[Popular games that you don't even think of playing]

Multiplayer games, casual games, sports games except for racing, golf and billiard.

[What factors besides graphics quality impact the beauty of a game’s visuals?]

The most important part is that the game follows its own visual style. Everything can look beautiful no matter how primitive the graphics. Just know the limitations of your graphics and design around it. Use of colors is important. But there is also the design aspect. It's not enough to render characters their design has to be remarkable.

That said I do prefer better graphics, but graphics and visual design are two separate things.

[Biggest letdown of 2020?]

The only way you can be let down by something is if you had unrealistic expectations of it. I can't say I was really let down by anything this year, everything was close to my expectations, bad or good.

Maybe the biggest disappointment was Star Wars Squadrons, but that wasn't totally unexpected either. Hence I played it safe and only tried it on an EA Play subscription.

[Game Difficulty]

This depends on the game, some games I find infuriating even on easy difficulty, while other games are highly enjoyable on the highest possible setting like insanity or whatever it is called.

If a game becomes frustrating I even resort to modifying it or cheating to make it a better experience.

What I hate the most is when the solution to a problem does not come naturally in a game. Instead of thinking about solving the problem the player has to guess wtf the designer was thinking.

[Video games and gender socialization]

When I was young there were literally no girls into videogames that I knew of, this was before the time of sims and other casual games.

I always secretly wished as a child to be able to play with dolls, but I was too ashamed to ask for anything like that.  Well some would still laugh at me for admitting that as a grown man. Just as they do when I say I like to spend time in character creators. I've heard it uncountable times: That's just barbie dress up. Well maybe there is a connection there.

 

[Lines from video games you say constantly IRL]

What a shame... The most infamous line of JC Denton.

[Are you exclusive to any brand of item?]

Do I have brand loyalty? Let's see: my PC display is an LG, the TV in my living room is a Samsung, the TV in my home gym is a Philips, and the TV in my kitchen is a Toshiba. That's how many Fs I give about brand loyalty.

I buy whatever brand has the best offer at the time of purchase for my needs. This goes for everything, even for food where I have a preferred brand of something, from time to time I'll try different brands to see what they have to offer.

The only time brand loyalty comes into play is when two brands offer the exact same features at the exact same price, then I'll choose the one I've had before. But if the new brand has a better offering I go with that without hesitation.

 

 

[Most heartbreaking moment in a video game?]

There are many emotional scenes in Infinite Warfare. Here is one example.

 

[Why do some people hate playing games?]

 I believe it is a sign of hypocrisy, they have a desire to game, but they are so afraid of being labelled childish that they feel they need to disavow it publicly as loudly as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the haters were gamers in secret.

[Nintendo uses copyright claims to take down Game & Watch hacking videos]

Typical nintendo, I don't understand how can a company this greedy and this hostile to it's fans be so adored by some as it is.

[Unpopular opinion: Games can be for more than entertainment]

12 minutes ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

Man if only stop means go and go means stop then what is good is bad and bad is good. If words had meaning, lines have little. Connect the dots and you find what you are looking for. 

Sorry I Don'T know what I'm missing. All I see is some rambling about terrorists and predators which has zero connection with VR. Terrorists and predators don'T need VR they are already using the internet for malicious intent. All I'm concerned with is facebook trying to link my gaming habits to my personal account.

[Ranking the video games you completed for the first time in 2020]

13 hours ago, Hammerklavier said:

Hey m76, thanks for the list!  I haven't actually played any of those as of yet, but Last of Us II and Control are a couple in my collection that I'm planning on playing soon.  Given how much praise Control has received, I'm actually a bit surprised at your lukewarm review.  Hopefully I like it more than that.

Control is like Alan Wake, but with a much less engaging and compelling story. I didn't sympathize with the protagonist because I barely knew anything about her. I also felt that the core idea is a  ripoff from Beyond Two Souls. Of course if you never played alan wake or beyond I'm sure this is all meaningless to you.

13 hours ago, Hammerklavier said:

Also interesting to see your praise of Cyberpunk 2077.  Did you play it on PC or on a console?  It sounds like the most damning criticisms come down to how badly it plays on previous generation consoles.

PC of course, hence referring to the right hardware. I'd not buy it on a last gen console, not even after patches. It will be a sub par experience. If you don't have a decent PC wait for the PS5 version at least.

13 hours ago, Hammerklavier said:

"Deus Ex" is another one I plan to try for real one of these days.  The folks like you who nominate it for greatest game ever make me very curious about it.  I've turned it on a couple times in the past and played around a bit with the first stage, but it wasn't grabbing me.  Maybe time for me to try again this year.

I love deusex, but I feel at this point it is just too old and clunky to be engaging to newer audiences. Even it's much criticized sequel Invisible war seems much less clunky now.

It is really a game that deserves a proper remaster, I don't think I could re-play it myself now it's gameplay mechanics are just too dated, which after 21 years is no surprise.

[Ever think Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony will work together?]

I hope not. We would be stuck with the worst asapects of all three companies.

The greed and anti consumer culture of nintendo, the censorious sony, and the incompetent microsoft.

[Unpopular opinion: Games can be for more than entertainment]

9 hours ago, Kane99 said:

I wouldn't say that's an unpopular opinion at all. I think for the most part, games do express ideas and emotions, and also can be political and have a message. I think people only have a problem, is when they start to force a message on someone, or an idea. 

As well, I think gamers know what to expect from the games they get.

As long as the ideas represented fit within the fictional universe and the theme of the game I Have no problem with it. But there is a certain subculture who wants every game to adhere to their sensibilities and ideologies. Even games that are set in historical times. For example changing Mafia that is set during the prohibition era to be "more in tune with the times" is a ridiculous idea. The only time that game should be in tune with is the 1930s.  Cliché or not: Those who try to forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

And I'm not trying to put rules on any developer. Just be clear about what you are doing, don't gaslight me with BS about female frontline soldiers in WWI for example. But if you are upfront about your intentions and don't try to sell it as historically accurate I'm game. I even prefer the option to be able to play as a female character.  Like Assassin's Creed, where I love that half the roman soldiers are female. Since I'm not told that it is a historically accurate period piece, and if I disagree I'm a bigot.

[Unpopular opinion: Games can be for more than entertainment]

8 hours ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

It’s already becoming a medium for communication now that Facebook and Oculus are a package deal.

You act as if that's a good thing ?! Oculus products are off the table for me now.  I want to escape reality in games, not connect it to them.

[Most fun weapons of all time?]

Most fun weapon was the flak cannon from Unreal.  Two distinctive firing modes, one explode on impact the other bounces off walls and objects.

Another fun one is the grenade launcher from quake for the same reason.

Sadly no recent game has similar weapons.

[What retro gaming system would you most like to try?]

1 hour ago, The Blackangel said:

So are you saying I should give up my NES, SNES, and N64 and go straight to a PS5 because the past should stay in the past? I see then that you have already gotten rid of your Xbox One and PS4.

You can do whatever you want. I'm saying what I'm doing. And yeah I'm already planning to get rid of my PS4 Pro. The only reason, well actually two reasons it's still here is 1. I was too lazy to put it up for sale. 2. I'm waiting whether TLOU2 gets additional content.

[Game endings you love that other people hate?]

The Last of Us II

Many people were frustrated that the game didn't let you finish it off. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but that means the whole moral of the story flew by miles above their heads.

[What retro gaming system would you most like to try?]

Let the past be the past. I'm not interested in retro.  Maybe it would be interesting to see a gaming museum where all the old systems are represented, but beyond that I have no interest in retro systems. Even if by chance I'd want to try an old game I'd go for an emulator instead.

[Are you ever glad you saw spoilers?]

I don't seek out spoilers, I even avoid trailers for games that I already decided to buy. I want to experience everything first hand.
But sometimes seeing spoilers but especially the reaction of people to other spoilers makes me even more excited for games, not less.

An example of this would be The Last of Us II, I never actually saw the spoilers themselves but I saw the negative reactions and it made me laugh and got me all the more hyped up for the game. Sadly the side effect was that I could easily deduce the gist of the spoiler by the reactions alone. But since it wasn't a  major event in the game, just a conflict starter It wasn't an issue. It was even beneficial, because when it came I just ticked a box in my head "Yes, I've been expecting that, now on to why I was actually excited for the game"

 

[Unpopular opinion: Games can be for more than entertainment]

I think games should be authentic period. If you aim to do a game set in a fictional future, don't drag commentary on current real world events into it.

Sure games can be educational, and should be. They can build skills etc. But hiding propaganda in them is a disservice, and outright malicious. Especially in games aimed at children. 

The developers should always be very clear and transparent about their intentions. Never use games as a platform for piggybacking controversial messages.

[Best games for escapism?]

BeamNG Drive

Train Simulator

Transport Tycoon

[Most badass you’ve ever felt in a game?]

I think we need to separate two things here.

As in Badass as a player, eg feeling you achieved something that requires great skill. Or badass as the character.

As a player probably my proudest achievement is that I used to race against a current real world champion driver in Live for Speed. And he could barely best me. Even complimented my driving.

As the character the most memorable badassery was in the Tomb Raider reboots when you get the rope pull ability and can pull down barricades. That somehow felt strangely empowering.

 

[Do you play games to escape yourself or find yourself?]

Neither really.

I definitely don't want characters that are exactly like me.

I like characters that represent my ideals both morally and in physical appearance.

[Not using items ever to conserve resources]

12 hours ago, StaceyPowers said:

When I play games with any resource scarcity, my best items often go unused forever because I am saving them for later. Anyone else do this?

Yes, all the time. You carry and seve the "bestest" weapons for whatever and you end up finishing the game with a pea shooter. I think this just goes back to bad game design. Like the typhoon in deusex human revolution. You find maybe 3 shoots for it through the entire game.