What are you playing now?

[213374U]

"Quest Started: Zip Up Your Fly"

[Zoraptor]

 

I don't think any reasonable person can make a valid argument that Bethesda's writing and quest design, overall, is good. 

 

I can actually.

 

The writing doesn't stand out much (as most of us agree), but that goes both ways. Not bad, not very good. Serviceable.

 

In writing terms being unremarkable is in most cases worse than being actively bad. At least actively bad stuff like 2-dog/ Moira/ Jean-Luc Picard Uriel Septim is memorable, if the best you can say about writing is "well, it exists" then it may as well not.

[mkreku]

 

 

I don't think any reasonable person can make a valid argument that Bethesda's writing and quest design, overall, is good. 

 

I can actually.

 

The writing doesn't stand out much (as most of us agree), but that goes both ways. Not bad, not very good. Serviceable.

 

In writing terms being unremarkable is in most cases worse than being actively bad. At least actively bad stuff like 2-dog/ Moira/ Jean-Luc Picard Uriel Septim is memorable, if the best you can say about writing is "well, it exists" then it may as well not.

 

 

Your post was unremarkable. Please stop posting until you write something truly bad or a true pearl of wisdom.

 

Is that how your logic works? As I already said, not all writing has to be memorable or noteworthy. As long as it is serviceable, it is OK. Just like in real life, on bulletin boards, in movies, in newspapers and, yes, even in books. As long as it keeps your interest long enough for you to find the gems, it's OK. I also disagree with your opinion that actively bad is better than serviceable. Actively bad ruins a game for me. Serviceable is just that, serviceable. Sometimes that's all that's needed, as long as there are some good parts too.

[Katphood]

It's 3 am here and I suddenly woke up with a furious Arcanum-Boner. *installs arcanum*

[Humanoid]

Well, that's another thing Bethesda does really well: DLC. I had no idea it was DLC as it's so embedded within the game that I totally didn't notice (I bought the game with all expansions already applied in a Steam sale).

Good on them for integrating DLC properly in Skyrim, but in the interest of fairness, it's the first time they've actually done that. Fallout 3's DLC is notoriously bad, and not just talking about the quality of the content, but how haphazardly it's bolted on. Hopefully the Skyrim way of doing it becomes the new norm.

[SadExchange]

Combat is clunky, but not nearly as bad as Witcher 2.

 

Plus melee can be avoided entirely by specializing your character in guns and/or lightning magic.

Same here after finally purchasing the DLC.  Anyone have suggestions for a fun combat build?

[Zoraptor]

Your post was unremarkable. Please stop posting until you write something truly bad or a true pearl of wisdom.

 

Is that how your logic works? As I already said, not all writing has to be memorable or noteworthy. As long as it is serviceable, it is OK. Just like in real life, on bulletin boards, in movies, in newspapers and, yes, even in books. As long as it keeps your interest long enough for you to find the gems, it's OK. I also disagree with your opinion that actively bad is better than serviceable. Actively bad ruins a game for me. Serviceable is just that, serviceable. Sometimes that's all that's needed, as long as there are some good parts too.

 

Ah, but I don't charge you for reading my pearls of wisdom- it's a service I provide for free for the betterment of mankind and as such I have no obligation to be in the least bit interesting. My posts are also not intended to be entertainment (most of the time), entertainment is meant to, well, entertain.

 

I literally cannot remember doing anything entertainment wise and thinking 'wow, that was serviceable, an average experience which was neither overly good nor overly bad'. I'm sure I have thought that at various times, but if the experience was that bland and unremarkable then I will have forgotten about it near instantly. On the other hand I can at least remember stuff that was rubbish as well as stuff that was good, but the 'average' stuff? May as well not have happened.

[Starwars]

After finishing up Broken Age, I kinda wanted to play some more adventure games. Decided to replay Primordia.

 

Jesus, this game is fantastic. Not just "an ok adventure game by today's standards" but truly great. One of the all-time greats. 

 

If you like adventure games, then buy it buy it buy it!

[Mamoulian War]

I just stopped playing Gran Turismo 6 entirely after I found out my favorite car in the game -which is very expensive, I had to grind countless hours for it-  doesn't support H-pattern shifting and the clutch - for whatever silly reason. As if having to mindlessly grind credits, silly tuning bugs AND dealing with the dumb-as-a-rock AI wasn't enough, they also ruined my favorite car. 

 

I'm done with it. If the people who made this joke of a game weren't so damn far away I would totally pay them a visit and give them back their stupid game....through their rectum. 

 

May I know what car is that?

 

I did on Sunday get slowly over IA license test, all gold, in less than 30 minutes. Only thing which made me trouble was IA cone slalom, which I spent 20 minutes, 3 out of next 4 tests I made on gold in two attempts, and the last one on 4th. I am just wondering if it was made really so easy, or just my experience with handling different cars with Traction Control has get much much better.

 

EDIT: IA Races got little bit harder now, but my impression so far is still the same as before. I have to say, when I am not rushing through the game, I don't need to grind at all. All my income is easily solved with Gold Trophies and cars won in Seasonal Events. After 1.4 patch, new GT Vision car was introduced into the game, which solved the need of purchasing new car for many IA events. 9 million Credits on my account at the moment, and I spent already more than 6 millions. Of course, I am not interested at all about 20,000,000 Cr cars at the moment, my most expensive is Toyota 7 race car with 711PP. This car is powerful enough for most races and I already learned how to handle it properly.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Mamoulian War

[WorstUsernameEver]

I can't seem to change my character's reputation in Mars: War Logs.  I'm playing as a goodie-goodie, but I'm near the end of Chapter 2 and still neutral despite being a damn nice person.

 

On my next play through I'm just going to be a jerk and extract serum from everyone I beat.

It takes a lot to move your character's reputation, and extracting serum a few time or doing quests certain ways while you're trying to be good can get you down to neutral really fast. I didn't really experiment a lot with it, but I remember it being easier to get an evil reputation if only because of the number of enemies you could extract serum from.

[Amentep]

 

 

 

I don't think any reasonable person can make a valid argument that Bethesda's writing and quest design, overall, is good.

 

I can actually.

 

The writing doesn't stand out much (as most of us agree), but that goes both ways. Not bad, not very good. Serviceable.

 

In writing terms being unremarkable is in most cases worse than being actively bad. At least actively bad stuff like 2-dog/ Moira/ Jean-Luc Picard Uriel Septim is memorable, if the best you can say about writing is "well, it exists" then it may as well not.

 

 

Your post was unremarkable. Please stop posting until you write something truly bad or a true pearl of wisdom.

 

Is that how your logic works? As I already said, not all writing has to be memorable or noteworthy. As long as it is serviceable, it is OK. Just like in real life, on bulletin boards, in movies, in newspapers and, yes, even in books. As long as it keeps your interest long enough for you to find the gems, it's OK. I also disagree with your opinion that actively bad is better than serviceable. Actively bad ruins a game for me. Serviceable is just that, serviceable. Sometimes that's all that's needed, as long as there are some good parts too.

 

Its probably worth pointing out that games have the benefit of providing entertainment outside of the writing. To be honest I've never felt positively or negatively about Bethesda's writing and have enjoyed playing the games. They're not perfect but they entertain me.

 

Serviceable writing is problematic IMO only when writing is the only resource of the creation (ie novels, short stories). A movie can have spectacle or a game gameplay that makes the good/bad writing irrelevant if the other aspect is appealing.

[Keyrock]

 

 A movie can have spectacle or a game gameplay that makes the good/bad writing irrelevant if the other aspect is appealing.

 

The pro-Michael Bay argument, in a nutshell. 

[Oner]

 

 

 A movie can have spectacle or a game gameplay that makes the good/bad writing irrelevant if the other aspect is appealing.

 

The pro-Michael Bay argument, in a nutshell. 

 

I'd be fine with it if Elder Scroll games wouldn't win Best Writing awards.

[GhostofAnakin]

Finished my first Mars: War Logs play through.  Ended up siding with the Resistance, even though Marco's a dink.  Solid game.  Worth the purchase considering how cheap it was.

 

There's definitely some key "decisions" you can make in the game that warrants another play through just to see how they play out differently.

[Tale]

I'd be fine with it if Elder Scroll games wouldn't win Best Writing awards.

I'm amazed to hear that they do.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=skyrim+best+writing+award&oq=skyrim+best+writing+award&aqs=chrome..69i57.4325j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

 

Google's not coming up with anything of the sort for Skyrim.

[Hurlshort]

Flappy Bird - Infuriating.  My high score was 7.

[Gfted1]

^Mine is 4 and my daughter rubs her score of 9 in my face.

[Oner]

 

I'd be fine with it if Elder Scroll games wouldn't win Best Writing awards.

I'm amazed to hear that they do.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=skyrim+best+writing+award&oq=skyrim+best+writing+award&aqs=chrome..69i57.4325j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

 

Google's not coming up with anything of the sort for Skyrim.

 

http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/archive/writing.html

Fallout 3. I did think it was more than one of their games. *shrug*

 

Though it was funny seeing people praise the Skyrim Thieves Guild questline here and there after I read Shamus Young's breakdown of how stupid the questline is.

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=14422

[Zoraptor]

They do regularly get writing nominations (eg WGA for Fallout 3, BAFTA for Skyrim). Then again, video game awards are universally rubbish, even those with some pedigree in other fields like the BAFTAs or WGAs.

[Bollockoff]

I've always struggled getting into the Elder Scrolls games. Level scaling is dreadful and the general population in Oblivion and Skyrim are as interesting as guano on a cliff. Certain quests stand out like the magical painting and invisible village in Oblivion solely because everything else is so trite.

 

I'd have loved to have played Morrowind when it first came out. Before it became one of the worst aged games of all time.

[Bryy]

Spent most of the day building an underground bunker in Terrerier.

 

Diving into Wolf Episode II now.

[Lexx]

 

 

I'd be fine with it if Elder Scroll games wouldn't win Best Writing awards.

I'm amazed to hear that they do.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=skyrim+best+writing+award&oq=skyrim+best+writing+award&aqs=chrome..69i57.4325j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

 

Google's not coming up with anything of the sort for Skyrim.

 

http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/archive/writing.html

Fallout 3. I did think it was more than one of their games. *shrug*

 

Though it was funny seeing people praise the Skyrim Thieves Guild questline here and there after I read Shamus Young's breakdown of how stupid the questline is.

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=14422

 

 

Heh, that quest made me lol.

 

By the way:

So now we’re Nightingales, with all the rights and privileges that entails. (None.) Along with the costs. (My soul, apparently.)

I actually think this could be quite funny at the end of players life. There are so many quests in the game that apparently link you up with some god after your death that when you finally die, you would have all these gods trying to get your soul. It just screams for a super big clusterfck and I am highly interested in what the outcome would be.

[BruceVC]

 

I don't think any reasonable person can make a valid argument that Bethesda's writing and quest design, overall, is good. 

 

I can actually.

 

The writing doesn't stand out much (as most of us agree), but that goes both ways. Not bad, not very good. Serviceable. And then there are some gems. It really is good enough for me. Not every quest, every line of dialogue must be a pearl of wisdom to cherish in your dreams and write sweaty fanfic about. Remember, it's such a vast game compared to something like Planescape: Torment: The Corridor Simulator: The Novel Wannabe. There will be highs and lows. Overall I've had a very positive vibe from this game.

 

The quest design. Well, I have never played any game with such a varied set of quests. I've gotten quests from eavesdropping on people, from reading random notes in the wilderness, from reading books in bookshelves, from picking up innocuous swords, from sleeping in the wrong inn, from killing the right person.. I even got a quest because I picked up a red, annoying flower! I LOVE THAT!! I love that anything can evolve into a quest! I picked a random safe in some random building in some random village, and lo and behold, one of the items triggered a quest. Fantastic! 

 

I've helped a weirdo fix his wagon, I've hunted trophy animals for a crazed hunter, I've competed in an archery contest with some girl on a mountain top, I've explored sunken ships for stranded captains, I've fought the demons inside a mad god's mind, I've stolen goats from giants, I've invaded castles together with an army, I've competed in a drinking contest with a cheat (and I might have ended up married, not sure), I've helped a dog return to his immortal master, I've joined up with a ghost girl to reclaim some honor and some treasure, I've hunted down bandits, vampires, werewolves, assassin's, you name it. I've so far done over 300 quests and sure, some of them were not worth the time it took to complete them, but man.. I've had a lot of fun with this game.

 

I've mentioned this before but I haven't played Skyrim yet, I purchased the Legendary Edition on Steam and plan to play the game soon. To be honest most of the opinions on this forum have had a negative sentiment about Skyrim so its a refreshing change to see some positivity. Your feedback on some of the quests has got me even more excited so all I can say is "yay, nice one "   ( I think people also tend to focus on the negative in a game and that overshadows the positive experience)

 

 

 

 

Your post was unremarkable. Please stop posting until you write something truly bad or a true pearl of wisdom.

 

Is that how your logic works? As I already said, not all writing has to be memorable or noteworthy. As long as it is serviceable, it is OK. Just like in real life, on bulletin boards, in movies, in newspapers and, yes, even in books. As long as it keeps your interest long enough for you to find the gems, it's OK. I also disagree with your opinion that actively bad is better than serviceable. Actively bad ruins a game for me. Serviceable is just that, serviceable. Sometimes that's all that's needed, as long as there are some good parts too.

 

Ah, but I don't charge you for reading my pearls of wisdom- it's a service I provide for free for the betterment of mankind and as such I have no obligation to be in the least bit interesting. My posts are also not intended to be entertainment (most of the time), entertainment is meant to, well, entertain.

 

I literally cannot remember doing anything entertainment wise and thinking 'wow, that was serviceable, an average experience which was neither overly good nor overly bad'. I'm sure I have thought that at various times, but if the experience was that bland and unremarkable then I will have forgotten about it near instantly. On the other hand I can at least remember stuff that was rubbish as well as stuff that was good, but the 'average' stuff? May as well not have happened.

 

 

Zor maybe the reason you think that the writing in Skyrim lacked creativity was because you didn't understand what they were trying to explain? It happens sometimes in games. Also did you play the English version.. maybe the NZ version lacks the depth and eloquence of the English version. Think about it...its possible ....

[Humanoid]

I remember being surprised at encountering a Kiwi in FO:NV. One of the Great Khans, I believe, don't often hear the accent in games (or more generally, in media other than the Hercules/Xena TV shows).

[melkathi]

Played the second episode of the Wolf Among Us.

Found it to be a bit weaker than the first. No further comment so far as it hasn't even been out for 24h and I hate spoilers