Your video game hot take(s) thread

[Specter Von Baren]

I really think that’s a big stretch. Evangelion first aired in 1995 - not sure when the manga began publication - and FFVII came out in 1997. Given what we know about lead times and shit, if there was any inspiration I seriously doubt it was significant.

This is another trap, one that's extremely rampant with people looking back on history but who also have a shallow knowledge of history, this idea that ideas and concepts can't occur independent of each other

Perhaps there IS a connection between Eva and FF7, but if there is, it would likely be rooted in both being mutually inspired by the same thing that came before both. Or they could have zero connection and any similarities are people finding an arrow in a tree and painting a bullseye around it.

I found a book the other day that was someone arguing William Shakespeare didn't write what he wrote but some other noble because said noble experienced events that could vaguely, maybe if you squint, be similar to the plots of what Shakespeare wrote. Ridiculous, but also insulting in its implication that creativity is shackled to lived events and can't be separate from them.

 

[Gordon_4]

This is another trap, one that's extremely rampant with people looking back on history but who also have a shallow knowledge of history, this idea that ideas and concepts can't occur independent of each other

Perhaps there IS a connection between Eva and FF7, but if there is, it would likely be rooted in both being mutually inspired by the same thing that came before both. Or they could have zero connection and any similarities are people finding an arrow in a tree and painting a bullseye around it.

I found a book the other day that was someone arguing William Shakespeare didn't write what he wrote but some other noble because said noble experienced events that could vaguely, maybe if you squint, be similar to the plots of what Shakespeare wrote. Ridiculous, but also insulting in its implication that creativity is shackled to lived events and can't be separate from them.

TheMysteriousGX postulated that given the relatively close release dates, it was simply because the writers were in a similar cultural morass and likely with similar life experiences they just came to similar places with a different point of view.

Kind of like how Dredd and The Raid were weirdly similar in a lot of ways but have had no verifiable contact between the creative engines of either.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I found a book the other day that was someone arguing William Shakespeare didn't write what he wrote but some other noble because said noble experienced events that could vaguely, maybe if you squint, be similar to the plots of what Shakespeare wrote. Ridiculous, but also insulting in its implication that creativity is shackled to lived events and can't be separate from them.

I saw a fun counter argument to that basically saying that a bunch of Victorian era snobs couldn't stand that England's greatest playwright wasn't one of the honorable noble class, which tracks with a lot of their other biases.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I'm kinda the opposite; I replay games A LOT. It's why I have a playtime of 300+ hours on linear single-player games. OG Resident Evil 4 I've worn down to a nub.

With Astral Chain I remember liking the combat gimmick, but finding it just a tad too cumbersome to actually give me that combat high. I think there were a couple of other things that eventually bugged me, but I can't really remember.

You should give it another go. I too fell off of it for like a year but then I went back to it and fully completed the game. I dunno why I fell of but I think it might have been a feeling of being overwhelmed by all the stuff going on and with a restart I felt more comfortable with what was going on.

It's a pretty good game. Very fun and gave me a lot of inspiration for the feel of the book I'm writing.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I found a book the other day that was someone arguing William Shakespeare didn't write what he wrote but some other noble because said noble experienced events that could vaguely, maybe if you squint, be similar to the plots of what Shakespeare wrote. Ridiculous, but also insulting in its implication that creativity is shackled to lived events and can't be separate from them.

People have been arguing that Shakespeare didn't write his own plays for nearly 200 years now. Who was the author of the book you read arguing for?

 

[Silvanus]

I found a book the other day that was someone arguing William Shakespeare didn't write what he wrote but some other noble because said noble experienced events that could vaguely, maybe if you squint, be similar to the plots of what Shakespeare wrote. Ridiculous, but also insulting in its implication that creativity is shackled to lived events and can't be separate from them.

The lived experience of Richard III was quite similar in some respects with the events of the play Richard III. Does this mean Richard III wrote it???

 

[Specter Von Baren]

People have been arguing that Shakespeare didn't write his own plays for nearly 200 years now. Who was the author of the book you read arguing for?

Mark Anderson, Shakespeare By Another Name, but there was also a weird example in Elizabeth Winkler doing a familiar "I'm just asking questions" schtick with, Shakespeare Was A Woman and Other Heraseys.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Why did the boxes for Nintendo DS games have a slot for inserting GBA games? How many people actually ever put something in there?

 

[BrawlMan]

Why did the boxes for Nintendo DS games have a slot for inserting GBA games?

Because the DS is backwards compatible. They later phased that out halfway into the console's life cycle.

How many people actually ever put something in there?

More than you think; especially early on.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Because the DS is backwards compatible. They later phased that out halfway into the console's life cycle.

I know that, but the boxes are for DS games, why would you put a GBA game in it? Like, say you have the box for Disgaea DS, what purpose is there to putting Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga in that box?

 

[BrawlMan]

I know that, but the boxes are for DS games, why would you put a GBA game in it? Like, say you have the box for Disgaea DS, what purpose is there to putting Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga in that box?

In case those are two games you are focusing on playing at the moment. Not that hard to figure out. It was nice when Nintendo did something like that, and I am not going to fault them for it. That is customer service right there. Plus, plenty of people were still playing GBA when the DS launched and was in its second year. You can't figure that out, then we have nothing left to discuss.

 

[Chimpzy]

Why did the boxes for Nintendo DS games have a slot for inserting GBA games? How many people actually ever put something in there?

I once bought a bunch of shovelware DS games at like 5 for €3 at a clearance sale, then just threw out the carts and covers, and printed new covers. Then used those boxes for my GB/GBC/GBA games since none of them had a box, since I'm not fond of loose carts and like opening the closet to a neat row of games.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Why did the boxes for Nintendo DS games have a slot for inserting GBA games? How many people actually ever put something in there?

Especially early in the console's life cycle, there were a number of DS games that had additional functionality if you put a related GBA game in the console's GBA slot. To give two examples that I can recall:
-WarioWare: Touched! would unlock a bonus vocal song from WarioWare: Twisted! if you had them both.
-Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum were able to import Pokemon from Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red and Leaf Green.

Source: Did.

 

[BrawlMan]

This rap segment is better than 99% of mainstream hip-hop.

​

 

[Drathnoxis]

Especially early in the console's life cycle, there were a number of DS games that had additional functionality if you put a related GBA game in the console's GBA slot. To give two examples that I can recall:
-WarioWare: Touched! would unlock a bonus vocal song from WarioWare: Twisted! if you had them both.
-Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum were able to import Pokemon from Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red and Leaf Green.

Source: Did.

Well I guess that makes some sense. I guess it seems weird to me even keeping DS games in their game box, let alone GBA games because it's a portable system so why would you want to lug around a bunch of big boxes. Right away when I got it bought one of those game cases that held 4 DS games in a space about the size of a GBA cart.

 

[MrCalavera]

Fair warning if you try Torment, you build the wrong way and its gonna get Nintendo hard at several points where the non-avoidable combats come up.

I think as long as you dump points into INT, you should be more or less fine. The game does have lots of old school obtusiveness to it, though, that's true.

Fun fact: Planescape Torment was explicitly inspired by FF7, so I mean technically Evangelion was behind that as well... I'm just joking.

It's the greatest western jrpg for a reason

Man, get out of here! That's as ridiculous as O Brother, Where Art Thou? being inspired by Homer's Odyssey. I can see you're right, but I don't accept that either. Why even bother listing an inspiration when the link between the two works is so tenuous? Like, at least Dragon Ball shared some character names and a couple elements of its setting with Journey to the West for a little while.

Okay, i have to respond: O Brother, Where Art Thou? wasn't inspired by The Oddysey, it's straight up retelling of it. Coens weren't even trying to be subtle with stuff like the sirens.

 

[sXeth]

I think as long as you dump points into INT, you should be more or less fine. The game does have lots of old school obtusiveness to it, though, that's true.

Generally whre you get your backside kicked is the Outlands and then Pillar of Skulls. Where infinitely respawning devils will continously attack you. The only areas where there are random encounters and completely unavoidable. The latter particularly can take away your main tank that can taunt things. Leaving anything other then a beefy fighter Nameless One pretty open to just getting gibbed and instantaneously getting returned to your revival point.

The Revival function does otherwise make so it so bascially all the other non-randoms in the game can just be done by attrition obnoxiously, if need be. And the characters that can true death you are all avoidable fights.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Okay, i have to respond: O Brother, Where Art Thou? wasn't inspired by The Oddysey, it's straight up retelling of it. Coens weren't even trying to be subtle with stuff like the sirens.

A retelling with completely different plot, characters, and setting.

Also, I just came across this quote supposedly from an interview with the creators:

“We didn’t really start with Homer”, Joel explains. “We started with the idea of these three fugitives escaping from the chain gang and Homer suggested itself later when we realised the movie was essentially about the main character trying to get home and having this series of adventures along the way”. At that point they remember this old Greek writer called Homer. “We never actually read it”, Ethan interjects. “But we read the comic book version of The Odyssey and tarted the movie up with the Cyclops, etc.”

https://www.darkhorizons.com/coen-brothers-for-o-brother-where-art-thou/

On Wikipedia too:

Despite the fact that Ethan Coen described the Odyssey as "one of my favorite storyline schemes", neither of the brothers had read the epic, and they were only familiar with its content through adaptations and numerous references to the Odyssey in popular culture.[22] According to the brothers, Tim Blake Nelson (who has a degree in classics from Brown University)[23][24] was the only person on the set who had read the Odyssey.[25]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou?#Production

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

A couple quick ones:

- You can't complain about open world Ubisoft same old formula crap and also lament the lack of Immortals Fenyx sequel. That's a logical contradiction.

- You can't complain about overly busy UI that bully players into online shops and other noise and also have strong opinions about Starfield's simple menu. That's a logical contradiction.

- You can't complain that video games are too long and praise Baldur's Gate 3's humungous game length. That is a logical contradiction.

- You can't complain about the ever-increased emphasis on graphics and tech then turn around and crap on the Series S. That is a logical contradiction.

Obviously not you as in you guys on this forum, I just mean like general gamer discourse stuff out there in the wild, you know.

 

[BrawlMan]

A couple quick ones:

- You can't complain about open world Ubisoft same old formula crap and also lament the lack of Immortals Fenyx sequel. That's a logical contradiction.

- You can't complain about overly busy UI that bully players into online shops and other noise and also have strong opinions about Starfield's simple menu. That's a logical contradiction.

- You can't complain that video games are too long and praise Baldur's Gate 3's humungous game length. That is a logical contradiction.

- You can't complain about the ever-increased emphasis on graphics and tech then turn around and crap on the Series S. That is a logical contradiction.

Obviously not you as in you guys on this forum, I just mean like general gamer discourse stuff out there in the wild, you know.

1. Actually, you can. Hear me out. I didn't care for Immortals, but I can see why people enjoyed it or preferred it over the recent assassin's Creed or Ubisoft titles. This game actually has some life and effort put into it. Yes, it's an open world game that's more breath of the wild in style, but that is more than likely why people enjoyed it. Also the combat was pretty decent from what I heard too. It being a new IP helped Garner interest from people sick and tired of the same Far Cry and Assassin's Creed over and over again. Not to mention, Ubisoft can more than afford a sequel. They just don't want to because they won't give them all the money in the world.
2. Once again, not interested in Starfield, but you have a point. While a simplistic menu, I will take that over overly busy UI that's goading me into fomo and buying crap immediately.
3. This is a case of your mileage may vary, & beauty is the eye of the beholder. I don't care for many long games myself, but if a game is long and good and evenly paced, then it's a non-issue. Everybody's different in this regard, so I can't be in favor of Baldur's Gate 3 or against it in this case. I can only assume the developers of this game know how to do a long game properly compared to the over stuffed games that come from the usual AAA titles. So as we discussed before, some of these games are not that long, and those mainly the game journalists crying because they "don't have enough time" to review all of them. When The simple solution is to either pace your schedule out or hire more people.
4. Actually, people can crap on the Series S. When Microsoft has been doing nothing but boasting about how this is next generation and you need to buy this at a near price of $500, then it's warranted. Especially when the games are barely running better or have their own issues. I know not all the games are like this, but certain major titles had issues at launch on either the X or S, or would perform poorly on the S. I know the Series S is cheaper, but you're still paying out a lot. Especially for a console that is digital only.