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Post by Ex on Mar 28, 2019 13:30:04 GMT -5
And now for something completely different...
1. What is your earliest memory of playing a video game?
2. Is there a gaming genre/format from the past you wish was still prevalent today?
3. What do you do to free up time for playing video games?
4. Do you think gaming has gotten better or worse in the past ten years? Do you think video games have changed in any significant ways in the past ten years?5. What does it take to make a game worth purchasing for you?
6. What is special about video gaming to you, versus other entertainment media?
7. If you could only play games from one particular decade, what decade would you choose, and why?
8. Do you have a particular gaming hang-up(s) that will make you cold-drop a game?
9. Do you have any personal regrets about video gaming?
10. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only play three games, what would they be?
11. If you could snap your fingers and make any game magically exist, what would that game be?
12. If video games had never existed, what other hobby would you have become hardcore about instead?
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I'll be back later with my own answers.
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Post by 20thcenturygamer on Mar 28, 2019 14:07:43 GMT -5
1. No idea. I gravitated toward arcade games as soon as I could stand upright to play them, probably age three (1981) or so. I don't remember a time before games or a specific first game. 2. Classic auto-scrolling shooters. 3. I don't do anything specific to "free up" time. I usually spend 1-2 evenings a week on it and maybe a weekend afternoon every now and again. It's not much, but it's typically enough to tackle a short (action) game per week or a longer (RPG) game in two. 4. Vastly worse. So much so that I believe my PS3 will remain the most recent piece of gaming hardware I own indefinitely. I have enough 8 and 16-bit backlog to last me the rest of my life and less than zero interest in anything else. I guess the username sort of gives it away. 5. I have a multiple flash cart setup (six and counting), so my game purchasing days are likely behind me now. My rule in the past, however, was to only bother owning games worth playing and to pay no more than $50 for a good one and $100 for a truly great one. 6. The active aspect. Exploring imaginary worlds and conquering challenges. That triumph-induced endorphin rush doesn't really kick in when I finish a movie or a book, even a great one. 7. The 80s. Memory limitations meant that successful games generally had to live up to the old maxim "a moment to learn, a lifetime to master." I've always respected doing a lot with a little over doing a lot with a lot. 8-bit graphics were also in an artistic sweet spot where they were able to exhibit personality while still leaving ample room for the player's imagination and chiptunes gave the gaming medium its own musical identity. 8. No, only because I usually know going in whether a game as a whole is going to be my cup of tea or not. 9. Not particularly. There are a lot of great games I haven't played, of course, but I'll get to them eventually, right? 10. I can never answer these sorts of questions. There are too many great titles. 11. Another NES action Castlevania on par with Dracula's Curse. 12. I also love classic tabletop RPGs (Gygax era D&D, etc), horror, and hunting down weird/tacky antiques.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2019 21:17:00 GMT -5
1. What is your earliest memory of playing a video game?
Playing Combat on the Atari 2600 with my parents.
2. Is there a gaming genre/format from the past you wish was still prevalent today?
Sci-fi flight and mech sims, though they're making a decent comeback as of late.
3. What do you do to free up time for playing video games?
Nothing special.
4. Do you think gaming has gotten better or worse in the past ten years?
While there are occasional hiccups plaguing the industry like microtransactions and "games as a service" for the most part I think the last decade has been phenomenal. The indie scene is a vast ocean of quality titles that I'll probably never even get around to playing in my lifetime. In the last few years even some AAA titles have been stellar. This is a loaded question and "better" is subjective, but it definitely hasn't gotten worse unless you're someone who dwells on the high-profile failures. I think a critically objective "best games" of the 2010's list would be long and full of killer content.
5. What does it take to make a game worth purchasing for you?
There's no secret recipe here, it's just got to be something that interests me either mechanically or narratively. More-so the former.
6. What is special about video gaming to you, versus other entertainment media?
Immersion and participation.
7. If you could only play games from one particular decade, what decade would you choose, and why?
The 90's. It's where the vast majority of my console and PC nostalgia resides. It has the highest number of games that are infinitely replayable for me personally.
8. Do you have a particular gaming hang-up(s) that will make you cold-drop a game?
When a game has a story I don't care about in the slightest and won't shut up about it.
9. Do you have any personal regrets about video gaming?
No?
10. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only play three games, what would they be?
Doom II (if it includes WADS), Open RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, and I don't know I'd have to pick at random from a bunch of things.
11. If you could snap your fingers and make any game magically exist, what would that game be?
Wing Commander 6 or a reboot of the first game (I know Squadron 42 is essentially this but let's be honest we'll all be dead before that comes out). Without Electronic Arts involved, naturally.
12. If video games had never existed, what other hobby would you have become hardcore about instead?
I'd probably be way more involved in tabletop gaming than I am now.
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Post by Ex on Mar 29, 2019 0:49:38 GMT -5
This is a loaded question and "better" is subjective It honestly isn't meant to be a "loaded" question. Although I can understand why it could be inferred as such. The phrasing would work better as; "Do you think video games have changed in any significant ways in the past ten years?" So I'll change the OP to that. Then it's up to the responder to decide if the ways are better, worse, or neutral.
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Post by Ex on Mar 29, 2019 12:57:45 GMT -5
1. What is your earliest memory of playing a video game?
The earliest I can recall was in 1982, when I was three years old. My parents took me to some friends of theirs' place, and said friends had a black and white TV with an Odyssey² hooked up to it. The game in the console was Smithereens. Thus my very first video game experience was about catapulting huge boulders towards enemy wall defenses. I distinctly remember being astounded that you could control what was on the television. Shortly after that I remember seeing arcade games at the local Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant. But being 4 at the time, I was too short to reach the controls.
2. Is there a gaming genre/format from the past you wish was still prevalent today?
The first thing that comes to mind is arcade flight-combat stuff in the vein of Ace Combat. Now, actual Ace Combat games are still being made today. But back in the fifth and sixth gen, there were a lot of quality AC competitors in the arcade flight-combat arena. In the seventh gen that genre thinned out, and nowadays is all but extinct.
3. What do you do to free up time for playing video games?
Being a married father, with a full time career, and a house/property to maintain, I don't have the luxury of just playing video games whenever I lackadaisically feel like it. Rather I must consciously choose a time to play games that allows for uninterrupted sessions. This ends up being late at night after my wife has gone to bed. In that regard, I do sacrifice some sleep to play, along with not binging on Netflix, or socializing at bars, or drinking beers while watching sports with bros, or whatever it is middle-aged men do at night who don't play video games.
4. Do you think video games have changed in any significant ways in the past ten years?
The most significant has to be the indie PC scene exploding like it has. This is better in the sense that there are some super high quality indie games available, that never would have been published by "professional" companies. At the same time, it's worse in the aspect of the noise floor being so high. There's a whole lot of chaff to go with the wheat, and parsing the best stuff out can be tricky, if not exhausting.
One of the worst things is the monetization of gaming. I'm pretty sure everyone here is aware of what I mean. But seeing so many newly released video games turned into glorified teats - hasn't been great. It's especially egregious in the mobile scene.
As a "terrible" person I also have enjoyed the better ecchi-infused Japanese games that have been officially localized for English consumption (mainly on Vita and PC) in the past decade. That didn't used to happen very often for western gamers prior. Although now the politically correct defense force backlash has caught up with said movement, with dire consequences hampering progress. Damn it.
5. What does it take to make a game worth purchasing for you?
All it used to take was me thinking; "Hey that looks kinda cool." And that method of thinking amassed me a library of games that would take... a considerable amount of my lifespan to play through. (Folks I've still got unplayed PC games sitting on a shelf that I bought in the early '90s.) Nowadays I try to put more filters in place. Basically I only want to buy games that I know for sure will be above average. That means going beyond mere reviews, and watching gameplay videos on Youtube, as well as garnering opinions from other gamers I trust. I have not yet bought a PS4/One/Switch... not due to a lack of funds, but rather a self imposed limit. I need to play through what I've already got first! (Says the man who will likely buy a PS4 Pro sometime this year.)
6. What is special about video gaming to you, versus other entertainment media?
The easy answer is "the interactivity", but honestly I could attribute that aspect to other gaming formats as well.
Ultimately I think it's the that video games are an amalgam of so many disciplines of artistry. Great video games are usually a hybridization of excellent graphic art, pleasant music, enjoyable writing (if plot applies), and intelligent world crafting (even if it's just good level design). Now when you take this melting pot of pleasurable artistry, and then add that interactive element on top - yeah it sings. It's just very hard to beat a homogeneous medium of interwoven mediums.
7. If you could only play games from one particular decade, what decade would you choose, and why?
It's the 1990s for me! Such a broad spectrum of gaming in that outstanding decade. You start off with high quality 2D games, and end with high quality 3D games. 16-bit consoles were at their peak in the early 1990s, and PC gaming had its most golden era in the 1997-1999 venerable triumvirate. The middle 1990s were a wild west of crazy experimental 3D efforts. Indeed the 1990s were the era of video games being at their very best solely for hardcore video gamers. The golden crest before the fall of the '00s when video gaming became totally mainstream, with all its diluting compromises.
8. Do you have a particular gaming hang-up(s) that will make you cold-drop a game?These days it's when I realize a video game is intentionally wasting my time. I cannot stand when a developer wholeheartedly dismisses its player's valuable free time, all in the name of artificial longevity. Japanese games tend to be the most flagrant offenders in this regard. Sometimes I wonder if there's something in Japanese DNA that values busy work for the sake of busy work. When I play games, I want to play, not grind away at busy work.
9. Do you have any personal regrets about video gaming?
Looking back across my entire life thus far, perhaps I do. Because of how well video games work as escapism, I think my overall social life suffered as a result. Beyond just the social life, my creative output was inhibited. Who knows how many albums I could have wrote, paintings I could have painted, or books I could have authored, in the amount of time I spent gaming more than necessary. I did still manage, and do still manage, to do creative stuff outside of gaming, but definitely not as much as I could sans gaming. I suppose if a man has things he needs to escape, video games are better than a bottle, or a bullet.
10. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only play three games, what would they be?
I would take stuff that has randomization and procedural generation aspects. For example, a high quality roguelike such as NetHack (or Dwarf Fortress). I'd want a super expansive WRPG, so Daggerfall it is. And I'd need a puzzle game that was infinitely replayable. Tetris DS I choose you.
11. If you could snap your fingers and make any game magically exist, what would that game be?
My default answer to this question is usually Super Bionic Commando, which would have been a "metroidvania" styled Bionic Commando on SNES.
However, for the sake of difference, this time I'll say I wish that Endless Ocean 3 had existed for 3DS. Being able to explore a beautiful underwater world like that, with the immersive 3D effect in tow, that would have been simply marvelous.
12. If video games had never existed, what other hobby would you have become hardcore about instead?
Single player table top gaming comes to mind (I engage in that periodically even now). But realistically, I'd have been much deeper into gamebooks than I already am. There are some super high quality gamebooks series out there (from the early '80s all the way to today), which are geared towards adults, and offer the feeling of playing a D&D styled adventure - without the need for a GM or other players. And seriously folks, even the best graphics are no match for the imagination.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2019 14:14:41 GMT -5
Looking back across my entire life thus far, perhaps I do. Because of how well video games work as escapism, I think my overall social life suffered as a result.
I'm not sure about this point myself. I don't really see myself growing more social even if I went turkey cold and ceased all gaming related activies. Engaging in interesting conversations with other people in real life - even people you genuinely like - is a double edged sword. On the one hand, your brain is going to make you feel great, rewarding you for the interaction you just had. On the other hand, it also takes a lot of energy to keep a good conversation going. I'm sure it's different for extroverted people, but I'd rather have good but rare interactions here and there, rather than a lot of hanging out with people you kind of know and meaningless small talk. Seems like a good pick. I recommend this, uh, interesting review about this very game.
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Post by anayo on Mar 29, 2019 17:58:25 GMT -5
1. What is your earliest memory of playing a video game?
I think it was Doom in 1993 when I was just shy of 3 years old.
2. Is there a gaming genre/format from the past you wish was still prevalent today?
I miss sprites and I miss arcades. Those aren't exactly genres but I don't care. Indie games from this decade are getting pretty good at filling that void though.
3. What do you do to free up time for playing video games?
Nothing in particular. If anything I try to curtail that because I don’t want the only thing I have to show for years passing to be a really high play time on a game.
4. Do you think gaming has gotten better or worse in the past ten years?
Crysis, Bioshock, Gears of War, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare had an overwrought pompousness reminding me of Michael Bay’s Transformers. With a few rare exceptions I’ve never seen AAA gaming completely shed those trappings since the late 2000’s.
5. What does it take to make a game worth purchasing for you?
It has to be physical. I will never buy another digital game again.
6. What is special about video gaming to you, versus other entertainment media?
I don’t know, I had toys and cartoons and so forth as a kid, but something about video games just did something to my brain that those other activities didn’t. When I got my own gaming machine (a Gameboy and later an NES) it felt great. Even getting my first car at 17 didn’t feel that cool.
7. If you could only play games from one particular decade, what decade would you choose, and why?
The 90’s. I like 80’s gaming and 2000’s gaming, but the 90’s are the best blend of both worlds.
8. Do you have a particular gaming hang-up(s) that will make you cold-drop a game?
I couldn’t see any way to beat Truxton on Sega Genesis except by a perfect no-damage run. So I gave up.
9. Do you have any personal regrets about video gaming?
In the 2000’s I turned down a lot of amazing thrift store finds because I thought games from that era would be cheap and plentiful forever.
10. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only play three games, what would they be?
Whichever three compilation disks have the most quantity and variety. So I guess a PS2 with Metal Slug Anthology, Sega Genesis Collection, and Midway Arcade Treasures Volume 1.
11. If you could snap your fingers and make any game magically exist, what would that game be?
Sonic Xtreme for the Sega Saturn has always been my greatest “what if”. I acknowledge it may not have been that great if it actually came out, but I loved Sonic too much as a kid to let go of the idea.
12. If video games had never existed, what other hobby would you have become hardcore about instead?
As a youngster I showed signs of taking to TCGs, tabletop games, comic books, science fiction, and anime. Around age 10 I even tried making my own version of the Star Wars X-Wing tabletop game and D&D campaigns even though I didn’t really know what those things were. These days though it appears my hobby has fossilized into just retro gaming. Friends have tried getting me into Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, but I just see it as an excuse to hang out. I don’t want to intrinsically pursue it the same way I do retro gaming. It kind of sucks because it’s proving difficult to find anyone else in real life who cares about this hobby.
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Post by Sarge on Mar 29, 2019 19:17:54 GMT -5
1. What is your earliest memory of playing a video game?I don't remember if it was a local diner or a laundromat, but they had a Donkey Kong arcade machine. I was ensorcelled by it. I remember someone giving me a quarter to play it, even, and I don't remember if I did poorly or not. 2. Is there a gaming genre/format from the past you wish was still prevalent today?Several years ago, I would have said non-linear exploratory platformers. Uh... those are not hard to find now. I don't know what I'd pick these days, as many, many types of games are catered to by the indie crowd now. I do miss the simpler sports games, though; games like NBA Jam and Tecmo Super Bowl were a blast to play. They have brought back both, although they're too new to go into much. The former was really good! The latter... not so much. No official NFL license makes things much more disappointing, and the gameplay has felt "off" as well. Tecmo Bowl Kickoff is new enough to talk about, and I played an entire season of it, but it still just felt wrong. 3. What do you do to free up time for playing video games?Nothing special. I just tend to prioritize them over other forms of entertainment. 4. Do you think gaming has gotten better or worse in the past ten years? Do you think video games have changed in any significant ways in the past ten years?You know, I liked the original question, and I can certainly expound a bit more. I think it has gotten both better and worse. The indie space, while deluged with a glut of terrible titles, also has some absolute gems that cater very specifically to my gaming tastes. We are seeing some wildly creative games and genre mashups, and I love it. I don't feel that AAA gaming has changed all that much, and that is both good and bad. Another generation to keep polishing the gameplay that effectively started in the PS2 era has led to some spectacular games. Single-player entries aren't dead, and I'm happy about that. As far as online gaming goes, well, I don't do much of it. But online gaming has been with us a long, long time. It's just growing from where it used to be from its PC roots and LAN parties. However, some of the monetization schemes have changed, with microtransactions and whatnot. I don't like that trend, but I do understand a bit why publishers like them, and there are enough people that jump in on these things. When you think about it, though, games are absurdly expensive to make, and the price has remained relatively fixed. They need to get that money somewhere. I'd rather pay a bit more up front, but it is what it is. And really, new content isn't all that different from the old PC games, too. Expansion packs were very much a thing, and this is just a sort of modern-day version of that as well. We're seeing a convergence of PC gaming and console gaming, even more so because of the architectural change to x86. And good grief, do the massive patches suck. Those of us with crap Internet just kinda suffer. 5. What does it take to make a game worth purchasing for you?It needs to be a genre I love, or the right value proposition. If it is a series I want to support (oh, hi, Dragon Quest), I'll buy day one. If a game I'm interested in goes on sale, sometimes I'll snag it. I usually factor in length, review scores, style of game, the works. Actually codifying my methods would be tough, as it's honestly a sort of fuzzy logic that doesn't always make sense to the outsider. 6. What is special about video gaming to you, versus other entertainment media?Interactivity, challenge, exploration. I think the best games provide a combination of wonderment and skill-based challenges, wrapped up in an interesting audio-visual package. 7. If you could only play games from one particular decade, what decade would you choose, and why?Gotta be the '90s. Has to be. Not only do I get access to some of the best 8-bit RPGs, I get all the SNES, much of the Genesis, Neo Geo, the later 8-bit action-platformers, some of the PC Engine games (and all the Duo), most of the Game Boy library, a lot of the GBC, much of the NGPC, and oh yeah, a ton of Saturn, N64, and PSX games. If I can cheat, I can even slip late releases like Valkyrie Profile and Chrono Cross in there, based on Japanese date. I even get a smidge of Dreamcast! 8. Do you have a particular gaming hang-up(s) that will make you cold-drop a game?Games that have broken controls that make it completely unfair. 9. Do you have any personal regrets about video gaming?Only that it keeps me from achieving other tangible life goals. But in some ways, it helps me there, too, as it keeps me sane. 10. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only play three games, what would they be?This question requires a lot of thought, actually. It wouldn't necessarily be my top 3, since I'd want something with legs that was really replayable. As good as they are, I don't think Chrono Trigger or Symphony of the Night would fit that bill. I think, perhaps, Tecmo Super Bowl might, especially if I'm given access to an editor. 11. If you could snap your fingers and make any game magically exist, what would that game be?
I like Ex 's Super Bionic Commando answer, but won't take it. I also won't take a new Demon's Crest, which is another standby answer. I think, outside of the ideas percolating in my own brain for games, I'm going to go with Super Guardian Legend. Or better yet, put it on hardware like the Neo Geo or Saturn, something that will push some sprites. 12. If video games had never existed, what other hobby would you have become hardcore about instead?
Drawing and basketball.
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Post by Ex on Apr 1, 2019 10:44:53 GMT -5
I'll respond to some of these so far... So much so that I believe my PS3 will remain the most recent piece of gaming hardware I own indefinitely. I understand where you are coming from. It seems like every week a hundred new video games are released. When one has been collecting video games for decades, one does tend to accrue quite the backlog library. Rationally there comes a point that you say to yourself; "Okay I've hit the saturation point. I'm not buying any new video gaming platforms until I play through what I already have." I'm thinking once I buy a PS4 (later this year), I'll be done buying video game consoles for the next decade. It doesn't make sense to keep building up generational piles of games I don't have time to comprehensively play. That triumph-induced endorphin rush doesn't really kick in when I finish a movie or a book, even a great one. This is the addictive aspect that video games have, that other mediums don't (for me at least). That is to say, beating a video game induces a sense of tangible accomplishment. Which is all well and good, except when achieving those virtual accomplishments starts impeding the completion of actual accomplishments. When a game has a story I don't care about in the slightest and won't shut up about it. I run into this problem myself with a fair amount of modern JRPGs. I can deal with amateur hour writing, but not when it's being thrown in my face every five minutes, via reams of vapid navel gazing dialogue. (That isn't to say I've not played JRPGs with good writing - I have - just that the worst game writing I've seen comes from JRPGs. Amnesiac teenage protagonist: "The power of our friendship will save us!" Kill me. ) I'd probably be way more involved in tabletop gaming than I am now. Indeed. In recent years, there has been a serious resurgence (renaissance even) in this medium. (Anecdotally last weekend my wife and I co-op beat this new game.) I don't want to digress too much, but tabletop gaming has become increasingly ingenious in recent years. If anything I try to curtail that because I don’t want the only thing I have to show for years passing to be a really high play time on a game. I understand that concern. Some folks do obsess to the point of their own lives' detriment. Self moderation is the key, and easier said than done I suppose. Every person's brain chemistry is unique. In the 2000’s I turned down a lot of amazing thrift store finds because I thought games from that era would be cheap and plentiful forever. Yeah... I wish I had all my third and fourth gen stuff now, just to sell it in today's market. Back in the late '90s that stuff wasn't worth dirt when I got rid of it. It kind of sucks because it’s proving difficult to find anyone else in real life who cares about this hobby. I know that feel bro, that's the whole reason I made this forum. I don't feel that AAA gaming has changed all that much, and that is both good and bad. I don't own any PS4/One games at present. But watching videos of the AAA contenders in that space - I agree with you. The graphics are polished to a slightly higher sheen, and the frame rates look more consistent and higher, with a bump in resolution. But the overall game design seems untouched from what came before. Which all makes sense from a financial perspective, but is disappointing from a medium evolution standpoint. I imagine when graphics finally reach the absolute point of diminishing returns, then crux gameplay will be all that's left to sell new games. Maybe then we'll see some strong paradigm shifts. old PC games, too. Expansion packs were very much a thing That's true. But back then expansion packs seemed like legitimate new material, an addition to an already well realized and complete core. Whereas nowadays DLC often seems like; "Hey guys here's the other 20% of the game you should have already gotten, but we held it back to make more money off your subservient asses."I think the best games provide a combination of wonderment and skill-based challenges, wrapped up in an interesting audio-visual package. That's a great description of what makes this medium special. Games that have broken controls that make it completely unfair. Ah, so that's why you love Gunvalkyrie so much.
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Post by Sarge on Apr 1, 2019 11:20:31 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, you know I love me some Gunvalkyrie. (It's a game I want to like! It just... man. It would be so much better with a competent control scheme.) I do think we're going to see some shifts (and I think perhaps there is some already) in design, simply because we're starting to max out what we can do from a graphical perspective. I'd argue that's part of why the Switch has been more successful than "handhelds" of the past: we've hit the point where games don't look ridiculously downgraded to get them in portable form.
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