feelthedarkness

I wasn't able to unlock the final 2 upgrades during , I had to go out. What happens after that?

Haha, this is perfect.

I think, aside from Frobisher, all the sections are pretty effectively pulpy, though the presentation is novel and elevates it. (not that there is anything wrong with pulp). Ewing's section is LOST TRIBES! PIRATES! ESCAPED SLAVES! MAD POISONER! I can see the 1950s movie poster.

I skipped a lot of the posts, but does the book explicitly say Luisa Rey's story is fictional? I thought it's just a manuscript Cavendish received. The book that got Cavendish in hot water was a true crime autobiography, which sort of set the stage for him being a publisher of bold criminal biographies. I assumed the book was written by Luisa's contact in the environmental group. The podcast seemed really hung up on the fiction aspect, but I didn't think that was explicit, or even get that from it at all.

I moved to SF for awhile with a friend back in the early 2000s, and the apartment hunt was brutal, coming from NY. We found a place near Haight that was pretty perfect and we were in the place filling out the paperwork when a dude walked in and said "I've got $1,000 cash right here if you give me those papers first." (not a deposit) Needless to say, he got the place.

I'm in a similar boat to the OP. Sometimes I look at my steam list and get shocked like "when did I buy Mount & Blade 2, and like EVERY expansion?" I do believe it's important to support the scene.

I turned my non-gaming girlfriend onto the bookcast, and she really liked it. She had read both books already, and had a suggestion. The Manual Found at Saragosa. She noted that you guys might be open to pre-20th century books, and said this one is easily readable, and surprisingly modern for something 200 years old. It's a polish book written in the very late 1700s, and she said it reminded her of Cloud Atlas a bit. It's like 700 pages, so maybe not easy or feasible in a month. From the wiki: The Manuscript Found in Saragossa collects intertwining stories, all of them set in whole or in part in Spain, with a large and colorful cast of Gypsies, thieves, inquisitors, a cabbalist, a geometer, the cabbalist's beautiful sister, two Moorish princesses (Emina and Zubeida), and others that the brave, perhaps foolhardy, Walloon Guard Alphonse van Worden meets, imagines or reads about in the Sierra Morena mountains of 18th-century Spain while en route to Madrid. Recounted to the narrator over the course of sixty-six days, the novel's stories quickly overshadow van Worden's frame story. The bulk of the stories revolve around the Gypsy chief Avadoro, whose story becomes a frame story itself. Eventually the narrative focus moves again toward van Worden's frame story and a conspiracy involving an underground — or perhaps entirely hallucinated — Muslim society, revealing the connections and correspondences between the hundred or so stories told over the novel's sixty-six days.

While probably already known to the average Bidenophile, this might be my favorite recent story: Approaching a table of men he knew to be Greek, the VP said, “I’m Joe Bidenopoulos.” http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/08/im-joe-bidenopoulos-133992.html

One of the qualities that makes games with audio diaries compelling is that they can be sort of mysterious, and not on the same chronology as the player, such as finding a dead body in room one, and learning their story and beginnings by room 30. On it's face an audio diary is kind of cynical and bare bones! The obvious issue with non-linear play in many types of games would be boning a sense of character progression, unless you were slipping through time or something.

Here is something I'll back hard. I like all the Obsidian games, flaws and all. The quirks are just marks of ambition! I think MotB is maybe the next best D&D to Planescape. As Thumbs fans, we know all about "morality" systems in games, and I think Mask does a really nice job of present choices, and letting differentiate between similar ones with differing reasons. Yes (truthfully) or Yes (Lying). DS3 is the one I like least, though I hope they use the engine, modified for this, because it's a beautiful update of their usual fare. Fun fact! I found Idle Thumbs because I saw a post on the Obsidian forums that this podcast was saying interesting things about AP.

I somewhat compulsively finish everything. The only game I really remember just tossing away was Xenosaga, which was also the last time I played a JRPG. I felt literally embarrassed watching it, like I was reading some 14 year old's diary.

I've really enjoyed this so far. It's been a while since I've played an MMO that presents so bafflingly huge, with so little hand holding. I like their iteration of the Warhammer Public Quest/Event thing, and how it can transition players from solo to impromptu groups without any work or chatter. You can feel comfortable starting a difficult event because players join in right away. It seem like they learned a lot of the right lessons from other games, quick travel anytime, some form of bank & mail access anywhere. Those streamlining elements don't make things feel trivial though.

That fight around the desert stranded boats is probably one of the 2 most difficult sections, and I was stuck on that for a while. When I finally got through it the first time I was all wired and did something I immediately regretted, and it sort of hit how smart it was. Also, the walls are positioned the wrong way for the enemies approach which works to make it more stressful.

To tie this to the "show don't tell" conversation, I think he does "show" you. Tony is unreliable. He's fuzzed out, and re-written parts of his past to paint himself as a victim, rather than an antagonist. There is no reason to believe that even his revelations are complete. I think it's a fair assumption that Tony Not to get too bogged down strictly in the narrative, since I don't think that is the most important thing to take away. In general, Sense hit me like a ton of bricks, though I'd like to think I'm already aware of the situations in which I was the villain.

Also, in Omen News, you've probably seen this but all Ultima games are on sale on GoG. 2.99. i might have to suck it up and try to slog through U9.

It's hard not to be bummed when you see things like the response to Tropes. A unanimous and brutally ignorant chorus of the most rancid shit a man could say yelled at a woman, to "explain" to her that there is no problem. I don't know how the people involved can't see the shit they say in the context, like when you're the 1,000th rape or death threat maker. That's the world where "girlfriend mode" lands. Maybe the actual gearbox dude has an actual girlfriend that isn't great at Video games, and he meant no harm (the actual features are neat) but to many women, it's just the Xth hideous reminder of what people around you think, and feel comfortable to say. I try to see things like there are many thousands of people who supported her plan, but I also recognize the luxury being able to see that, not being on the business end of the shitstorm.

I think the criticism is not so literally about their game, but the modern warfare military FPS glorification. I don't think they want people to avoid their game as much as ask people to look at their desires. When the Spec Ops bumper says "do you feel like a hero." They're not just talking about the character, but the player's motivation to be the war hero.

Yeah! Maybe the only one, (along with part 2 which is the same thing, but more). It's the easiest to digest. 1-5 are really artifacts of their time. If you can get into Wasteland or something, you could get into 4&5, but it takes a patient person. 8 & 9 are serious duds. There is a Mod called EXULT that will be mandatory to get it running on modern machines.

I only heard the first 20 minutes or so before I got to work, but as I'm sure people have said, you should really check out some ultimas. 7 and 7 part 2 are probably my favorite games of all time, and it might be hard to put it in place, but the experience of every person in the game's world having a unique identity, and schedule, where you could move every item in the world light enough for a human to move blew my 16 year old mind to pieces. People had different tolerances for your nonsense too, like you could put somebody's chair on their bed, and they'd not care, or get really mad. The game's story also does a great job as both a criticism of their publisher, and western religion. There was an evil wizard villain, but his main influence was corrupting the values the people lived by with a false religion. That was one of the cooler parts of Ultima in general. U7 was sort of a callback to 4, who's plot was "the people of this land are safe, but spiritually sick, provide them an ethos." Maybe it's the bigotry of low expectations, but for a game that is amazing. This also makes the casual facebook free to play mmo such a conceptual dud. Because If there is one thing that says "homage to a game about developing humility and charity", it's social networking.

The problem with the Wii/Kinect is that for its ideal functionality, there is a requirement of physicality beyond "push A, swivel mouse" which Devs can't really standardize. There isn't enough resource to make a good sword fighting game. You can't reasonably expect players to have the kind of fine motor control you'd need. I could see VR headsets enhancing the things that already work. The looking at the map in you lap in FarCry 2 to realize you're driving off the road, or just looking around an immersive environment in Fallout3/NV, or Skyrim.

I'm generally in agreement with the naysayers, especially regard things like the Wii, Kinect, etc., but I can't help but be a little excited by the idea of trying to crane my neck around a rotted barn in STALKER or something, with the mouse/gun controls decoupled from from where i was looking. I could see it being panic inducing.

Dramatic Irony: Lemmings? QWOP? (I mean, I KNOW what running looks like. I have no idea what he's doing.) I think in games it would be very challenging, as it could be perceived as frustrating design. I can't help but think of Police Quest 3, when you need to find the pattern in the crimes and it's obviously a pentagram, and I plotted a star over and over trying to make him see it. Obviously that was a dumb buggy game, but I could see that being the experience. Achievements: I mostly agree with you dudes. If they have to be tied to the narrative I can't believe they don't time the popups to be on a 3 second delay from actual moments. I think they can be useful as gentle gameplay nudges, and I've heard it can be frustrating when people won't play your game right. I often at achievements to see if I haven't tried something.

I haven't gotten too far into it, but the party line on it is that it doesn't get good until after "The Cave." (whatever that means). I think fighting to understand the system was what first made me love STALKER. It DARES you to enjoy it.

I bought this after that great Bissell article. This is the first cover based shooter I've played since Gears of War 1, and I've definitely been enjoying it. With shorter, modern games I find they're a lot more fun on the harder difficulty levels. It helps build a sort of feedback to the sense of urgency their trying to builds. Also, I find I'm more likely to just dismiss something if I'm sleepwalking through it.

I think clear skies is a little unfairly maligned. The Complete mod fixes a lot of the problems. The one sort of issue, is the bandit respawn around the dump is brutal, your pals can't hold it, and you can't fast travel around it until much later on. Also, I don't know how you could be into STALKER and not know about this, but just in case. The People's Soup mod: 30+ Locations: Cordon, Swamp, Garbage, Dark Valley, Forgotten Wood, Not Reconnoitered Territory, SRI Agroprom, Bar, Wild Territory, Yantar, Military Warehouses, Radar, Pripyat, CHAES1, CHAES2, Sarcophagus, ATP, Red Forest, Limansk, Hospital, Old Village, Generators, Underground Research Agroprom, Lab x18, X16, X10, Varlab, Cave, Labyrinth, Merv, Zaton. - 14+ Mutants: jerboa, rat, leech, marsh bloodsucker, a chimera, elktrohimera, controller, kink, poltergeist, fire poltergeist, byurer. - 13 Factions: Loners, Military, Mercenaries, Bandits, Environmentalists, Duty, Last Day, Freedom, representatives of the "C"-consciousness, Monolith, Clear Sky, Hunters, Avengers + dealers and repairers (even rumors of the presence in the Zone of women). - Huge number of weapons, from fists and knives to heavy machine guns and grenade launchers. - Great variety of armor, with the possibility of upgrading. - 5 types of detectors. 15+ anomalies. 4 mobile teleport devices. 45+ artifacts. - Huge number of quests (200 to 300 hours of content). Unique quest caches. People Soljanka - this is not a game, it is - virtual reality. Here you are guaranteed a different experience with every game. Here everyone can find something to their liking."