StaceyPowers

Go for one of the cheap to mid range ones, Big brands like KontrolFreak charge about £15 which is ridiculous.  The ones in the picture I posted are £4.29 in the UK and that's not bad.

I was thinking of mentioning SMB and Castlevania, but only wanted to pick one franchise for my post. And of the 3, The Legend Of Zelda means the most to me. I think I mentioned before that, if it wasn't for Zelda on NES, I probably wouldn't be a gamer today.
But either way, SMB is the biggest franchise that I'm aware of, and from it's humble roots to todays market, no game has aged anywhere near as well.
Castlevania hasn't faded away, and certainly never will. But I honestly think nothing will ever be able to touch SMB. Nintendo really hit it out of the ball park with that one.
I was never the biggest fan of RE or SH, so I can't comment on them.

Really interesting topic @StaceyPowers! I find that 2D games like Super Mario, Super Metroid, Castlevania etc. have all aged incredibly well. I think that 2D games of this ilk will likely forever have an audience/appeal. They're just timeless, you know. 
On the other hand, 3D games from the PS1 era have aged arguably the worst. OG Silent Hill and Resident Evil look and play like relics from on older past (not saying you can't have fun with them - I'm still very fond of those games). They just seem clunkier when looked at through a modern lens. And I guess that's why they may be getting the remake treatments that they're getting, i.e. with Resident Evil with last year's excellent Resident Evil 2 remake and this year's Resident Evil 3 remake. And hopefully a remake of Silent Hill (which is rumoured to be in the works too).

Are there any characters in games you suspect you are supposed to like, but you absolutely hate? For me, it is Delphine and Esbern in Skyrim, because they want to kill Paarthurnax.
 
 

I do tend to change armors for every quest line in Skyrim, regardless of the stats I try to use the armor that fits more with the story line of the quest. During the College of Winterhold I tried to go full mage but all my stats where close combat related and 0 magic, it was awfull xD Not even playing as a paladin helped. Had to go full tank in order to finish the quest line.

In another thread, @22_22 mentioned that while he has learned cool things from video games, he tends to use them as an escapism outlet rather than deliberating trying to learn things.
This made me curious to what extent most of us here prefer games for escapism vs games to help us confront our RL problems?
I would say I use games primarily for escapism, a way to try to get out of my own head and stop thinking about my life for a few hours at a time. But I like playing games that give me valuable insights or ideas that I can bring back to RL with me and which somehow improve life outside the game as well.
Like, video games help me get out of my own head and escape, but when I deal with real life problems, sometimes I find myself asking, “What would Joel do? What would Ellie do? What would Leliana do? What would Booker do?” etc., and it helps.

I wouldn't any game that I've played has taught me anything about current events but it certainly has improved my knowledge in certain areas. For example woodcutting in Runescape taught me about nature and introduced me to different trees, which I continued to research and at the time I was fascinated by how many of them were actually real.

I think the reason why I have not used games to understand current events is because I prefer to use games as an outlet to escape from the 'real world' and enjoy having fun without necessarily learning anything of value.

You can go off on your own right away if you want, or you can follow the guy as far as Riverwood (getting a brief tutorial on The Standing Stones along the way) and meet his family in Riverwood who can give you supplies and direct you toward Whiterun for the next quest on the main story. Which family you meet of course depends on whether you follow Hadvar or Ralof into the keep during the Helgen attack. Each family will talk to you and give you equally interesting, but opposing views on the political situation happing in Skyrim. Ralof and his family support the Stormcloaks, whereas Hadvar and his family support the Empire. This doesn't impact on the rest on the game, It's just an interesting insight into the views of these people with regard to the war.

It's fairly easy to find your way around in Skyrim, the map and user interface can tell you where to go. Once you have selected a quest (or quests) from the "Quests" tab in the main menu, such as below;

 
Markers to indicate where to go appear on the map (here's how it looks with the marked location(s) are in view);

 
(...and if the marked location(s) are off-screen)

 
Markers also appear on the horizontal compass at the top of the gameplay screen to show you which direction to go to reach the maker from where your character currently is.

 
I hope that helps.

In terms of combat, there really isn't much to say. It plays like a fairly normal military FPS. The story though... well, let's just say that does NOT play like a normal military FPS.

@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). 

I find this an interesting coincidence. The newspaper on campus here is called The Maneater.
That's the second odd thing to happen to me today.

I can't say anything for anyone else, but I am definitely not selling mine. I may sell some of the duplicate systems I have, but I'm not selling any of the ones that I have hooked up to play.

I'd like to nominate @SaucyPastaTho @Shagger and @StaceyPowers,  I'm also just realising for the first time how many people that frequent this forum have user names that start with an S.

I wasn't going to mention it, but I have BPD as well. That could be the reason our thinking was so similar.

Hatred. Nuff said.
But for those wanting more info, I get to go around slaughtering unhindered. No moral constraints, no cares for who it is that I kill. The world is finally black and white. None of that “gray area” bullshit. Misanthropic desires sated. Bloodthirst quenched. Stress relieved, until tomorrow. Then we begin having fun again.
I guess that also offers a bit of explanation behind my hollow teardrop tattoo.

I have to say, the game I've been playing recently represents me pretty well. Harvest Moon: A Tale of Two Towns has to do with polar opposites (I'm borderline- I see the world that way most of the time). It involves living a quiet life, which I generally do... And to some people, these games are just awkward, also like me. I can probably think of other games that represent me too, though. This one just felt fitting the most right now.

Thank you for the nominations
I nominate @skyfire @SaucyPastaTho @Shagger @StaceyPowers @The Blackangel

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.

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. 

I have one simulator game that I've been playing. It's Thief Simulator. A bit odd, but a lot of fun. It would only appeal to a select few in a small demographic. So I doubt it will be very popular. It was, if I remember right, the game that was selling for 1 penny. If it wasn't that one then I think it was the one that I bought for either 19 cents or 49 cents. I honestly don't remember. But I do know for a fact that it was less than 50 cents. At least when I bought it, it was.

I'm a big fan of simulators myself. They let me quasi-experience things I myself would never experience in the real world, which I find super enjoyable. I want to experience all sorts of things, so for me, who is disabled and barely leaves her house, simulation games are a great method of pretending I have experience in life.

I see "simulator" on the title of a game, I immediately social distance myself from it... before that it was cool. The world is full of posers.

Off the top of my head, I would have to say when a bite bug farted on me in FF8.

For me it was GTA 5 over all previus GTA games, I do love most of the main GTA games from GTA 3, Vice city , San andreas and GTA 4 and most still hold up today, but GTA 5 is much better in many aspects (except for the music)and its now hard to go back to any of the previus entries if not for nostalgic reasons.