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Game Thoughts #2: :2# sthguohT emaG


Trijhak

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More questions for the good people of BZPower, after the reception of the last entry. About games still, more about what people think.

  1. How long should a game keep you entertained for?
  2. What genre are you fond of?
  3. What makes a game for you specifically?
  4. What breaks a game for you specifically?
  5. How much of an impact does appropriate music have?
  6. How much of an impact does a well-done atmosphere have?
  7. How much of an impact does difficulty have?
  8. User-created characters or pre-established characters?
  9. Linear, non-linear, or a mix of both?
  10. What's the most entertaining set of mechanics you have come across within a game?

Bonus: What's the most hilarious bug you've encountered?

Bonus #2: Heroic Acts, Neutral Approaches or Villainous Plots?

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1.       I usually focus entirely on a game and beat the main story in a week or so, but I like there to be extra stuff I can do for weeks/months afterward.  I want it to have enough content that I’m never really done to justify my dislike of selling them.

2.       RPGs, specifically JRPGs.

3.       Humor is something I like to see, good humor.  As well as if it’s fun to play and has interesting concepts/powers/weapons/etc.

4.       Not sure there’s anything specific, really, sometimes a game just doesn’t feel fun/engaging

5.       I think it definitely helps.

6.       Not exactly sure what you mean by atmosphere, but if the surrounding world has been made to feel real and engaging, then it definitely helps.

7.       I want a game I can actually beat, otherwise I get incredibly frustrated.

8.       Hmmmm, both have their advantages, but since I like to focus on story, I tend to prefer pre-established characters.

9.       I think I tend to prefer linearity.

10.   The World Ends With You.  Enough said.

Bonus: I don’t know about hilarious, but I was only able to beat FFV by using a glitch to bypass the final boss’s second form, eheheheh…

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1. Depends on the game, really. Is it multiplayer or single player?

2. I've become rather fond of stealth games recently, but I generally prefer exploration and open worlds.

3. Fun mechanics, if you're going to be doing it over and over, might as well make it fun.

4. Random difficulty spikes. or inexplicably hard games that have no reason to be.

5. Like, all of it. Just try playing half life to the tune of Something happy. It's just wrong.

6. A lot. I like Bioshock because it's good at weaving a world together.

7. Depends, if you can change it, it usually ends up feeling cheap. and most of the time it's used to just make the game harder for the sake of being hard, rather then to add to atmosphere.

8. Either one. 

9. Depends on what I'm playing.

10. Mark of the Ninja. Best stealth game I've played.

 

I turned the world in pokemon into a scrambled Rubiks cube mess a couple times. That was fun.

 

#2, Whatever the story demands. If you can make it look like you where playing as the good guy and then reveal you aren't, that would be amazing if it was done right.

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How long should a game keep you entertained for?

Depends (naturally =P) on the kind of game. I tend to sink a lot of time into games naturally, even when they are perhaps shorter in nature. A few hours for indies/puzzlers, ~30 plus for action titles, and 80+ for RPG's, as a general guideline. As long as it's good, it can afford to be short, but don't try and skimp on the price.

 

What genre are you fond of?

Action titles and RPG's, generally. I'll play a variety, but I avoid most anything online, and strategy titles bore me to tears.

 

What makes a game for you specifically?

Atmosphere and voice acting. I'll accustom myself to mechanics, you have to if you want to enjoy the medium as a whole; atmosphere draws me in, the characters keep me in it.

 

What breaks a game for you specifically?

I tend to be pretty choosy, so it's rare I'll pick a game I don't end up liking. Basically anything that doesn't do what it's supposed to do. Mario and Luigi Dream Team is my biggest regret lately; it's fun, and the blend of genres is great, but it places too much emphasis on 3D and then subsequently does it poorly, which often makes it a chore to get through (still haven't finished it).

 

How much of an impact does appropriate music have?

Ooooh so much. Hearing the change in music, especially, is one of my favorite parts of gaming; the way musical cues slowly shift as the story approaches a climax, or you enter a new level with a new score.

 

How much of an impact does a well-done atmosphere have?

As mentioned, a lot =P. Atmosphere is your hook, your sizzle. I won't buy a game on atmosphere alone, but I will pay attention to it.

 

How much of an impact does difficulty have?

Ahaha. I'm a masochist when it comes to game difficulty. I'll choose the hardest even when it's not advisable.

 

That said, as much as I like the challenge, I also appreciate it when there's just no difficulty choice at all, and the game is the game.

 

User-created characters or pre-established characters?

Interesting question. Both are fine, really. Pre-established is fun because you can yell at the characters when they make bad decisions. User surrogates are tricky, but silent protagonists are generally the most fun with it.

 

Linear, non-linear, or a mix of both?

Any and all are fine. Non-linear runs the risk of losing focus, so as long as the world is good, it's not a problem.

 

What's the most entertaining set of mechanics you have come across within a game?

Another interesting question... in terms of novelty, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is one of the stranger games I've played in my lifetime, but in a good way. In terms of straight up fun to play, as I've mentioned before, Infamous games.

 

Bonus: What's the most hilarious bug you've encountered?

I rarely encounter any memorable bugs, so gotta pass on that.

 

MISSINGNO.

 

Bonus #2: Heroic Acts, Neutral Approaches or Villainous Plots?

In terms of what I choose to do? Heroic acts, generally. If I have incentive to be the villain, I have no qualms (for Infamous: Second Son I did it explicitly because it would screw with their statistics), but the story is usually more satisfying when you play hero.
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1. as long as possible for the game. I've had some games last me more than 200 hours; some upwards of 400. Which is good, considering the games I get tend to be like 40 dollar games. =P

 

2. Action RPG; hands down. Heck, go one step further and Action RPG Platformer is probably one of the best you could hand me... But those are admittedly hard to get right. I also like plain ol' RPGs, but, it depends on which I'm in the mood for. Especially since the Action Rpgs I like are a lot rarer than I'd hope. xP

 

3. Music, music, music. Gameplay and graphics are one thing, but, music... It just is what ties everything together. Sonic 06 had horrible glitches and a horrible story, yet it had pretty amazing music at times, and while it didn't really save the game, it definitely made it less horrible.

 

4. Depends. Horrible glitches can be bad, but it's really a combination of a lot of things.

 

5. A LOT. To use an example from a game I played recently, there's one segment where you have to do something, shall we say, out of this world. THE FREAKING MUSIC AND THE SCENE THAT HAPPENED WENT SO FREAKING WELL TOGETHER THAT I'M STILL EXCITED ABOUT IT AND I'D'VE RESET EVEN MORE TO SEE IT OVER AND OVER. =D

 

6. It can help a lot too. This kinda ties in with the above, but, if it's a jarring atmosphere, it's gonna be a bit less impressive. =P But if done right... Oh boy, then things just get awesome.

 

7. Difficulty... Hmm, I like things that are just right in terms of difficulty, but I do like to play hard games too. Or things that are hard for reasons not the game's direct fault. (Looking at you Mega Man X6 and X7, those reploids can go away any time)

 

8. Both. User Created characters are awesome, but pre-established characters just allow more things to happen sometimes. A mix, or a choice, is good.

 

9. Mix of both. I can get lost in Skyrim sometimes, just because I have absolutely no clue what to do, except wander aimlessly. =P And while that's kinda the point in a way, I like the more traditional RPG style of slowly unlocking the world to explore, so you're not totally overwhelmed. And while totally linear games aren't bad either, depending on what it is, it's definitely nice to try and have a balance.

 

10. I'm not totally certain, but, gonna agree with pahrak and say The World Ends With You. Once I got into the battle system, it was amazing. ^^

 

Bonus 1: THE BOX. (flying into space on a box, courtesy of Sonic 06)

 

Bonus 2: Depends on the game; all can turn out well, but heroic stories tend to be done well a lot.

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  • Overall or session? 60-70 minutes is usually where I call it quits for a session, though boss fights and quests can drag that out to 80-90. Overall depends on cost. For $5, I'm fine with a few days of fun I never dig up again. For $60, I want something that lasts at least a month. Quality > quantity though, a shorter experience that I love and want to revisit is better than one that drags on and on just to fill a length quota.

RPGs, action-adventure, mystery, turn-based strategy, and some shooters(Games like TF2 that are much more complex than "Click on man's head to win" or ME3 that have it bundled with a great story or a fun physics engine that lets you mess around and fly and manipulate the environment and that sort of stuff)

One, good gameplay. Bad, awkward gameplay breaks focus, takes me out of the moment, ruins the story experience on top of, obviously, being unfun gameplay. Two, appearance. Don't confuse this for graphical elitism; HD graphics and gritty realism are not inherently good, hence TF2 and Okami being favorites while I don't really care about Gears of War or Call of Duty. But you need a cohesive, consistent art style that meshes and creates a tangible environment and atmosphere. Disjointed styles, palettes, and whatnot are like seeing the wires holding up Superman. It takes you out of the moment, disconnects your involvement to the game, and with a game, it takes you out of the enjoyment of the play. Three, little details. Things like the books from Elder Scrolls that all have actual writing, or the C-Sec cops in Mass Effect 3 that you can overhear talking about keeping the peace before their home planet is invaded, then about leaving the force to go join the war effort once it's conquered, add so much depth and life to the game's universe. The C in NPC stands for "character", and it means something. Indulge your background characters, make the environment feel real! 

One, broken or awkward controls. If it's impossible to play the game right, I stop focusing on the rest of the experience, and all I start trying to think of are how to work around the controls or camera and all that. Two, bad voiceacting. A good cast can make a bland story pop, and a bad cast can make a great one feel uninteresting. Three, bad writing. If you're doing a story, don't leave it half-baked. Four, the devaluation of a player's choices. If you're going to give the player a choice, make it matter, or at least feel like it matters(The Walking Dead did a very good job of letting you feel like you were being impactful without extreme variation in conclusions). Nothing is worse than feeling like your decisions are meaningless.

Massive impact. Music in a game is as important as music in a movie, and movies can be made or broken based on their score. It's even more important in a game, because in a game you have to involve the player and make them feel what they're doing. Probably the most overlooked part is making the cues seamless. One of my favorite parts of Twilight Princess is  that its music was composed in a way that allowed any blow from Link's sword to be accompanied with a stab of music, and to be given a quick musical conclusion before being faded when a battle is over or a scene changes. The entire thing created a much more engulfing atmosphere.

See #3. Most of what makes a game pop for me - background details, vibrant NPCs, cohesive style and feel, an established tone - is a good atmosphere.

A lot. Too hard, and it stops being fun because you're smashing against a brick wall. Barring specific difficulty-based challenge modes and maps and sidemissions, we're well past the age of Nintendo Hard being a good thing. Too easy though, and it's not fun, because there's nothing about being Arnold Schwarzenegger from Commando, fighting an army of mooks with the aim of stormtroopers and hardiness of redshirts, that creates lasting fun. Difficulty is a delicate balance, and that's one of the things that I think a lot of sports games do really well; not only do you get anywhere between four to seven difficulty settings, you have a bunch of sliders that, in Madden for example, let you set penalty frequency, AI awareness, tackling consistency, and a slew of other options on a scale from 1 to 99. Difficulty has to be perfect, but skill is varied so widely that nothing will ever be perfect. An ideal game has comprehensive settings that can be adapted to each individual player's desire for challenge and adjusted as their skill increases, but can also be as simple and one-touch as picking one of a handful of presets.

Really depends on the atmosphere you're going for. There's a certain element of personalization and closeness that comes from a customizable avatar, but a Legend of Zelda game where Link has a beard, black hair, and a really long face just wouldn't feel right. There's a merit in having pre-established characters, especially in terms of writing. Mass Effect handles this really well though, with a great balance of Shep costumization and prewritten storylines that let you feel a connection while still having a woven backstory.

Nonlinear, but with a certain amount of player guidance. Exploration and being able to choose your own direction and go at your own pace really help set an atmosphere, but I end up getting way too sidetracked, forgetting the story, and losing interest in games like Skyrim where it's completely nonlinear.

The World Ends With You is a strong candidate. Okami's Wii port was probably the best use of the Wii Remote, too. The Wii U release of Madden also had a pretty cool mechanic where you could draw out a play on the gamepad when you audibled. That said, the portal gun takes the cake. So much physics engine fun, so many clever puzzles!

(Bonus 1) One time I was playing Team Fortress 2, when suddenly the cart stopped, rose up off the tracks in a slow, foreboding fashion, spun around, then started going backwards through the air. Another time back when people still really liked Rock Band, a song started playing without the music. We failed horribly because it looked hilarious. The first Mass Effect game loses its mind if you escape the map, too.

(Bonus 2) I'm really partial to letting the player choose. If they want to be evil, let them. If they want to be a hero, let them. If I have to choose one though, I think heroic stories are done better. Villainous stories never seem to be done right.

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