I don't like playing most video games. I can respect the effort put into making and playing them, but I am mostly indifferent to or do not care for them.
I don't like playing most video games. I can respect the effort put into making and playing them, but I am mostly indifferent to or do not care for them.
I was being facetious, but I will admit that widespread indifference to games does bother me a bit.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
I had a dream that my copy of Matilda was falling apart
And I was like "Noooo! That was an authentic First American Edition!"
TES is not dumbing down. Morrowind, as much as I loved it, was a terribly designed game. Almost devoid of anything even resembling narrative propulsion, intuitive game design, or compelling characterization. complexity =/= depth
accessibility =/= stupidity
The idea that trying to make games more compelling is equal to dumbing them down (because after all, requiring an engaging experience to, you know, be engaged just makes you stupid) is absolutely ridiculous and one of many reasons gaming is seen as a gated, hostile community.
Overcoming steep learning curves and poor design doesn't make you smart or better at games than other people; it just means you're better at overcoming steep learning curves and poor design. And gaming as an artistic medium is going to be held back until people realize that.
More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
I thought his points were good: that by removing possibilities and lateral thinking and directing the player with an arrow without any real danger of failure or permanent consequence, the game becomes lifeless and mechanical. There are many ways in which things lost their weight, and if anything, that is inauspicious to the goal of the series, which is to put the player in an immersive and open-ended fantasy adventure. He praised the streamlined skill system and eradication of classes because these improved the gameplay.
I don't feel like arguing about video games, though.
Well that simply isn't true. Morrowind felt very lifeless and mechanical because after a certain point the game became so unengaging (due to a mix of bad mechanics, the obstructive design of the world, and a lack of any narrative urgency) that I ended up relying on guides to get me where I needed to go anyway. Additions like quest markers and fast travel made engaging experiences more accessible. Morrowind is simply not a fun game to explore, and the reason for this is threefold:
-the world feels barren and lifeless
-the terrain is too difficult to traverse
-constantly having to go over the same areas because no fast travel
...and the fact that quests constantly force you to stumble around because of a lack of direction makes this even worse. There really isn't that much potential for meaningful and immersive gameplay in Morrowind because it's so unintuitively designed.
And the mere fact that Morrowind allowed you to kill anyone doesn't give it weight or consequence. None of the characters had any personality or even a definite "place" in the world so killing them never meant anything. Compare that to Skyrim, where virtually every character, even the ones who you don't even really interact with, has some sort of personality and killing them feels like it actually has impact.
A snip from a lengthy cut-scene that follows on from the tutorial, which was made more unsettling when I realised that a friend's ex-girlfriend was providing one of the witches' voices.
Kex brings up a good point. I don't think I've heard a character from Morrorwind mentioned by anyone anywhere, either as good or bad. In contrast, there are specific hatedoms and fandoms for characters in Skyrim, and probably characters in Oblivion.
However, I would find it interesting if Elder Scrolls IV and V allowed you to kill every character. Not particularly conducive to efficient gameplay, but interesting nonetheless. Making certain characters invincible is kind of a shorthand for 'we didn't want to go through the work necessary to allow these characters to be killed, because that would require more voice-acting lines and coding and whatnot'. Ideally, every Jarl should be killable, all the way up to the high-king herself, and there should be allowances in that case. Like, if you kill a certain Jarl, then his/her housecarl takes over. And if the entire line of lineage is obliterated, maybe you can take over the town? Just an idea.
One could make a comparison to the Fallout series, where just about everyone is killable (especially in New Vegas), and killing important people can have a visible effect in the world (again, New Vegas does this better).
And honestly the ability to kill anyone is anything but immersive. It creates a sense of detachment. And that's not always a bad thing. It worked well enough in Fable (where even if I was ostensibly good I could get away with killing a few traders to blow off steam) but it is antithetical to what TES is trying to accomplish.
Kex brings up a good point. I don't think I've heard a character from Morrorwind mentioned by anyone anywhere, either as good or bad. In contrast, there are specific hatedoms and fandoms for characters in Skyrim, and probably characters in Oblivion.
However, I would find it interesting if Elder Scrolls IV and V allowed you to kill every character. Not particularly conducive to efficient gameplay, but interesting nonetheless. Making certain characters invincible is kind of a shorthand for 'we didn't want to go through the work necessary to allow these characters to be killed, because that would require more voice-acting lines and coding and whatnot'. Ideally, every Jarl should be killable, all the way up to the high-king herself, and there should be allowances in that case. Like, if you kill a certain Jarl, then his/her housecarl takes over. And if the entire line of lineage is obliterated, maybe you can take over the town? Just an idea.
One could make a comparison to the Fallout series, where just about everyone is killable (especially in New Vegas), and killing important people can have a visible effect in the world (again, New Vegas does this better).
Watch this. Having every character be killable really doesn't work all that well.
actually, I have a challenge: Find me a narrative driven video game with a narrative significantly more compelling and cohesive than A Cupboard Full Of Life.
actually, I have a challenge: Find me a narrative driven video game with a narrative significantly more compelling and cohesive than A Cupboard Full Of Life.
Comments
Now, the sweet, innocent Gall Bladder, on the other hand...
That'll break the Stomach.
Serious Response: Maybe you should lie down and drink some water. Don't punch your stomach.
Kentucky Route Zero
I don't feel like arguing about video games, though.
A snip from a lengthy cut-scene that follows on from the tutorial, which was made more unsettling when I realised that a friend's ex-girlfriend was providing one of the witches' voices.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
The best game is obviously G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Tetris Worlds