LadyCrimson

Since I usually always turn it off in games, I did look at it in the settings before starting play, but it was already off by default. I'll try turning it on I guess. Started Walking Dead. I didn't get very far before I was already weary of the "watching/listening," somewhat awkward/stiff feeling UI/control, and countdown-bar QTE's. It does have a nice, mystery/creepy mood and animation, and I can see why, if one is into movie-game-story, that one might enjoy it quite a bit, but I'd have to be in a very mellow, patient mood to play it. My attention wanders too quickly without OCD-like things to do.

What I liked best about Sims1 was the house design/building. Not very interested in sending Sims off to build careers, play/dance with each other, and watching their happiness meters. Torturing the Sims was always funny for 10 minutes, however. ...caved and bought that Batman pack sale. I have the 1st game (unplayed...) so, er, may as well get this one too. Also bought Deus Ex:HR for "someday". Decided to skip Dungeons and DA tho. And now I have to stop watching the Steam page.

Going through another one of those phases where I wonder if I'm really into games/computing as a hobby anymore...vs. it just being a habit to think I am, if that makes sense. I could cite the "direction of gaming" cliche but I don't think that's the whole story in my case. More a lack of wanting to sit in a chair whilst reflexively pressing keys for 3+ hours at a time. Anyway, so far a relaxing day at home (finally!). Hubs played a bit of BL2/Pirate DLC while I ate some lunch and watched. Time to catch up on a couple documentaries I've been meaning to watch. Also, on the topic of squirrels, old pics:

Fired up Dead Island this morning. First thing I noticed was the mouse cursor moves slower than molasses while in any game menu (main menu, inventory menu)...which is driving me insane. It moves fine while actually inside the game (moving chr. around, clicking on objects etc), but as soon as I enter any menu ... argh. Which is too bad, since in the brief intro stuff, I was liking the atmosphere of the game, at least. Think I'll try Walking Dead, instead. Or perhaps the Borderlands 2 DLC, since there's two of them now.

What I meant was, that most games that make that sort of specific claim ("it's like DK!"), end up being garbage. Or at least, nothing special.

The Sims3 and (more importantly) Sims3 Pets are actually on sale. This begs the question ... would I actually play it? Don't care at all about Sims per se....but, but .... virtual pets! DA:Origins is cheap too. I suppose I could get it and finally see what all the fuss is about. Then again, it's unlikely I'd have the patience to find out what the fuss is about. I think the best course of action for me is to stop looking at the Steam page.

When it comes to lockpicking, I prefer skill checks. If it's a mini-game where the lockpicks will constantly break if one never becomes very good at the "minigame', there better be a lot of lockpicks around to find/buy, not just a rare few.

If I had a dollar for every time a game is "inspired by" Dungeon Keeper or other similar god games I'd be ... well, several dollars richer. It does look intriguing from the videos but just like with Molyneux himself, at this point I'm pretty leery/non-expectant of such claims.

Maybe it's just me, but putting belly buttons on metal armor is about as silly as putting nipples on the Batsuits. I'm not talking about sexism or anything. It just looks ridiculous to me.

That's almost as cute/cool as having a squirrel sit in your lap to eat almonds. Almost.

I've thought about that one for a while now...it looks like a lot of driving back and forth, not sure how much I'd like that. But still..maybe. I don't like trains, so a simulator that isn't about trains would be nice. Now thinking about Dungeons, as well. I know, it's supposed to be terrible, but for $7.50 I get both original and sequel, so....argh. Steam sales. This is how I end up with a huge list of little games that I never end up playing.

Definitely not "stealthy" armor. Not really my design style (the color/patterns), but it's bold and pretty nifty nonetheless.

It's always great to see friends/family you haven't seen in a while, but being the extreme introvert I am, it can also be exhausting...when such things last all day. At least I don't have to get up early tomorrow to beat traffic out of the city. And it's fun to get home and have Mr. Needy the black cat sitting by the door, yowling in greeting before we even get the key in the lock. Edit: P.S. Soft white goat cheese tastes terrible. It was like cream cheese, but with a strange plastic+bitter grass flavor underneath. I remember years and years and years ago having a glass of semi-warm goat milk (fresh from a goat, not a packaged bottle). Which was equally weird tasting. Yup, I prefer cow milk.

Yeah...I wasn't blaming them or anything. I'm just an old grump who doesn't like to have 100000 half-remembered accounts everywhere on the internet (especially just for buying one thing then never going back etc), and the more time goes on and the less retail-store oriented the world becomes, the more I feel like I have to do that. Or stop buying things. The widescreen/higher res mod I was using has some weird little UI quirks about it, in order to display it as such. Especially in the menus. I dunno....I just liked the way it looked, overall, a little better. It's nothing dramatic.

I'm referring to games that don't give me a sense of having much to do. This wasn't intended as a "they suck" type of insult, only that I usually (but not always) find those types of games not interactive/task-oriented enough to feel like I'm actually "playing" something. eg, the more I feel like I'm watching a game, the less involved I feel. I have watched pretty much the entire 1st episode of WD on YouTube, btw. I was initially uninterested but eh...for the price, I do like the artwork so why not. ...and now I've bought Saints Row3 complete package. Again, mostly because of the price and "maybe one day..." I still haven't played much of SR2.

Love those pics, Diagoras. I'm not a huge study of armor but it is a subject of interest so I've been very much enjoying all the pics and the variety that people have been posting.

I think this topic could use a little more posting about actual game-related pros and cons of having humanoid bestial races in P.E./games, and less assumptive commentary re: the possible psychology of a group of humans who may not have the same activity enjoyments as oneself. Hint, hint.

I have a feeling that if asked this question 8-10 years ago, my answers might have been very different.

That BG enhanced looks pretty nice, visually. It would be nice to not have to use mods to play BG in high resolution and all of that. But I don't like that I have to buy it only from their site. I'm not sure why, I just don't. Maybe I just get tired of having to register at yet another website/thingie. Wish it was on GoG. Maybe one day it will be.

Well, I bought Walking Dead since it was on sale. I'm aware of the QTE's, which I normally wouldn't like, but since the game isn't really a "game" in the normal sense of the term, imo, I doubt I'll really care. I don't expect a lot from the game, just figured the narration might be cool. Besides, it's only $13. I've paid more for pizza. More troubling is the sound of that glitch. I haven't DL'd it tho...just bought it. Won't have time to play anything until Sunday maybe. Also bought Dead Island since it was $10 again. What the heck. Might get around to it one day.

This morning hubs was watching some TV program while drinking his coffee, and said it was strange, but he had a sudden craving. When asked what it was, my non-sweets eating spouse said "Apple pie." To which I replied that maybe it was because the station he was watching kept rolling a tiny pie icon accross the screen for its logo, being it was Thanksgiving. Hubs was "really? I didn't notice," -- he looked for it and saw it after next commercial and went "oh." I lol'd. One friend and one family visited, too much turkey eaten, one movie seen, a whole lot of smiles and hugs, one almost-nap in the van, now home. Sleep, then doing it again with different people. And hubby got his pie. With ice cream.

I've never had the impression that such elves are actually "frail" - just slender and agile. You don't need to be Conan to be fair in physical combat, even if you won't ever be a serious tank. I have not seen (playable) Elves like Dobby from Potter in D&D cRPG's that I've played (not that I've played a great deal of them), so I'm not sure what you're referring to about my post, exactly. When I'm thinking of physically weak, I mean pretty much useless in physical combat, period. Child-like size for one thing, generally just not strong musculature for another. eg, like Dobby in the picture.

Been there, have the t-shirt. It's not that I auto-like all crafting (Skyrim's did not interest me much) but sometimes the design of the crafting options hits the right mental trigger. Other times it's not actually the crafting itself, either, but more the process of hunting/finding the things you need to craft. In a way, a compliment to exploration perhaps.

For me holidays are usually just another day, but this year it's shaping up to be pretty busy. Few friends haven't seen in a while, and the families are no longer in "one" location. In fact, I should be sleeping right now but ... I woke up, and of course now I can't go back to sleep. :/ Happy Holiday.

*thinks a long time....* To be honest, I don't think it's so much that I love RPG's as much as I love certain aspects of gameplay. These attractions can be found in more than one genre, altho they will often be found more regularly or more "deeply" in one genre over another. --Exploration that has a "there might be something useful/cool over there, so I must go look!" compulsion (FPS rarely has enough of this for me, but strategy/adventure games might have it) --obsessive task-orientation: alchemy, crafting, design, loot, flexibility and growth (learning efficiency or multiple ways to "win") If I'm lucky, there will also be: --non-PC characters that I can grow to love, or just amuse me (I rarely care about my own player-character itself, except in terms of how choices made affect other characters) It's obviously more emotionally immersive to become concerned/attached to a fully formed RPG NPC with a nice background/story and its own personality, but I've been known to become very attached to RTS units, aRPG "pets" and drone companions (Majesty's monks, Stronghold's warriors and archers, Dungeon Keeper's imps and vampires, Torchlight's pets, etc)...in those cases, it's usually because of amusement, but it's an attachment nonetheless, that keeps me playing and tends to have me using those units almost to exclusion. RPG's just have the potential to have these things with a higher level intensity.