The problem for me is usually time. I do usually finish story-based games, but it takes a while and I have a huge backlog of games still waiting to be played. Basically, I have more money to buy games than time to play them. This is exactly the opposite situation from when I was a kid.
I don't mind games being short for this reason. I'd rather play a short but sweet game rather than one that takes 100 hours but has lots of "filler" to artificially extend playtime. When I say "finish" I generally mean finishing a playthrough of the story, not getting all the achievements or unlocks or seeing every ending. I think those are a good way to extend playtime for those who want to get every cent's worth of gameplay without making the story too long.
For reference, I play mostly (J)RPGs, survival horror, turn-based strategy/sim games, etc. Mainstream AAA games have really not held much interest for me lately, but that's another discussion for another time.
I did too. I think most of the people that "don't like it" probably didn't play it for more than a few hours, if at all.
It's linear, yes, but citing that as a criticism in a JRPG is akin to citing "too much punching and kicking" as bad in a fighting game. It really boggles my mind that people are saying a JRPG is bad because it's too linear. JRPGs are, by and large, very linear. In fact, I would say extreme linearity is a defining characteristic of a traditional JRPG. Most admittedly have more of a perception of openness than FF13 did, but that doesn't change how linear they actually are. To me, being able to walk around and explore a static world and find optional treasures and do some mini-games doesn't make a game less linear, it just means it has distractions from how linear it is. That said, the game opens up a lot later on. Gran Pulse is a huge open area with all sorts of side-things to do, most of which I didn't bother with when I played it.
Another thing is that FF games have changed drastically in every incarnation. Some people seem to want FF7 over and over again for some reason.
I played through FF13 when it came out and enjoyed every minute of it, and I should point out that I've been playing JRPGs since Dragon Warrior/Quest 1 and FF1, lest I be accused of being a neophyte. I very much liked the story, the characters, and the battle system, and to me, those are the things that make a JRPG, not mini-games, optional dungeons, and getting lost in a static, mostly empty world full of random encounters.
In short, I think many people went in with a preconceived idea of it being bad rather than just playing it and enjoying it for what it is. FF13's existence doesn't nullify FF7 or whichever installment you prefer. If you want that experience, go back and play that game. FF13 is something different (like each game is), and it's a perfectly good game for it.
Piracy is never one's "only choice". One can always do without the product, and that's what I do when I can't afford a game I want. No one is entitled to games, whether they can afford it or not.
...and not all games are designed for everyone. If you don't like the top-down view, there are hundreds of FPS games out there for you. Play one of them instead of trying to turn Alien Swarm into something it's not.
I agree. Bashing Vista is a silly bandwagon. I've been using it since shortly after release (on my main gaming machine) and as far as Microsoft OSes go, it's my favorite so far.
Vista is definitely better in most ways than XP. But then, I never liked XP. I uninstalled it to install 2000 before.
Good point--the worst are people who are always wrong, but think they're always right.
Everyone is ignorant about something--as long as you accept and acknowledge that, it's alright. It's when people think they're experts on something that they obviously know nothing about that annoys me to no end.
This story has really put me off the idea of ever bothering with any subscription based multilayer game, if I like it too much and play it too often they will kick me off, no refund for subscriptions to date, no payment for the time lost on now evaporated virtual goods.
Huh? Either you didn't read the article or your tin-foil hat is on too tight. You really think people got kicked for playing too much? They got kicked for breaking the game rules. The reason that 30% of the CPU load was removed was because the farmers and ISK-sellers run macros that keep their character mining or doing missions non-stop while they're not at the keyboard, which is against the rules.
If they just randomly kicked people they thought played too much, Eve would not be around today, as that's a very poor business model.
I probably wouldn't have kept paying to play because you can't stop or your character is gone... No replay value in other words.
This is wrong. You can suspend your account for years and come back and your character will still be there. Your character even used to continue training the current skill during that time, but that was recently fixed.
That's the worst analogy I've ever seen. Ebayers pay rl cash mostly for the time spent on someone procuring ingame currency or character levels/stats, just the same as someone pays a mechanic for his time & knowledge to work on their car.
..and that's the worst analogy I've ever seen.
Eve is not a traditional MMO. The almost entirely player run player economy is a huge part of the game. People doing missions or mining 23 hours a day affects everyone by lowering the value of minerals, salvage, T1 items, and other things. That makes it harder for legitimate miners or manufacturers to make a profit.
It's not transferring the money that's the problem--there is a legal way to indirectly buy ISK in-game. The problem is how these bot farmers get the money and how that negatively affects the economy.
Yes, and obviously people doing that won't be banned.
Straight up selling ISK is against the rules, since your only legal options are to indirectly buy ISK or to trade ISK for playtime. Selling ISK for real-world money is not allowed.
The current common modern method of slaughter is already pretty painless, I think. They use a pneumatic air gun that drives a captive metal rod very hard on their head, knocking them out or killing them instantly and then their throats are slit so they bleed out while unconscious. The method was designed to be humane and painless. The animals behind are prevented from seeing the act and causing them distress, also.
Major exceptions are ritual slaughter methods used in Islam and some other religions. In the aforementioned religion's ritual slaughter method, animals just have their throats slit while fully conscious (there is also chanting or something involved).
And my spell-checker flags "misspelt" and misspelled.
I'm also from Texas, and "donut" and "doughnut" are synonymous. Then there are "cake donuts", which are the spongy, firm kind. I agree that cake donuts are far inferior to real donuts.
"Donut" was most likely used in advertising by a business selling them and probably stuck.
And as far as I can tell donuts were invented or at least popularized in the US, so if that's true, all donuts are an American import.
He didn't become a popular director for directing Spider-Man. He became a popular director for directing horror movies--specifically the Evil Dead Trilogy.
Spider-Man just made him popular in the mainstream.
Same thing with Peter Jackson. I knew his as a director of horror movies long before he directed Lord of the Rings.
there comes a point when Linux should simply be called Linux and not GNU/Linux.
You mean an infinite spectrum of points? The only time Linux should be called GNU/Linux is if GNU were to make its own distribution of Linux, in which case they could call it whatever they wanted.
Why don't the FSF make their own distro of Linux? Isn't GNU supposed to be an OS? Why must Stallman try to hijack all distros of Linux and try to take credit for most of it just because they use GNU software?
This GNU/Linux BS is the main reason I'm seriously considering switching to FreeBSD--to get away from the zealotry. I just want a free, open-source unix-like OS, not a intolerant religious ideology.
I agree. I think this will eventually be the death of the used-game market: most if not all games will likely be downloadable eventually. It's already like this on the PC with Steam. As console hard drives get bigger, this will become more common.
All the Elder Scrolls have levels. You just gain levels by improving skills.
It's been years since I've played Arena, so my memory on it is vague, but Daggerfall definitely had the hybrid skill/level-based system that the Elder Scrolls series is known for.
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The problem for me is usually time. I do usually finish story-based games, but it takes a while and I have a huge backlog of games still waiting to be played. Basically, I have more money to buy games than time to play them. This is exactly the opposite situation from when I was a kid.
I don't mind games being short for this reason. I'd rather play a short but sweet game rather than one that takes 100 hours but has lots of "filler" to artificially extend playtime. When I say "finish" I generally mean finishing a playthrough of the story, not getting all the achievements or unlocks or seeing every ending. I think those are a good way to extend playtime for those who want to get every cent's worth of gameplay without making the story too long.
For reference, I play mostly (J)RPGs, survival horror, turn-based strategy/sim games, etc. Mainstream AAA games have really not held much interest for me lately, but that's another discussion for another time.
I did too. I think most of the people that "don't like it" probably didn't play it for more than a few hours, if at all.
It's linear, yes, but citing that as a criticism in a JRPG is akin to citing "too much punching and kicking" as bad in a fighting game. It really boggles my mind that people are saying a JRPG is bad because it's too linear. JRPGs are, by and large, very linear. In fact, I would say extreme linearity is a defining characteristic of a traditional JRPG. Most admittedly have more of a perception of openness than FF13 did, but that doesn't change how linear they actually are. To me, being able to walk around and explore a static world and find optional treasures and do some mini-games doesn't make a game less linear, it just means it has distractions from how linear it is. That said, the game opens up a lot later on. Gran Pulse is a huge open area with all sorts of side-things to do, most of which I didn't bother with when I played it.
Another thing is that FF games have changed drastically in every incarnation. Some people seem to want FF7 over and over again for some reason.
I played through FF13 when it came out and enjoyed every minute of it, and I should point out that I've been playing JRPGs since Dragon Warrior/Quest 1 and FF1, lest I be accused of being a neophyte. I very much liked the story, the characters, and the battle system, and to me, those are the things that make a JRPG, not mini-games, optional dungeons, and getting lost in a static, mostly empty world full of random encounters.
In short, I think many people went in with a preconceived idea of it being bad rather than just playing it and enjoying it for what it is. FF13's existence doesn't nullify FF7 or whichever installment you prefer. If you want that experience, go back and play that game. FF13 is something different (like each game is), and it's a perfectly good game for it.
The super muscular body-building look being seen as "gay" isn't that bizarre to me. I certainly don't see it as a ideal of masculinity.
Piracy is never one's "only choice". One can always do without the product, and that's what I do when I can't afford a game I want. No one is entitled to games, whether they can afford it or not.
...and not all games are designed for everyone. If you don't like the top-down view, there are hundreds of FPS games out there for you. Play one of them instead of trying to turn Alien Swarm into something it's not.
I agree. Bashing Vista is a silly bandwagon. I've been using it since shortly after release (on my main gaming machine) and as far as Microsoft OSes go, it's my favorite so far.
Vista is definitely better in most ways than XP. But then, I never liked XP. I uninstalled it to install 2000 before.
Good point--the worst are people who are always wrong, but think they're always right.
Everyone is ignorant about something--as long as you accept and acknowledge that, it's alright. It's when people think they're experts on something that they obviously know nothing about that annoys me to no end.
This story has really put me off the idea of ever bothering with any subscription based multilayer game, if I like it too much and play it too often they will kick me off, no refund for subscriptions to date, no payment for the time lost on now evaporated virtual goods.
Huh? Either you didn't read the article or your tin-foil hat is on too tight. You really think people got kicked for playing too much? They got kicked for breaking the game rules. The reason that 30% of the CPU load was removed was because the farmers and ISK-sellers run macros that keep their character mining or doing missions non-stop while they're not at the keyboard, which is against the rules.
If they just randomly kicked people they thought played too much, Eve would not be around today, as that's a very poor business model.
I probably wouldn't have kept paying to play because you can't stop or your character is gone... No replay value in other words.
This is wrong. You can suspend your account for years and come back and your character will still be there. Your character even used to continue training the current skill during that time, but that was recently fixed.
That's the worst analogy I've ever seen. Ebayers pay rl cash mostly for the time spent on someone procuring ingame currency or character levels/stats, just the same as someone pays a mechanic for his time & knowledge to work on their car.
..and that's the worst analogy I've ever seen.
Eve is not a traditional MMO. The almost entirely player run player economy is a huge part of the game. People doing missions or mining 23 hours a day affects everyone by lowering the value of minerals, salvage, T1 items, and other things. That makes it harder for legitimate miners or manufacturers to make a profit.
It's not transferring the money that's the problem--there is a legal way to indirectly buy ISK in-game. The problem is how these bot farmers get the money and how that negatively affects the economy.
Yes, and obviously people doing that won't be banned.
Straight up selling ISK is against the rules, since your only legal options are to indirectly buy ISK or to trade ISK for playtime. Selling ISK for real-world money is not allowed.
The current common modern method of slaughter is already pretty painless, I think. They use a pneumatic air gun that drives a captive metal rod very hard on their head, knocking them out or killing them instantly and then their throats are slit so they bleed out while unconscious. The method was designed to be humane and painless. The animals behind are prevented from seeing the act and causing them distress, also.
Major exceptions are ritual slaughter methods used in Islam and some other religions. In the aforementioned religion's ritual slaughter method, animals just have their throats slit while fully conscious (there is also chanting or something involved).
Why force all these miserable fast food workers to slave away all day when we can make fast food workers that enjoy it?
I'm so glad I'm a Beta.
Some of us take good care of our discs, so I haven't, no. Keeping them only in the device or their case works wonders.
The only scratched discs I own are those I bought used.
And my spell-checker flags "misspelt" and misspelled.
I'm also from Texas, and "donut" and "doughnut" are synonymous. Then there are "cake donuts", which are the spongy, firm kind. I agree that cake donuts are far inferior to real donuts.
"Donut" was most likely used in advertising by a business selling them and probably stuck.
And as far as I can tell donuts were invented or at least popularized in the US, so if that's true, all donuts are an American import.
Silent Hill was quite good, IMO, and I'm saying that as a hardcore Silent Hill fan.
I'm not sure how people who had never played the games liked it, but, as a fan, it was much better than I expected.
He didn't become a popular director for directing Spider-Man. He became a popular director for directing horror movies--specifically the Evil Dead Trilogy.
Spider-Man just made him popular in the mainstream.
Same thing with Peter Jackson. I knew his as a director of horror movies long before he directed Lord of the Rings.
Only if room descriptions are like:
"u r in a maze of twizty pssges all aleik lol"
Thanks for further clarifying the difference between "open source" and "The One True Free Software--Stallman Be Praised!".
Capitalism is a form of government, which is a societal regulatory system.
Capitalism is not a form of government--it is an economic system. The two may or may not be connected, but they're not the same thing.
there comes a point when Linux should simply be called Linux and not GNU/Linux.
You mean an infinite spectrum of points? The only time Linux should be called GNU/Linux is if GNU were to make its own distribution of Linux, in which case they could call it whatever they wanted.
Why don't the FSF make their own distro of Linux? Isn't GNU supposed to be an OS? Why must Stallman try to hijack all distros of Linux and try to take credit for most of it just because they use GNU software?
This GNU/Linux BS is the main reason I'm seriously considering switching to FreeBSD--to get away from the zealotry. I just want a free, open-source unix-like OS, not a intolerant religious ideology.
I agree. I think this will eventually be the death of the used-game market: most if not all games will likely be downloadable eventually. It's already like this on the PC with Steam. As console hard drives get bigger, this will become more common.
All the Elder Scrolls have levels. You just gain levels by improving skills.
It's been years since I've played Arena, so my memory on it is vague, but Daggerfall definitely had the hybrid skill/level-based system that the Elder Scrolls series is known for.
Wiimote is still significantly worse than using a mouse, mostly due to the difficulty of turning in shooters.
You haven't played Metroid Prime 3, have you?
Most FPS games on the Wii have bad controls, but MP3 shows that it can be done very well.
Oblivion and its predecessor Morrowind also did that
Are you aware there were two games in that series before Morrowind?
I believe what you meant was "The Elder Scrolls series".