StaceyPowers

Ah right. I took what you said too literally (I'm told I do that a lot, lol). Hype truly is a double-edged sword.

Liquid near PCs terrifies me as well. How do I ground myself?

That may be true, but it’s not going to stop me from complaining about it. I can still oppose the train in a paltry attempt to slow it down or stop it. @LadyDay @SpaceExplorer @The Blackangel Where do you weigh in on this topic?

You're lucky. I always seemed to be involved in a pitched battle over something I wanted to play/read/listen to/watch.

Yeah, it just doesn't appeal to me personally. And something to do with it being an out-of-character accomplishment. Usually I aim for full immersion while gaming, so stuff that's external to my character isn't going to register with me.

It worries me too, for sure. I'm kind of hoping that the sheer length of time we'll be waiting will maybe provide a window for some improvements at the company. The reverse is possible as well though (and sadly, probably more likely).

That's different :)

Excellent! Oh one more bit of advice on New Vegas. That game features a lot of skill checks, i.e. speech checks, science checks, repair checks, and other skills, so you'll want to decide early how you want to specialize. Like I usually ignore Speech in Skyrim, because so rarely does it influence actual outcomes of situations. But in NV, passing a speech check can result in a completely different ending for a quest or character. The first time I played, I didn't put points into Speech for ages, because I was just playing it like I would Skyrim. This time around, I'm pouring points into it early so I can get better endings/solutions to some quests :)

I understand that not every person is going to adore every game which was ever popular, but I don’t understand why so many people are obsessed with hating on them. As a random example, I swear I see at least one post a day on the web where someone says, “The Last of Us is not a great game, no matter what people say.” I don’t begrudge anyone their opinions (although, it is irritating when they state them as if they are objective facts), but the sheer quantity of these posts kind of baffles me. Why is there a compulsive human need to hate on things that do well?

With Sekiro having released, I’m seeing people debating everywhere as to whether all games should include an “easy” mode or not. The arguments for it are essentially that everyone should have a chance to enjoy playing through a video game at their appropriate challenge level (seems reasonable to me). The arguments against it seem to boil down to a sort of elitism, and the claim that one won’t “feel as accomplished” beating a hard game if it has an easy mode. This does not make sense to me, as it is the player’s choice whether to play on hard or easy. One may ignore the easy mode and experience the same level of challenge one would if it didn’t exist. I don’t think I would demand that every developer make every game playable on every level (it may be impossible since there are so many subjective nuances to what makes a game “easy” or “hard” for any given person), but I don’t really understand why they wouldn’t try. I don’t feel making an experience more accessible to one person takes away another person’s fun. What are your thoughts? Do you think every game should have an easy mode? What would be the best way on a technical level to broaden accessibility as much as possible?

Nope. What everyone said about "what if the internet crashes" is a valid point. But for me it's also about ownership and consumer empowerment. Once things are totally digital, they turn into subscription services. I really like to just ... buy a thing, and then own it, and play it whenever I want for however long I want as often as I want with no continuous drain of money.

In a video?

This is me too. I mean, it's not that I find it strange exactly. It's just that I literally don't grasp the appeal. But I suspect in a way it's related to my compulsive need to search every corner of every room in a game to make sure I've found everything in it. For those who must collect trophies, they need to because they are there to be collected.

Well, with my last-gen console (which is my only console), I’ve bought everything years after release, lol. Most of my games have run me $5-10. Whether I buy physical or digital depends on the best deal I find when I am looking to purchase. I prefer physical in general, but space is at a bit of a premium in my place.

That sort of behaviour would be a deal-breaker for me. It's not that the sexualized characters are all that important, but I don't like people feeling they can restrict my activities. Same ... lol. To each his own, right? =D Anyway, back on the original topic, my family looked at games more as communal property. If a game ended up in the house, everyone who felt like playing it did, regardless of whom it was purchased by or for. My family was pretty repressive regarding media use in general, but that was mostly my mother, and she didn't really "get" computers, so it was the area where she had the least influence. As a result, I got to play most things I wanted without any issues. It was books, movies, TV and music where she had all sorts of restrictions. Actually, one HUGE stupid restriction she had was a strict ban on ALL RPGs, whether digital or tabletop. She thought they were devil worship or something.

True, but we are waiting, lol.

That looks so awesome.

I agree. In fact, I think of my horses in Skyrim as my pets as well.

It shouldn't. It's been developed by Obsidian, not Bethesda. Obsidian is the reason NV stands out in so many respects. If they put that same care into this, it should be great.

Yeah, I have no idea what the appeal was. Everyday sadism is quite common though, especially online. I mean, what do trolls get out of trolling? Apparently quite a lot, since they keep doing it. One of the things I love about VGR is that there is a surprising lack of trolling here, which is especially refreshing on a video game forum. Posting here almost reminds me of the way the internet was back in the early days.

@Alyxx @killamch89 I can relate to that. I don’t have a hard time taking things apart and putting them back together, but I’m dreadfully afraid of screwing something up with static cling. There was also the time I used a screwdriver I had no idea was magnetized … @DylanC Totally! It’s so customizable. Same for Fallout, really. I also like Fallout’s skill distribution a bit better, especially since some games (New Vegas) really let you use Speech and other abilities in surprisingly effective ways.

I can relate to that. I don’t have a hard time taking things apart and putting them back together, but I’m dreadfully afraid of screwing something up with static cling. There was also the time I used a screwdriver I had no idea was magnetized …

@SpaceExplorer I forgot about Freelancer! Good call. I also have been following along with No Man’s Sky since development, but still haven’t had a chance to play it. It sounds like my ideal game, hypothetically—I mean, exploring space is pretty much all I wanted to do growing up. I had this delusion I’d grow up and join the Federation, lol. The turn of the century was coming up, and surely that meant the Future, right? Real life is such a letdown. Can you tell me more about EVE? I’ve always been curious about it. How much actual player interaction is there? @DylanC I’ve heard of FTL, but don’t know much about it. Have you written a review?

@kingpotato rofl, perfect. @LadyDay https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Angi's_Camp One of the more remote locations on the map! Worth taking a trip up there just because it’s so high up in the mountains, plus it’s one of the only actual tutorial-type things in the game, weirdly enough (she actually walks you through firing at targets). Obviously you don’t need a tutorial, but it’s curious that it exists, all the same. So you may find it interesting. I still haven’t played Dawnguard. You’ll have to tell me how it is! Yes, get New Vegas, it is awesome! A quick word of warning—Fallout seems to have more of a steeper curve as a newbie than Skyrim, at least in my opinion. Here are a few quick tips: 1-Do not try to take shortcuts to Vegas. If you head north, you’ll run into like a million deathclaws right outside the newbie town. The route I tried to use to shortcut to Novac/Vegas had a bunch of scorpions in it which are very hard as a newbie. Just use the route it guides you through. 2-The game is much easier with a follower. There are only a few followers available in the game. I recommend Boone in Novac if you don’t know where to start. 3-This may not be an issue on PC, but skip the gory mess perk. It literally breaks the game on PS3, at least for me. 4-Like me, you will almost certainly detest Caesar’s Legion on sight, and want to kill them all. The moment you make an attack on them, they start sending assassins to kill you like … all the time. It’s the one thing I find super annoying in the game. So if you want to delay that, delay attacking them for a while. The assassins are easier to dispatch with a follower. Let me know when you start the game!

@killamch89 @The Blackangel I totally forgot about those. That might be something to think about. My configuration is still very odd--one of my plugs is on the ceiling, lol. Can those multioutlet thingies be plugged into power strips as well?