apparently an asset management firm while Eplay is a Serbian rockband.

When these two combine they have something to do with video games.

But how?

Figure that out and you could be the next Miyamoto!

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

So kinda' like a Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy but for Video Games? I can get behind that!

Ahem!

In order to fully understand what makes good gameplay, we have to look at the word itself. Gameplay is made up of two words, "Gam" and "eplay". What do these words mean? Its a mystery. As in fact what makes good gameplay.

Gam is apparently an asset management firm while Eplay is a Serbian rockband.

When these two combine they have something to do with video games.

But how?

You guys have got it all wrong.

GaMEP lay is all about the university sex scene. A lot of people get confused with the specific reference to Georgia Tech, but that's just where it was coined.

Needless to say, games need more casual sex without obligation

 

[Catfood220]

I have been playing The Witcher 3 a lot recently and have come to the conclusion that Geralt may actually be making things worse for the people of the world he inhabits rather than better.

You see, while yes he is going around killing all the monsters for the people. He is also chopping up a lot of bandits and other human wrong doers and never disposing of the bodies. This in turn encourages the Necrophages who eat the dead to turn up to feed, thus causing more monster problems for the peasants. At best he is just creating more work for himself and ensuring he keeps earning a living. At worst he is a menace that causes more problems than he solves. No wonder people have a problem with Witchers.

 

[Zhukov]

I shall take this opportunity to state that Darkest Dungeon has terrific character designs and aesthetic.

I love how they make them look cool without falling into the trap of over-design that ensnares many if not most fantasy games.

I mean, look at these gorgeous bastards:

Spoiler: LOOK AT THEM.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I have been playing The Witcher 3 a lot recently and have come to the conclusion that Geralt may actually be making things worse for the people of the world he inhabits rather than better.

You see, while yes he is going around killing all the monsters for the people. He is also chopping up a lot of bandits and other human wrong doers and never disposing of the bodies. This in turn encourages the Necrophages who eat the dead to turn up to feed, thus causing more monster problems for the peasants. At best he is just creating more work for himself and ensuring he keeps earning a living. At worst he is a menace that causes more problems than he solves. No wonder people have a problem with Witchers.

I was wondering this the other day as i bumbled into some bandits in Novigrad and had no choice but to defend myself by slicing them each in half. As the bits of body ragdolled across the floor, all i could think was "am i just gonna leave this mess here? It's a bit rude to walk away, whistling inconspicuously." But seeing as the game had no other option, i fled on horseback before anybody could see!

OT: Been playing Galak-z- lately.

Spoiler: Potential spoiler for the game...

Imagine a game that seems pretty fun and great at first, then all of a sudden, just when you think you've mastered the vehicle and battles at around the four hour mark, out pops a little red button that, upon pressing it, your vehicle that you got so used to turns out to be a fucking transformer!!!

Needless to say, my appreciation increased somewhat of the game after that point.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Those do look pretty good. This one reminds me of that one episode of Adventure Time.

What's with that? Is this some kind of actual gas mask style?

 

[kurokotetsu]

Those do look pretty good. This one reminds me of that one episode of Adventure Time.

What's with that? Is this some kind of actual gas mask style?

It is an old doctor mask, form around the black plague ages. The mask was thoght as a way to keep the miasma out of the doctor, and that is why it has the beak. It can bee seen in some fiction. FOr example there is TF2 comsetic with that look too (of course for the Medic).

 

[Zhukov]

What's with that? Is this some kind of actual gas mask style?

It's a mask worn by actual historical plague doctors. It was used in Europe in the 1600s and 1700s.

Not exactly a gas mask though. The beak part was filled strong smelling herbs, spices and chemicals. It was intended to protect the doctor from miasma, or poisoned air, that being what people of the time believed to spread the plague.

Needless to say, it didn't really work. Mostly it just drowned out the smell of dead or sick people.

It has become semi-popular in fiction and art, mostly because it looks cool and creepy.

 

[The Madman]

Random thoughts eh? Alright, here's one: I'm really tired of so many people comparing every game to Dark Souls. Seriously, go into any reddit thread or forum topic about a game and there seems to be an 80% chance someone will say "Too bad the gameplay sucks" or something along those lines, and who if prodded, will then say that obviously Dark Souls is the shinning perfect example of everything that is good in gameplay in a modern game.

Look, I've played Dark Souls, it's good but it's not that good. Jeez, the way people talk about the series reminds me of a cult sometimes. Kinda creepy.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Snip

Snip

Well that's pretty cool! Too bad we don't still use the shape of it in our bio-hazard suites, that'd be neat! Buuut, also a little terrifying.

Random thoughts eh? Alright, here's one: I'm really tired of so many people comparing every game to Dark Souls. Seriously, go into any reddit thread or forum topic about a game and there seems to be an 80% chance someone will say "Too bad the gameplay sucks" or something along those lines, and who if prodded, will then say that obviously Dark Souls is the shinning perfect example of everything that is good in gameplay in a modern game.

Look, I've played Dark Souls, it's good but it's not that good. Jeez, the way people talk about the series reminds me of a cult sometimes. Kinda creepy.

Hahahaha yeah, it's like everything has to be compared to Dark souls these days, good or bad. I've heard so many people say things like "_______ is the Dark souls of ______." Like "Zelda II is the Dark Souls of the Zelda series!"

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

So kinda' like a Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy but for Video Games? I can get behind that!

Ahem!

In order to fully understand what makes good gameplay, we have to look at the word itself. Gameplay is made up of two words, "Gam" and "eplay". What do these words mean? Its a mystery. As in fact what makes good gameplay.

"Gam" was an older term (early to mid 20th century) that was primarily used in plural fashion to describe a woman's legs. "Eplay" can be defined (possibly) as a neo-term, in its extreme infancy mind you so much so this is probably the first you've heard of it, describing the "Let's Play" genre of videos and streams. Put together it should mean "That Let's Play surely has legs" but somehow it actually describes how a video game's physics, controls, AI and other minutia mechanics amalgate together to form the whole. Its a mystery definitely why this term is used.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

Look, I've played Dark Souls, it's good but it's not that good. Jeez, the way people talk about the series reminds me of a cult sometimes. Kinda creepy.

I found dark souls incredibly overrated. especially the PC port is awful and show xbox button prompts.