I have always been fond of the atmospheric cover art for Wasteland and the naive-yet-groovy picture on the Tass Times in Tone Town box as well as the "artist's rendition" of an LCP on the little cassette case for Little Computer People.
(I'm too lazy to google for links. Be my guest and explore the Internet yourself!)
I will give you a link to my absolute favourite, tough. I love the way it all looks completely different from what I'd pictured in my head, especially the house. I guess Infocom's motto still holds true...
David Ogden Stiers's voice-overs for Icewind Dale are the best voice acting I have ever heard in a game. I can listen to the opening segment time after time and never get bored. Or the second intro: "And so you continue your journey... Alone." A lesser actor would have hammed up that line, but Stiers delivers it with understated grace and musicality.
The guy can do amazing things with his intonation. It came as no surprise to me that he's an accomplished orchestra conductor as well.
He's also in lots of Woody Allen films.
Obligatory joke answer: Marvin Mindbender in the C64 game Impossible mission.
> can you think of any gay (or bisesual, > transexual etc.) characters in TV or movies who > you think were just the same as the straight > characters except that they were gay?
> you gain empowerment through getting better at > playing the game itself
That, to me, is not role-playing.
I'm a pudgy weakling with slow reflexes in real life, but in a true RPG I should still be able to play a rock-hard barbarian fighter with killer reflexes. The fact that my mousing skills suck should be irrelevant if he has a DEX of 17. (This is one of the reasons I prefer turn-based games.)
Along the same lines cousin Bill, with his IQ of 98, should be able to play a learned mage or fantastically talented bard with lore out the wazoo. It's all about pretending.
The remark about spells that let you commune with spirits was made by Chris Avellone, lead designer of Planescape: Torment. The guy clearly tries to make games he would love to play himself.
> I mean, is "Will firing up the game console > ever be considered a sacred act?" supposed to > be funny? It's positively moronic.
Not necessarily. In many religions, perhaps most notably Zen Buddhism (which, incidentally, has no concept of a god) even the smallest everyday act becomes something sacred.
As a Christian, you are probably inclined to think of this life as a kind of dress rehearsal for the next. In other religions, including for example Chassidic Judaism, this life is where we find or (re-)constitute God.
Try taking off your blinkers and start recognizing the sacredness and uniqueness of every flower you smell, every dish you wash and every shambler you frag.
"There have been too many games," said Bagley, "Where the devil always wins or is one of the strongest characters."
But surely if this guy is a Christian, he will have to admit that according to his religion, the devil is one of the strongest "characters"? I mean, he's possibly the second-strongest being in the universe, second only to the Big Guy in the Sky.
I have nothing but contempt for these pick-and-mix religious types.
(Although the thought of fighting for the soul of a "troubled teenager" kinda turns me on...)
My favourite game ending is that of Monkey Island 2, where everything that has gone on before (including the first adventure) is put in a new light.
I have always despised the concept of end bosses. Why, for example, did a beautifully balanced game like The New Zealand Story have such monstrous bosses? They were so hard to beat that you were bound to lose that wonderful, rela-axed feeling playing that game gave you when faced with that floating walrus.
In RPGs I find the concept of end bosses even more despicable. Worst example? The last third or so of Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Baal, where the designers have obiously run out of ideas (and the overly combat-oriented rule system has been taken to its limits) and the game just ends up throwing countless nearly-unbeatable, often regenerating enemies at you. Where's the roleplaying in that?
(And speaking of disappointing endings: the 'good' ending is identical to the 'evil' one, only with a different voice-over!)
Planescape: Torment got all of that just right: here was a game you could finish without fighting the end boss at all, if that didn't fit your character. I wish they'd make a sequel to that one...
> After almost two years in the planning and > focus group stages, the company's Board of > Directors and executives decided on PalmOne.
I can only chime in with previous posters and express my utter, utter bafflement at this. I can't believe how some people earn their money! (I use the word 'earn' very loosely.)
When is this marketroid-driven insanity going to stop?
> Middle-earth is not just an alternate history > of Britian - it's a world of its own - > something that is a distillation of all of our > myths and cultures. There is definitely > something Egyptian about the careful > preparation of the hobbit bodies.
See, that is just the kind of cultural-relativist drivel which, taken to its extreme, will spell the end of all critical thought in Western society.
I am all for artistic license, believe in cultural synergy and admire the guy's artwork, but claiming to recognize anything Egyptian in Tolkien's resoundingly occidental barrow downs is the effluvium of a mind untethered by any historical knowledge or critical literary faculty. Discerning readers will appreciate the difference between 'This reminded me of Egyptian burial rituals' and 'There is definitely something Egyptian about this'.
In very general terms, in LotR 'west' means good and 'east' means bad. I am not saying that Tolkien was a racist, but he was certainly a cultural supremacist and quite clear about exactly which cultures he was idealizing/commemorating.
Maybe I'm overreacting to the poor choice of words of someone whose main competence is in the field of the visual arts, but I wish people would stop equating cultural conventions based on superficial similarities. Pace Oscar Wilde, aesthetics are not the same as ethics.
Slashdot Mirror
It's a nice idea, but the site is horribly designed. Yuck.
I have always been fond of the atmospheric cover art for Wasteland and the naive-yet-groovy picture on the Tass Times in Tone Town box as well as the "artist's rendition" of an LCP on the little cassette case for Little Computer People.
(I'm too lazy to google for links. Be my guest and explore the Internet yourself!)
I will give you a link to my absolute favourite, tough. I love the way it all looks completely different from what I'd pictured in my head, especially the house. I guess Infocom's motto still holds true...
David Ogden Stiers's voice-overs for Icewind Dale are the best voice acting I have ever heard in a game. I can listen to the opening segment time after time and never get bored. Or the second intro: "And so you continue your journey... Alone." A lesser actor would have hammed up that line, but Stiers delivers it with understated grace and musicality.
The guy can do amazing things with his intonation. It came as no surprise to me that he's an accomplished orchestra conductor as well.
He's also in lots of Woody Allen films.
Obligatory joke answer: Marvin Mindbender in the C64 game Impossible mission.
> can you think of any gay (or bisesual,
> transexual etc.) characters in TV or movies who
> you think were just the same as the straight
> characters except that they were gay?
Yes I can: Roseanne's boss, Leon.
> Aren't the Infocom games written in their own language for a virtual machine?
They were written for the so-called Z-machine. Many Z-machine games are written in Inform nowadays.
> Can't attack dead things, eh?
Something tells me you haven't played many fantasy RPGs...
Look out! There's a lich behind you!
That game was actually called Impossible Mission. But you're right: it was great!
> you gain empowerment through getting better at
> playing the game itself
That, to me, is not role-playing.
I'm a pudgy weakling with slow reflexes in real life, but in a true RPG I should still be able to play a rock-hard barbarian fighter with killer reflexes. The fact that my mousing skills suck should be irrelevant if he has a DEX of 17. (This is one of the reasons I prefer turn-based games.)
Along the same lines cousin Bill, with his IQ of 98, should be able to play a learned mage or fantastically talented bard with lore out the wazoo. It's all about pretending.
The remark about spells that let you commune with spirits was made by Chris Avellone, lead designer of Planescape: Torment. The guy clearly tries to make games he would love to play himself.
Oh, what I'd give for another Planescape CRPG!
I think they should have called themselves "Shareman Networks".
Really? So you get a link to a Kazaa Lite download when you google from where you live? 'Cause I sure don't.
> I mean, is "Will firing up the game console
> ever be considered a sacred act?" supposed to
> be funny? It's positively moronic.
Not necessarily. In many religions, perhaps most notably Zen Buddhism (which, incidentally, has no concept of a god) even the smallest everyday act becomes something sacred.
As a Christian, you are probably inclined to think of this life as a kind of dress rehearsal for the next. In other religions, including for example Chassidic Judaism, this life is where we find or (re-)constitute God.
Try taking off your blinkers and start recognizing the sacredness and uniqueness of every flower you smell, every dish you wash and every shambler you frag.
"There have been too many games," said Bagley, "Where the devil always wins or is one of the strongest characters."
But surely if this guy is a Christian, he will have to admit that according to his religion, the devil is one of the strongest "characters"? I mean, he's possibly the second-strongest being in the universe, second only to the Big Guy in the Sky.
I have nothing but contempt for these pick-and-mix religious types.
(Although the thought of fighting for the soul of a "troubled teenager" kinda turns me on...)
My favourite game ending is that of Monkey Island 2, where everything that has gone on before (including the first adventure) is put in a new light.
I have always despised the concept of end bosses. Why, for example, did a beautifully balanced game like The New Zealand Story have such monstrous bosses? They were so hard to beat that you were bound to lose that wonderful, rela-axed feeling playing that game gave you when faced with that floating walrus.
In RPGs I find the concept of end bosses even more despicable. Worst example? The last third or so of Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Baal, where the designers have obiously run out of ideas (and the overly combat-oriented rule system has been taken to its limits) and the game just ends up throwing countless nearly-unbeatable, often regenerating enemies at you. Where's the roleplaying in that?
(And speaking of disappointing endings: the 'good' ending is identical to the 'evil' one, only with a different voice-over!)
Planescape: Torment got all of that just right: here was a game you could finish without fighting the end boss at all, if that didn't fit your character. I wish they'd make a sequel to that one...
> After almost two years in the planning and
> focus group stages, the company's Board of
> Directors and executives decided on PalmOne.
I can only chime in with previous posters and express my utter, utter bafflement at this. I can't believe how some people earn their money! (I use the word 'earn' very loosely.)
When is this marketroid-driven insanity going to stop?
> He said the only possessions that he could
> salvage from his home were "just the clothes on
> my back."
Oh my God! His DAoC artefacts got burned as well? Geeze, these RPGs are getting realistic... I'm fireproofing my +4 Mjollnir!
> but at least the Germans can laugh...
Sure! If they're homophobic bastards who know far less about gay sex than they think, that is.
Indeed. It's an old joke in Dutch to say "I'm expecting a fax from Darmstadt" to excuse yourself to go for a shit...
From the article (emphasis mine):
> Middle-earth is not just an alternate history
> of Britian - it's a world of its own -
> something that is a distillation of all of our
> myths and cultures. There is definitely
> something Egyptian about the careful
> preparation of the hobbit bodies.
See, that is just the kind of cultural-relativist drivel which, taken to its extreme, will spell the end of all critical thought in Western society.
I am all for artistic license, believe in cultural synergy and admire the guy's artwork, but claiming to recognize anything Egyptian in Tolkien's resoundingly occidental barrow downs is the effluvium of a mind untethered by any historical knowledge or critical literary faculty. Discerning readers will appreciate the difference between 'This reminded me of Egyptian burial rituals' and 'There is definitely something Egyptian about this'.
In very general terms, in LotR 'west' means good and 'east' means bad. I am not saying that Tolkien was a racist, but he was certainly a cultural supremacist and quite clear about exactly which cultures he was idealizing/commemorating.
Maybe I'm overreacting to the poor choice of words of someone whose main competence is in the field of the visual arts, but I wish people would stop equating cultural conventions based on superficial similarities. Pace Oscar Wilde, aesthetics are not the same as ethics.
Are you joking, or are you perhaps confusing Spike Jones and Spike Jonze? Or both?
This may be Ian McKellen's one shot to become a musical star. I can hear him now: "Woops, I did it again - I 0wn3riz3d the balrog!"
> Is Troy McClure available?
:(
Sadly, no. Phil Hartman, who did Troy's voice, was shot to death by his wife in 1998.
"I'm a mindless slug, you insensitive clod!"
So does this mean no more spam from qwerty1234@somedomain.kr?
You, Sir, are irony-deficient!