We chat about videogames and videogame accessories.

I can legitimately say "I have never played racing games ever"

whether that's a good thing or bad thing I know not

E: unless JSRF counts as racing

Okay I didn't mean to insinuate that I had a problem with the supposed lack of content, I was just proposing that as a possible reason for the low scores. Because they confuse me. The scores, that is.

Can I say legendary machines? I'd say the Hydra.

If not, then my favorite machine is the Slick Star, my best is the Swerve Star, my most used machine is the Turbo Star (because it's actually pretty fast and balanced), and I love using the Rocket Star or the Bulk Star only in City Trial, where I can max out their normally poor stats and wreck shit. (Rocket: Charge, Top Speed, Turn; Bulk: Boost, Charge, Weight Drops [the grey ones])

Man owning my friends with the Bulk Star was the best thing ever.

The main thing I remember doing with the Bulk Star is getting the "win without hitting any walls" checklist condition easily. Basically it's rules-lawyering.

Two-player "Distance" match, lowest time limit possible, give both players the Bulk Star, move one forward a little bit and then just wait for time to run out. You have more distance than the other player, so you win, and you didn't hit any walls!

I cleared the Top Ride and City Trial checklists completely, didn't finish Air Ride because I wasn't good enough at the time trials. I got everything else on that checklist, though.

oh

oh my goodness

e: thank you supes. this blog is so great. has a lot of my favorite characters in here as well.

Oooh, why do i feel like i've seen this art somewhere before? Hmm, so many cool characters.

I guess it kind of reminds me of Kitet's art.

Ed, Ashley Davis also does Jailbird so you might be thinking of that!

I've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles again recently, and now I remember why I stopped (other than school). The gameplay's fun! BUT the environments are so huge that getting from point A to point B takes forever.

Well, also because there are so many sidequests, on top of a day-night system and characters that are only available at certain times, plus the lowish draw-distance for actors (even on the minimap, and it DOESN'T show them on the full map) means you have to actually walk all around to FIND the characters. This is why I've logged almost 80 hours and I don't even know if I'm at the last dungeon yet.

How do you guys feel about size of space in video games? Are there any open world games that have a tight design sense?

After watching an episode of Anita Sarkessian's show, I don't get why the internet was so pissed about it. There's really nothing that should be controversial here. Is the internet just terrible? (Yes. That was a hypothetical question.)

Anyway, I agree with Supes, it has good stuff to say but the writing is sort of bland.

Also ok I found the best blog ever. The art is everything I like, and so are the subjects depicted. Included is even a certain armadillo recently discussed in this thread.

This reminds me that I really wanna play Mole Mania

Man owning my friends with the Bulk Star was the best thing ever.

how

I always feel like there was some trick to the Bulk Star that I was missing because it seems like a joke star. I mean seriously you have to rev it up like a lawnmower every time you want to remove forward.

I don't get the Wagon Star either

I always liked the Slick Star though, even though a lot of people bagged on it. Once you learn how to compensate for its turning radius it's actually really good.

Ed, Ashley Davis also does Jailbird so you might be thinking of that!

OOOHHHH! THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING.

I think space should be used efficiently. Areas that are larger than they need to be are unnecessarily taxing on system resources and player patience.

In an open world, there had better be fast travel/teleport options (and I don't mean available HALFWAY THROUGH THE FUCKING GAME), and an actual reason for the openness to exist. That is, there should be something to do everywhere on the map.

My main gripe with SotC...

I love open world games but I think a lot of them suffer from being too damn large. There's been sort of a serial escalation is the size of maps - each new sequel claims to have "500 more square miles to explore!" or whatever. It's like how RPGs advertise having "200 hours of content!" as if volume is an indicator of quality.

The Just Cause games are a good example of this: gorgeous worlds with absolutely nothing to interact with save a few Potemkin villages full of robotic NPCs.

In contrast, my favorite open world, uh, world is probably GTA IV's Liberty City just because there's so much going on in it. It feels alive.

Yeah, i think the reason i didn't enjoy SotC as much as i was expecting to was because i just wasn't in the right mindset, i wanted things to happen. Still, i can't help but think there must be something that could've been done to make it better, like obstacle courses incorporated with the scenery before the colossi or something, sigh, just something about meandering around following a hard to interpret light beam bores the crap out of me, i dunno. I think i just have a personal grudge with the game.

I feel like the Ocean in WW is bigger than it needs to be.

E: I guess this is a personal view but i find it very hard to think about good things about vast overworlds, running around without a clear objective feels like a waste of time to me, running around trying to find an objective feels even more pointless, i guess it's all about giving the player a good incentive to explore.

Man owning my friends with the Bulk Star was the best thing ever.

how

It was quite difficult, I'll admit, but eventually I figured out that when you get Boost (in City Trial), it makes your boost meter go down slower, and if your Charge is high enough, you can charge it up in like a second or less. So, with a high enough Charge, you can get it running at full speed (which is around 50 mph iirc) at every turn. Boost makes that go a lot faster, though. I lucked out and got a LOT of Boost and Charge, so I had a hundred mph monster that had no problem charging at turns. The course was Nebula Star, though, which has a lot of straight parts.

tl;dr: City Trial Shenanigans.

You guys didn't know about nomarios?

oh

Huh, I didn't realize Boost did that. Kinda wanna dig out Air Ride and try that now.

In other news, you all need to buy Monaco

You're free to not like the game if you just don't like it. I'm not gonna say you "weren't in the right mindset to appreciate it" or somethin'.

I would have no problem dismissing it if i didn't like it at all, like Bastion. The thing is, i really do like a lot of things about it, and i feel like i could have enjoyed it a lot more if i took it for what it is instead of wishing it was something it's not.

It's not about whether I like it as much as anyone else, it's about my inability to analyze/appreciate things outside of my personal views/preferences sometimes. If that makes any sense.

Well its also legitimately possible that you weren't in the right mindset for it

I didn't like it the first time I played it

i like how i could be playing all these good and amazing and timeless games that everyone has played and instead i just want to replay sonic adventure two and also shadow the hedgehog and sonic heroes
im good at video games you guys

i remember barley being able to play that game i dont know why i want to play it again but that isnt even the worst part for, you see, i want to buy it again

Well he did admit they weren't good and amazing and timeless!
Shadow the Hedgehog's time was about six months or so before anyone actually bought it.

it'll make a comeback I WILL BE SHADOW THE HEDGEHOGS COMEBACK

it'll make a comeback I WILL BE SHADOW THE HEDGEHOGS COMEBACK

Keep it in the bedroom, tiger.

ppppppbbbbth. I still need to beat Super Mario Sunshine how have I not done that yet

How do you guys feel about size of space in video games? Are there any open world games that have a tight design sense?

I don’t know of any (I haven’t even played many), but I’m optimistically thinking some games have bits and pieces of one that may some day Voltron their way into existence.

One of the Bethesda designers has given away a little bit of the secret sauce here. The ones with the transcripts are the ones especially worth reading.

Tight doesn’t really describe their games very well, of course, but I’m not sure on what that could mean besides having elements of good design. Open world games are a bit like chewing gum, in that you get through the most intense part quickly, till at some point what flavor is left in there slowly goes away... but you wouldn’t really want to just spit out the old piece right away to get a taste of the new piece, either, as there is some goodness in the chewing. then you stick it on a railing so will ferrell can eat it

[bioshock infinite]

I didn’t watch the whole thing, but the 3 minutes I did watch nailed a big thing that went wrong.

I have seen it described as being simultaneously the best game and the worst game of all time (on the face of it I have to agree), and being centered around a failed character arc (and I definitely agree with that, it’s probably the part that ringed hollowest for a lot of people). I did like the settings and the mind-twisty bits and the almost complete lack of subtlety, but you know, maybe that’s just me.

In terms of game design, I have now realized that we’ve just been remaking Half-Life over and over again for the past 15 years (and HL is just a 90s shooter with lots of set pieces and less swarmy enemies). Some games have differing qualities of weapon selections and/or stories, and some games have vending machines and other RPG elements, but on the whole, what’s new in each new game of the genre is a bit like a new salad dressing.

In terms of game design, I have now realized that we’ve just been remaking Half-Life over and over again for the past 15 years (and HL is just a 90s shooter with lots of set pieces and less swarmy enemies). Some games have differing qualities of weapon selections and/or stories, and some games have vending machines and other RPG elements, but on the whole, what’s new in each new game of the genre is a bit like a new salad dressing.

Mind going into more detail on that?