[Side quests that felt like they belonged in main quests?]

Can you think of any quests that were side quests, but felt like they should be part of the main questline for a game?

An example I would give would be the quest about the retirement district in The Outer Worlds.

[Cannon endings that bother you?]

Are there any cannon endings in video games that bug you? Which ones, and why?

[Silent protagonists that seemed like distinctive characters?]

What games feature silent protagonists that to you still felt like they had their own distinct identities rather than just being a stand-in for "you" as the gamer?

To me, Jack and Delta in the BioShock games felt distinct from me. So did the cat in Stray.

[How long do you wait for a game to go on sale?]

How many months/years do you wait around for a game you want to go on sale before you just decide it is not going to happen and you grab it at full price?  

I realize if you can buy it on a physical disc you might just grab it used eventually, but this isn’t applicable with digital.

[Do you ever make spreadsheets, floor plans, drawings, charts, etc. while gaming?]

One of my friends mentioned trying to sketch out how she wants her No Man’s Sky base to look, and that she also has done spreadsheets for her resource management.

Do you ever write/draw plans like this for games you play?

[Multitasking non-gaming tasks while gaming]

Do you ever game and do other stuff at the same time, like work or homework? If so, what games do you find work best for this sort of multitasking?

I used to play MUDs and work on homework as a teen, but all the games I play now are too active/demanding for multitasking.

[Scheduling gaming sessions with friends]

To those who game online with friends, how do you overcome scheduling challenges, especially if you work different hours and days or you live in different timezones?

[Virtual worlds as safe/therapeutic spaces]

I was having a really bad day the other week, and found the only thing that made me feel safe and okay for a few hours was to log into my friend’s Minecraft world. When we were young, her house used to be the place I feel safe, but she lives across the country now.

I was surprised by what a big help her Minecraft world was for getting me more centered again. Does anyone else here find that virtual environments have a therapeutic effect on you?

[Does anyone here willingly engage in microtransactions? In what games?]

Are there any games where you regularly engage in microtransactions? Which games, and how do you feel about it?

[What developers and publishers offer the best and worst customer support?]

When it comes to customer support, which developers and publishers have you found to be the best and worst to deal with?

[What should I do with my PS Plus membership?]

I have a PS Plus membership for the first time ever courtesy of a friend. Tbh, I never paid much attention to PS Plus since I’m not really into subscriptions, but since I have it, what are the best things to do with it to get the most out of it?

[[Sponsored] Sneak Energy - the drink every gamer needs before a marathon]

On 9/9/2022 at 11:15 AM, Withywarlock said:

 

Not that I can tell, it only smells like it in the packet. Thankfully it doesn't taste like raw sewage, again it only smells like it when added to water. It's just a very sour flavour.

Do you think the sewage smell affects the taste in a negative way? Or do you just manage to ignore the smell once you are drinking it?

On 9/9/2022 at 12:10 PM, Shagger said:

 

I kind of touched on this in my review, but I wouldn't recommend Sneak as an aid to dieting nor exercise as I think the crash factor is a bit high. I will say I think one can drink Sneak as part of a healthy diet and exercise regime, but in the end it is just an energy drink. It's marketed to people sitting on thier ass playing video games for a reason.

 

If you drink it slowly, does it help to avoid the crash?

On 9/9/2022 at 10:48 PM, Withywarlock said:

Not really, but some flavours do have a chalky after-feeling, which then requires you drink more to wash it away.  

Which flavors gave you that chalky after-feeling? Which ones had a smoother after-feeling?

On 9/12/2022 at 9:37 AM, killamch89 said:

I like the branding and it seems quite affordable (the starter bundle that is) - I wouldn't mind trying it out. That Bunny Logo looks pretty awesome - my only real gripe is that when they named it sneak, I was thinking more along the lines of a cat for the logo.

I don't know why, but this made me laugh. 

[Dying in The Outer Worlds now has serious consequences for me.]

20 hours ago, Kane99 said:

Were you able to resolve the issue @StaceyPowers? Sounds like it's some tech bug that probably could have been resolved with a bug report to the dev team. It's probably something to do with the difference in hardware. I would imagine by now they have released a patch. 

I have resolved the issue by not dying.

[If you game at night, do you use blue light filters?]

37 minutes ago, Gonassis said:

Weird, this oddly reminds me of tinnitus, the way you describe it. 😅

also, does that mean you play as an in game vampire? 😁 Just kidding.

That worked out well in Skyrim, actually. But don't get me started about the time I caught vampirism in Oblivion. It nearly ruined the game for me. 

[If you game at night, do you use blue light filters?]

12 minutes ago, Gonassis said:

This is exactly my same reasoning lol. 🤣

though I use the orange night filter settings when browsing walls of text on the internet at night,
but if I'm gaming? well... I'd rather not. but if I had to, I'd rather buy those yellow Esport glasses. 😎

Same here. I have a permanent blue filter on my laptop for my migraines. But they usually back off at night when I game. If they don't, I just play something that doesn't involve being outdoors in-game in daylight.

[[Sponsored] Sneak Energy - the drink every gamer needs before a marathon]

I’m always looking for new sugar-free drinks to try while gaming, so I’m very interested! At a glance at the product pages, it looks like their ingredients are exactly what they say they are: amino acids, vitamins, etc. That makes me think that not only would these work great as energy drinks, but also would be pleasant to drink when I am feeling under the weather. 

@Withywarlock Very insightful review (I'd expect nothing less). Now I am so curious if the "Stealth" flavor actually has any licorice notes in it (I actually love licorice, so that'd be amazing). 

[Functionality in games it took you years to discover]

Do you sometimes play a game for years before realizing you can do something in it? Like last night, after 3+ years of Oblivion, I finally realized you can pick up objects and position them like you can in Skyrim (not just put them in your inventory or drop them).

[Finding solutions before you find what they’re for]

If you focus a lot on exploration in games, do you frequently find solutions/keys/etc. before you know what they are for?

[What constitutes a “puzzle”?]

I just finished Stray, which has a number of “puzzles” that reminded me of figuring things out in old point and click adventures a bit. In fact, they didn’t really feel like “puzzles” to me—just exploring the environment and seizing opportunities. It made me curious. What actually makes something a “puzzle” in a game? Is it subjective at all?

[What video game(s) have helped you most through rough times in your life?]

What video game(s) have helped you most through rough times in your life? I think for me it is BioShock. I was badly injured a few years ago and in bad pain most of the time for many months. I stared playing BioShock after it happened, and it persuaded me that good things could still happen in my life and it had not been 100% bad since the injury (feeling much better now).

 

[Seizure/visual problems with gunfire in shooters]

I know two people who are unable to play most shooters because the gun effects trigger their seizures/visual sensitivities. Is anyone else here affected by this? I feel like games should just have a option to switch off these effects.

[Games or game sections where you can avoid killing anything?]

What are some games or sections of games where you can take a totally pacifistic approach and avoid killing anything at all?

[Best video game analysis videos you’ve seen]

I wanted to start a thread for sharing excellent video game analysis videos.

To kick things off, I will share this amazing mathematical analysis of the ending of Stray (SPOILERS, obviously):

 

 

 

[What has made you cry hardest in a video game?]

What has made you cry hardest in a video game? For me it was the ending of Stray.

[Obvious plot twists you missed]

In another thread, I posted about obvious plot elements that you might have missed. Conversely, what are some games where something put in as a plot twist—or which other gamers called a plot twist—seemed obvious to you early on?

For example, I’ve heard a lot of people call the big reveal in BioShock Infinite a plot twist. But to me it just seemed like normal plot. I guessed it quite early.