StaceyPowers

For that matter, I am always trying to figure out if the remaining military was really as bad as they came across. We got a terrible initial impression of them at the start of the game because of Sarah, and obviously they couldn't do an ideal job managing the crisis afterward, but they did at least maintain the quarantine zones.

@kingpotato @TheSteelyardDweller I like both of your ideas. The sea would provide a very different ambiance than we are used to for the most part (though Point Lookout gave us a preview of what a coastal location is like).

@kingpotato @onewingedhoneybee Trade value isn't really what bothers me about holding onto my un-used games though. it's more knowing that someone else in my community might really appreciate getting a cheap deal on a game, and I'm just sitting on the discs wasting their usefulness.

I didn’t have any major issues taking care of dragons in the first couple of Dragon Age games (in fact, I don’t even remember any in DA II?). So far in Dragon Age: Inquisition, I have not successfully killed a single dragon, and I am starting to worry in case I have to kill one eventually for plot reasons. Does anyone have any tips for how I can kill these things?

What do you think are the most beautiful spots in Dragon Age games? In Origins, I really like Orzammar as well as Redcliffe—more than the version of it which shows up in Inquisition. In Inquisition, I love Crestwood, the Hinterlands (which remind me of Yosemite), and the desert areas I have been to thus far (the Western Approach and the Oasis).

Haven't gotten to that one yet. Just did mountain lion with a knife.

As a person with borderline traits, I can relate :) Interesting that both your reply and @Juneberry's have an overlap in that both of you picked games that in some way reflect a black and white world/opposites/splitting--maybe something easier to connect to and more reflective of our inner states than the ambiguous world outside. I can relate to that too. Ethics in video games are so simple: kill all the assholes =D

I am right about to wrap up my second complete playthrough of TLOU and Left Behind (I will probably be done with Left Behind again in a couple of days). Reflecting on the role of the Fireflies throughout the game as well as what relatively scant information we actually learn about them, I am trying to figure out if they actually made any positive and viable contribution to the world at any point. It seems to me they were largely a failing organization, and arguably, however idealistic, another group of thugs in their own way. What do you think?

I am probably in about the last third or fourth of Red Dead Redemption right now on my first playthrough, and I really enjoy the hunting and sharpshooting challenges. To me though, the ones that involve shooting hats off peoples’ heads seem to be near impossible without a gatling gun. What to you are the hardest challenges in RDR?

If you had to pick one videogame that somehow represents who you are as a person, which would it be and why? I would choose BioShock Infinite because I see life as a sea of variables in which I am always looking for and striving to be a constant. Booker and Elizabeth would sooner not exist as they were than allow themselves to vary from the constancy of what they deemed an ethical path, and I admire the hell out of that.

Thanks @Shagger and @The Blackangel. I nominate everyone already nominated :)

I wish I knew what to say about that. All I can do is express great rage at your so-called parents. Nobody should have to feel the need to negate their own existence. And I'd say that as far as parenting goes, producing a suicidal urge in your child perhaps defines ultimate failure.

Unfortunately this is the conclusion almost any child will draw automatically, not having developed the life experience or perspective to know better. And even when you get past it as an adult, the ghost of that belief tends to linger in the background, and has to be routinely put down.

My friend started a new character in Skyrim, and mentioned while playing that he was trying to figure out “what an Argonian is like.” He then bought some salt and told me that he had decided that Argonians like salt. I found this amusing, but realized I had never tried to figure out what an Argonian is like, or what an Orc is like, or what a Redguard is like, or even what any particular character I created is like. I don’t think I am very creative in this way. After playing a character for months and months in a game like Skyrim or Fallout, I may start to get a “feel” for them as distinct from another, but it is always just a result of their life events. For example, my first Skyrim character ended up being bitter and resentful and willing to punish anyone for her anger, but this only reflected what happened in her life, which was Markarth getting traded away in peace negotiations. My second character is more morally centered, but this is just because he made all the right decisions that I learned from screwing up with my first character. So they don’t really have personalities beyond “reaction to events.” He also took up cooking and smithing, but that was because I finally understood the crafting system at that point. So that was more “coincidence” than personality. For those who are not like me, and who have super detailed histories and personalities for your RP characters, what is your creative process? Do you start coming up with something based on reactions to events, and then build more deliberately off of that? Or do you try to come up with a lot of stuff as soon as you start playing, or even before that? What form does the narrative take in your head, if any? And how do you stay connected with your character? I feel like the more I would “invent” about a character, the less it’d feel like me in the game, and the more it’d feel like someone else. Ironically I don’t feel that way when playing a developed character in a linear game with an existing personality. But that is because I don’t have to put mental effort into “thinking up” that person. They just are, so I can just “be” as well, in their shoes.

Actually, that is a perfect example. Anytime an abuser puts you in a double-bind, that is exactly what is happening. In that case, my example is when I was told for years i was "abusive' while having autistic meltdowns. I didn't have the confidence to defend myself, and was consistently "wrong." Believing I was wrong didn't make any logical sense to me, but I felt like I had no choice if I wanted to keep my relationships long enough to make them work again. It didn't stop until I got a diagnosis and learned to stand up for myself.

I still haven't thought of a specific answer for this, which is weird, because I swear it happens to me all the time. I guess this is how I feel a lot when a neurotypical person is angry at me and I can't fathom why. What is an example for you of a time when 2+2 wasn't 4? Not that I'm aware of. Avoidable and pointless suffering, I suppose. You?

It is probably pretty hard to save for purchases right now for a lot of people with COVID-19 eating into incomes. But I still managed to put a little bit of my tax refund away in a pile toward purchasing a PlayStation 5 and some games. Hopefully I can keep it in that pile. The games I am saving for are mostly PS4 games which I am assuming I can play on a PS5. The games I am saving for are: RDR 2 The Outer Worlds The Last of Us 2 Innocence: A Plague Tale No Man’s Sky Fallout 4 Life is Strange BioShock: The Collection What games are you saving up for right now?

When you get a new console, what do you do with your existing one? When you get a PS5 or Xbox Series X, what will you do with your PS4 or Xbox One? What about your PS3 or Xbox 360? I am assuming that most people will mainly play their new consoles, and put their old ones on some sort of rotation schedule if they don’t have room to have them all out and need them to play certain games. I don’t have a PS4, but I imagine if I did that I would gift it to someone, as PS4 games are supposed to run on PS5. As I have only a PS3 and don’t expect the PS5 to have backwards compatibility with my PS3 games, I will keep my PS3 out and find a spot for the PS5 to be out simultaneously. I expect I’ll be playing both equally to start with since I am still deep in the middle of a number of PS3 games. But I expect to be using my PS3 regularly for as long as it works. And whenever it stops working, I probably will replace it, unless by then there are compatible remasters of all my beloved PS3 games for PS5. What will you do with your current consoles and games when you get a new console?

When a game you are excited for gets delayed, what is your reaction? Do you feel frustrated? Angry? Mildly annoyed? Or optimistic that at least it might mean a less buggy release? I’m so far behind generationally that this isn’t really applicable for me. If a game I am interested in gets delayed, it makes no difference for me since it will be months after its release that I will get to pick it up anyway. Plus, knowing me, even if that were not the case, I’d likely wait to get most things until they come down in price.

Do you own any games that for whatever reason, you don’t expect you will ever play? If so, what do you do with them? Do you hang onto them indefinitely? Do you give them to friends? Do you trade them in? At what point do you decide to do so? I am guilty of hanging onto a number of games for some time now that I don’t know if I will ever play, as I got them for free from the previous owner of my console. I know I should trade them in at the local store, but there is always this voice inside going, “But you might play Dark Souls eventually!” Does anyone else have a hard time with this? At what point do you finally persuade yourself that you should let go of a game?

Person-wise, I get along better with both Garrus and Wrex than I do Ashley. I guess I should try taking them both out more to see if I am relying more on Ashley than I need to be (probably). Don’t get me wrong—I like Ashley well enough. But her xenophobic attitudes (even understanding where they come from) can grate on me a bit. Garrus and Wrex both are pretty easygoing, and Garrus and I seem to share a similar outlook when it comes to do what to do with the bad guys. Is it really so important to open containers though? Whenever I do manage to open one, it always just seems like pretty standard supplies. I’m playing on casual mode, so I have a lot of money at this point and don’t seem really in need of anything. I would assume though on a harder mode, opening containers might be essential. I love biotics in combat. They remind me of the plasmids/vigors in BioShock games, and are both a lot of fun to use, and as you mentioned, powerful. I’m really glad I picked the Vanguard class. I was lucky enough to pick up all three Mass Effect games in a bundled set at a local store used for like $10! There are advantages to being so far behind with games. So Mass Effect 2 and 3 are waiting for me :) I still haven’t played ME2 or 3 yet, I’m in the middle of the first game. I’ve heard most people say they liked ME2 better than 3 (I think?), so it’s interesting to hear a slightly different opinion. But the ending you mentioned is one of the main complaints I hear about ME3. So I guess it is good to hear that there are some positives to offset that.

I suppose in a way that is gaming’s appeal altogether, experiencing things we don’t get to IRL—or things that IRL would not be fun as they are in a game. Like you, I am disabled and don’t get around much, so I love playing games that feature exploration, since that is what I like doing, and I can’t do much of it outdoors like I could when I was young. Actually, in a way, I guess all games are sim games! Skyrim is just an “exploration and combat simulator.” =D Since I am a writer, I am terribly curious about this writing sim. What was it called? It seems kind of superfluous conceptually, in that one can write in or out of a sim and one hardly requires a sim to write. Was it simulating stuff like dealing with agents and publishers and stuff? Cause that just sounds nightmarish =D That actually sounds pretty promising to me. Kind of like a whole game that is nothing but the recurring thief missions in Skyrim. I know someone who literally does almost nothing but that when he plays Skyrim, so I bet he would get into thief simulator.

I had no idea that this existed. If I had, I probably would have played it, since I enjoy the Dune books.

There is definitely a sense of irony there. I am sad that the game is delayed. Although, as a selfish aside, it does mean less time for me to have to avoid spoilers before I can get a copy. And as @The Blackangel mentioned, as they are still weeding out bugs, perhaps this will lead to an improved release when it does finally happen.

Yeah, it is quite a contrast with the Thieves guild in Oblivion. Mind you I am still at the beginning of that quest line in Oblivion, so I don't know where it leads, but in Oblivion, I believe you get kicked out of the thieves guild altogether for being a dick (i.e. robbing poor people). I wish the Thieves guild in Skyrim operated more like that. I don't like robbing poor people, so I always have to reject a bunch of Delvin/Vex missions until I get ones I don't mind. I certainly don't mind hurting Haelga. Keerava is kind of bitchy, but doesn't seem like a bitch. Haelga on the other hand ... I always like beating her up to get the money =D