StaceyPowers

Are there any technical specs that were irrelevant to you in the past, but you learned to care about? Like, I used to not care about frame-rate at all. But now that I’ve been spoiled by the higher frame-rate on PS5, PS3 games look so jerky to me.

I’ve been having an issue where The Outer Worlds on PS5 sometimes freezes when I try to save. If I wait a really long time, it often un-sticks and then I can save. I thought the issue was specific to that game, but I’ve been having a similar problem with Skyrim the past few days, also on PS5. It is making me wonder if it is a system-wide problem. Anyone know anything about this? Hopefully it is just a coincidence, and it is the games themselves, not the console.

Great voice acting can add to a game tremendously. But do you feel bad voice acting is a major detractor? Does it distract you a lot, or can you usually ignore it?

When you play an open world game, when do you usually try to complete the main quest line (assuming you can keep playing the game after it is done)? Do you do it early on, and then do most of the other quests after it? Do you finish it up somewhere in the middle? Do you try and complete the main quest line after wrapping up everything else?

Hey, how have you been? And that's awesome! Can't wait to hear what you think of it. Do you have any other tips for saving wrists while gaming? My job entails a ton of typing, so my wrists are also fragile. Usually I put soft braces on if they get strained. Yes, this product is great for keeping cords in order! Is there anything else that helps you manage your cats' fascination with your cords? One of mine is a relentless cord-chewer.

I haven't had a laptop last longer than 4 years since the very first one I ever got way back in the mists of time. Consoles on the other hand seem to have very long lifespans. Their value over time is excellent.

I feel like it has just about every feature you could ask for! Do you think you might get one? Yes, I think this is a way more ergonomic setup than trying to cobble something together for work at home. Did you talk to your dad about it? What did he think? I wish he'd tell us if he got it already.

The Outer Worlds has a thing where if you activate a companion ability, it triggers a fleeting cutscene. I find it more entertaining than disruptive. What other games have this?

That is hilarious.

What games do you feel have the most uplifting messages? I think I could say most games I have played have been at least somewhat uplifting (linear games especially), but the ones that stand out the most to me in this area are the Mass Effect series.

If you are playing an open world game, do you usually try to methodically do a bunch of quests in a small geographic area before proceeding to the next, or do you instead distribute quests in specific areas evenly across time and do more running back and forth? I notice I bunch the quests together, almost like I am playing a linear game. I think I do this sometimes because it makes more logical sense to me from an immersion standpoint. I also believe it just helps me keep track of what I am doing. It’s ironic though.

Do you closely follow news about gaming conventions and events?

In another thread, @Reality vs Adventure mentioned that collecting items can break immersion. I've noticed this too, but it is not the only reason item collection annoys me. It also plays to my OCD, and can result in annoying completionist episodes where I want to move forward, but feel stuck until I finish collecting. Sometimes I am relieved to end up in areas or situations where item collection is impossible. Does anyone else think games simply feature too much item collection?

I haven't played it!

Wow. Nothing came up when I searched the phrasing on Google. But that's messed up.

"Kill on sight" has so long been taken for granted in games. After I played Spec Ops: The Line, I can never feel the same way about that again. Watch Dogs Legion is one of the only other games I have seen find a way to call out this assumption/behavioural training.

Have you ever encountered a game-breaking bug that you could not work around on that playthrough? What did you do? Did you shelve the game forever? Wait for a patch and try again later? Replay on a different platform?

What are some games that end with more questions than answers, whether because those answers were not given or because you simply could not make sense of them?

What are some games that feature boss fights that are more like puzzles than fights? I would say the boss fight at the end of A Plague Tale: Innocence is more like a kind of adaptive, moving maze than a “fight.”

Did a video game character ever make you see yourself in a different way? After I played through Max’s quest in The Outer Worlds, I realized that he and I are kindred spirits. For some reason after watching him come to terms with his existential life experiences, I’ve felt better acknowledging how mine have shaped me.

What are some games that seem to have a light tone on the surface, but underneath are quite dark? The Outer Worlds, for instance, is humorous and fun, but it is also incredibly bleak. And the longer you explore the world, the more horrifying you realize the situation is.

I"ve noted the same thing as you though about valuing them all. I even feel more sympathy toward the Albion people when shooting at them since some of them are recruitable. The game's philosophy as expressed through its mechanics essentially seems to be that people are fundamentally OK if one can find a way to reduce their suffering and get through to them about the suffering of others. Alas, IRL, this is more challenging. But I like the message.

I feel a sense of irony reading this post after watching my friend run over about 50 NPCs yesterday while struggling with a mission =D But yes, I agree--this game has given us a new way to empathize with NPCs.

You response is also delightfully meta!

I agree with everyone here who has expressed concerns that Discord could siphon traffic off-site. I kind of like the idea of an on-site chat, but I don't know if it can implemented or if it would really solve the issue.