Tale

I played bits of 2 and it felt like a lower budget Neverwinter Nights 2, I hope the first is more of the same.

Congratulations on finishing it, specially since you were playing it at late hours. Every time I tried doing conversations got longer and I would wake up with a note under me that said "you have slept for 8 hours" Edit: since you seem to be in the mood for CRPGs how about going from the nameless one to the living one? (they really need to have more variety) go load up Arcanum. Arcanum is far fresher in my memory than Planescape was. My original run of Planescape was in my Assassin/Rogue days, where my Arcanum run was fully in the midst of my Mage days. Since I still play Mages, I'd probably just end up playing it exactly the same way. I'm thinking about doing Drakensang next.

Finished Planescape Torment. That final third/half is kind of awful. But the first part of it and the overall writing make up for it. Curst was probably the part I forgot the most of and for good reason. Not sure what to play next.

Planescape: Torment Only my second time playing it and I probably rushed the first time. So I'm really enjoying it, perhaps too much as it's causing me to stay up to 2 AM.

When the course of action leads away from the player's goals, then it's not acceptable to force the player down that path. Diversions are acceptable that look like they're going against the goals, but only if they lead to larger gains towards that goal. This is why I feel it's good to let the player know what kind of goals the game will support early on. I don't know if that really answers your question based on the examples. I don't think players will be too bothered by somewhat less sensible actions as long as the nonsense of those actions doesn't take away from what they're trying to accomplish. And as long as it's not complete moon logic.

I could swear I recall San Andreas having a similar issue. More that the music license passed. So they patched it out.

Maybe you wouldn't want to play those games on a couch if you're looking to be competitive in multiplayer. But there's a ton of games not covered in that umbrella.

I am unaware of any changes to cutscenes.

Here's a video that include the new Barret fight.

I support this notion! Also, I checked gamespot out and I didn't find that review from the pic. The search found three reviews of Bioshock Infinite, all identical as far I could see, and the score in all was 9. I have no idea what that pic is about. http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/bioshock-infinite-a-fan-scorned/1900-6415464/

To be perfectly honest, I agree with most of the stuff that is written in that review. A lot of people enjoyed B:I but to each his own I guess. My favorite Bioshock game happens to be 2 and if memory serves right, that was the least favorite in the series. Agree with the review or not, I don't see how Bioshock Infinite deserves a lower score than Resident Evil 6 and Aliens: Colonial Marines. Gamespot gave those titles a 4.5.

I tend to be spoiled on plots of games before I play them. But I don't know if I was spoiled on white phosphorous in advance or not. I do know that I don't tend to do things blindly. I've been trained against attacking everything just because it's red (or white in this case). And the way the game was set up you could clearly see who were soldiers firing at you, then you see this trench of people who are just standing there. And I noticed it wouldn't let me progress until I hit them. You even hit them a little and the entire trench goes up. It was kind of awkward yeah. But like I said, I felt I'd give them the chance to do something interesting with that.

I laughed as well, but then I took the poll and noticed Call of Duty has over 2,000 votes. I cried. Everyone loves joke options.

I think that reinforces the idea of silent judgements and choice in direct judgements. You and I reacted differently, came to different conclusions, but both felt they fit well with the narratives and themes.

I'm more than willing to give a game a little trust with reprehensible scenes. But I need that to pay off in a way that's meaningful for why I'm playing the game. Walker burns civilians alive and at the end I get to kill him for it. Trevor tortures a guy, but stops a terrorist attack, and even saves the life of the guy he tortured. This is why I dislike it so much when a game, especially an RPG, forces me into an action or inaction from which only bad things result. Because I trusted the game to pay off for that action and it didn't.

I'm not sure what you're saying. But I will say this. If the player is forced to do something, then no, I don't accept the negative consequences of that action. I'll say it again, the player should never be punished for choices he was not allowed to make. White phosphorous worked for me in Spec-Ops because the player was never really punished for it. Walker was punished for it. That's what I saw in the ending, the opportunity for me, the player, to punish Walker. And with that the overall tragedy fit well. And that's one reason I don't see The Line type narratives working in RPGs. I think RPGs should be about making choices the player can own. Though I also feel his talk of silent judgements can work in the genre and I especially like the idea of implementing rationalization into RPGs, give players a choice of rationalization to grow the character.

I don't think I've seen that video, thanks.

It plays against the stereotypes of modern war games and I more than admire the game for that. It's set in Dubai and the enemies are other American soldiers. It's a game that builds up its themes. A perhaps cynical theme some will take as an insult, others will consider pretentious and assumptive. It is a game about thoughtless violence in pursuit of heroism. Some people think it's trying to speak about them as players or about war, but I think the real message is just about the games. Maybe I give it too much credit. Maybe I make excuses for where those themes fail and I shift it to where those themes work. I don't think that really matters, death of the author and all that. It's trying to have meaning apart from those around it. It accomplishes meaning apart from those around it. And that's significant to me.

The enthusiasm the trailer gave me is now tempered. http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/10/09/thief-hands-on-the-life-and-times-of-a-kleptomanic-clock-tower-cosh-ninja/

I actually like that trailer. The set piece bit not so much. But it focused on stealth and stealing, not shooting people in the face like we're used to making fun of it for.

Are we to discuss Yager, of which we have little detail or knowledge of their next project, or are we to create from whole cloth FPS game ideas we'd like to see?

Planescape: Torment still. Getting the bronze sphere for Pharod. It's kind of nice just how little I remember of this game.

One thing I came upon recently is varying sentence length. I'm not sure it's a one size fits what everyone does, but it helps me look over my own work without feeling too mechanical or tedious. Instead of having nothing but long sentences where things go on and on, have some shorter sentences. Just a little.

I'm getting an SCP (IN SPACE) vibe from these videos. I like it.

I should hope so!