StaceyPowers

A quick list right off the top of my head:
Zelda OoT
Castlevania SOTN
FF8
The Legend Of Zelda (first title on NES)
Q*Bert
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Mario 64
1080 Snowboarding
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Layers Of Fear: Legacy
Dante's Inferno
God Of War (entire series prior to PS4, but especially Chains Of Olympus)
RDR2
Tell Me Why
Life Is Strange

So long as I've been a professional reviewer, zero, because that wasn't my trade when Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was new, and those are some of the few games that would get my overwhelmingly bias 5/5, which is what they're reserved for. However, when I do a personal review of something such as on The Backloggery, I've given three games a five-star review, the first being Yakuza 0. The next two are Paper Mario and I may end up knocking down Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door simply because I don't find it as legendary, despite its status within the community (and my nostalgia which matched others'.)
My scoring system is essentially 4-stars, and goes as follows:
A technically bad game I didn't enjoy. A technically bad game I did enjoy / a technically good game I didn't enjoy. A technically good game I did enjoy / a technically bad game I greatly enjoyed. A technically good game I greatly enjoyed. Unreachable god-tier. I find five-stars to be more managable than 10 or out-of-100 because they lack consistency between sites, editors, and reviewers,and my criteria are easy enough to measure. It also prevents score inflation. A 2/5 is still a good game in one sense or another, and honestly, between that and a 5/5, that's the score to trust if you read any of mine. But then you are supposed to read the text that reaches the conclusion of it getting its score.

I am really into open world gaming, but I feel like some things could definitely be improved. For example:
-More relevant "follow up" quests following completion of specific quest lines (i.e. after fixing the Thieves guild in Skyrim, why can't there be some kind of extended quest line involving the guild's new golden age?).
-More three-dimensional followers with solid backstories (Fallout NV does this right; Skyrim gets it pretty wrong).
-More continuity in terms of consequences of one's actions across the map.
I'd love to see a kind of hybrid format between Dragon Age and Skyrim. I love the openness of Skyrim, but it'd be cool if it had the depth and evolution of Dragon Age in response to one's choices.
What do you think could improve in open world game formats?

What are some factors that can lead to stagnancy in an MMO?
I would list, for instance, a game where factions are too segmented off from one another and their core beliefs/motivations are not allowed to transform.

Plus, how many forum administrators would even discuss it with their members? @DC is the best 🙂

What are some unique ways that games have discouraged piracy? An Infocom game called Wishbringer a long time ago included physical items in the box that you needed to solve a puzzle in the game.

Plus, how many forum administrators would even discuss it with their members? @DC is the best 🙂

When you are watching someone else play games next to you, is it hard to restrain the urge to give them suggestions, especially if you see them making a really bad mistake or they are complaining about being frustrated?

In another thread, @Crazycrab and I were talking about how The Last of Us arguably could never be as good in a film format as it is in a video game format. Personally, I think that the reason for this is in part the sheer simplicity of the story. It is the kind of story that on a screen, I think some people would be left asking “Is there more …?” But in a video game, it worked brilliantly.
This got me thinking about what makes for a good story in a video game. What do you look for in order to say that you really enjoyed a video game’s plot?
My favorite video game stories are TLOU and the BioShock games. TLOU has a very simple, minimalist plot, whereas the BioShock games have fairly elaborate storylines. So, I think for me, how a story is told counts for more than the complexity or simplicity of a storyline in a game. What these stories do have in common is a strong focus on characters along with a focus on examining moral choices. So I guess that must be what I like in video game stories. What about you?

I’ve noticed that when people discuss “immersion,” they are not always referring to the same thing. Usually, when I use this word, I mean “feeling like I am present in the game universe, like I am actually there.” But sometimes I see people use it to mean “emotionally invested in the game universe.” When people don’t realize they are using the same word with totally different meanings, confusion and miscommunication can ensue.
When you use the term “immersion,” what is its definition for you?

I’ve noticed that when people discuss “immersion,” they are not always referring to the same thing. Usually, when I use this word, I mean “feeling like I am present in the game universe, like I am actually there.” But sometimes I see people use it to mean “emotionally invested in the game universe.” When people don’t realize they are using the same word with totally different meanings, confusion and miscommunication can ensue.
When you use the term “immersion,” what is its definition for you?

I am running a video ad on VGR Forum for the next 2-3 days. I know it's a bit annoying but it helps pay the bill and it is at least video gaming related. Thanks for understanding and thanks for helping make VGR the best gaming community on the net! 🙂

I decided to say screw it and post the rest of the pics that I currently have.
 
 

I don't know if it matters, or if anyone cares, but starting this Friday (10-8-21) I will be gone for several days. We're flying out to Indiana to buy my dream car, and then driving back. We'll be stopping at hotels on the way, So we may not be back until Monday (10-11-21). Hopefully we'll be back sooner, But there's always the chance that we won't be back before the work week starts. We're not going to push ourselves, because I'm not taking the chance of hurting my car. If I get drowsy, we're stopping. And with this car, no one drives it but me. It's my baby, and I'm taking care of it as if it were a human child. I don't know if I've posted a pic of it yet, but either way here she is.
1987 Chevy Camaro Iroc-Z T-top
 
 

honey, whipping cream, cornstarch, egg yolks and a couple other things, very simple. It tasted like honey and cream, and the texture kinda reminded me of whipped cream made from scratch if whipped cream did not melt.

I wore braces for years, and honestly I still ate almost all the same foods. It was not too bad 🙂

What I came away with is sometimes we have to look at the bigger picture or we will fall prey to our delusions.

Game developers are often notorious for seeming to ignore fan feedback, but there are definitely some companies which seem to go the extra mile. For the life of me I can’t remember the name, but I recall a story about a developer for an FPS game which received feedback from one player complaining about a particular map feature screwing up strategic play  (a tree, I believe), and they removed it on his request. I found that pretty impressive.
What game developers do you think do the best job listening to their fans and building a relationship?

How do you approach open world gaming so as to keep the experience fresh? Mods are an obvious answer, but what about how you play?
I’ve noticed that open worlds feel fresher to me if I approach them as much like RL as possible—limit fast travelling, go everywhere on foot or using in-game conveyances, etc.

Well, most people are upset by the smallest things nowadays so I'm hardly surprised. Having said that, this essay is quite an interesting read and I do quite like the concept provide it is naturally integrated into the story and doesn't feel forced.

I often feel disconnected from games, but not for the reason described there. It is kind of a given that you have to choose to do the main objective of the game, otherwise what else is there?
The disconnect I feel is when the game doesn't have a clearly defined narrative to follow and serve as an incentive to continue the struggle. The opposite of which the article seems to be advocating for.
I find the suggestion for games not to have a specific story to tell, but offering many potentialities of stories to be experienced by the player, not just undesirable, but completely infeasible. That would mean the need to make 5 games or 10 games to make just one. The narrative of a game either works for the player and they end up liking it, or it doesn't and they end up not liking it. And that's alright. 
As for the disconnect between the game mechanics and the narrative, I always think of that as a technical limitation. Sure it would be great if you could smash all rocks in the game environment and they would stay smashed, but I understand that it is not feasible.  You don't experience games as you do real life, and your inputs and reactions are limited. So there needs to be an established set of mechanics and rules on how the player interacts with the game.  These mechanics need to be clearly defined and should never suddenly change. Just because there are choices in the story, doesn't mean the game mechanics also need to be a'la carte.
 

Yes, I find myself doing that at times. That's actually what starts straining my eyes because I'm looking around too much too fast. And it makes gaming have a distancing effect instead of immersion. Sometimes I know I have to move on and it's easy to fall into the fast play. Sometimes I even think about getting somewhere before the sun sets or before the sun comes back up. I have to stop myself and look at my surroundings. Many times the in game music motivates me to slow down and soak things in. But when the music cuts out, and I start fighting, looting, riding, etc. I've got to remember to enjoy myself before I give myself a headache. 

Not necessarily, it depends on when I get to play my games or when I want to have a gaming session. That being said, playing horror games at night definitely boost immersion.

So far it seems less buggy, and I'm enjoying playing with mods 🙂 And the remaster does look quite good with the enhanced clarity/sharpness.

Here is an essay on the concept of “ludonarrative dissonance” in games that I found very interesting: http://www.fredericseraphine.com/index.php/2016/09/02/ludonarrative-dissonance-is-storytelling-about-reaching-harmony/
I guess this really bothers a lot of people. Ironically, I feel most of the games that have really impacted me have deliberately featured this dissonance and made it part of the experience, rather than trying to avoid it.
In some ways though, I don’t even get why this bothers people. A gap between what I am trying/want to do and what I can/must do IRL pretty much is the essence of my normal human experience. Life, at its core, features this “dissonance.” When it features in games, to me it actually makes them more lifelike.
 
 

Here is an essay on the concept of “ludonarrative dissonance” in games that I found very interesting: http://www.fredericseraphine.com/index.php/2016/09/02/ludonarrative-dissonance-is-storytelling-about-reaching-harmony/
I guess this really bothers a lot of people. Ironically, I feel most of the games that have really impacted me have deliberately featured this dissonance and made it part of the experience, rather than trying to avoid it.
In some ways though, I don’t even get why this bothers people. A gap between what I am trying/want to do and what I can/must do IRL pretty much is the essence of my normal human experience. Life, at its core, features this “dissonance.” When it features in games, to me it actually makes them more lifelike.