turbodevil

Ok cut the April Fools crap out Ross and name the price. How much?

Hi all I want you to tell me which independent/alternative game or mod you played is fun and worth it. 'Why independent only, you hipster!' you ask? Because AAA games have enough publicity through marketing, and games I ask for are often obscure and easy to overlook. So, couple of rules: - only titles worth playing, for whatever reason - brief description, no walls of text please Let me start what with: - Mark of the Ninja - 2d stealth platformer, multiple ways to deal with levels (inlcuding 'noone ever saw me' approach), totally nails down being a ninja - Dex- like DeusEx, but 2d and short. Cyberpunk platformer/rpg combo - Thief Hd - cult classic stealth game with widescreen support and better textures - Pillars of Eternity - isometric RPG with good class system and story - Swapper - logic game with above-average difficulty where you clone yourself on spaceship to beat rooms - Grim Dawn - aRPG from Titan Quest creator where you beat human possesing spirits. And Cth'ulhu - Never Alone - platformer about little Eskimo(?) girl moving through fairy tale with great atmosphere - Gemini Rue - pixel-art point-and-click adventure science-fiction-noir game - Limbo - short, but very climatic dark platformer - Machinarium - point-and-click adventure game with great puzzles and likeable robot as protaginist - Puzzle Agent - puzzle/point-and-click adventure game, found it thanks to Ross's Game Dungeon

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I never said I want nothing in between. Obviously there is room for story & stuff. But it can be dynamic and last 5 minutes rather than boring 20 minutes snoozefest. Okay, but that's not the point . I mean, you can find Assassins's Creed patforming boring, that's your opinion, I respect that. It is part of the game though, like assasinations, escape sequences, sneaking and fighting. I do not praise/critisise its core gameplay, it's irrelevant. What is bad in context of my point, are sequences outside of Animus, where you do none of these things. Like, gameplay (good or bad, no matter) stops and you walk around and talk and hack computers to read emails and do other wtf stuff which doesn't fit the game about being medieval assassin and, more importantly, it doesn't fit game dynamic. These sequences are (ususally) not dynamic, there are no guards to avoid, no targets to assasinate etc. It's like game stopped to tell yo usomething... and then went on and on and on an on about it. There is context for that, but these sequences are so long and provide so little entertainment and I wish they were trimmed in length... a lot. Sigh... There is so many games in my queue and so little time to play them Yeah, Darkmod is on my todo list (hopefully in this lifetime). Btw Thief 1 & 2 got visual upgrade mods quite recently, they look gorgeous and support widescreen.

That doesn't make any sense. The entire Thief series (did not play 4th one so may be wrong on that one) and most of Splinter Cell series (both series have most stealth focused games I played) doesn't have long free-roaming boring in-betweens. These sequences seem to get popular now. In no way they reinforce idea behind stealth games. Besides, you put stealth games and RPG in the same bag? I mean, really? Sneaking around = story & world & character progression? My point is not limitted to stealth games though. It's very simple thing: if I play stealth game, or shooter, I want to sneak around. Or shoot. Other game elements should support that. Not keep me away from it, because they are artficaly long and useless. Open world has nothing to do with it. Assassin's creed has open world, and it doesn't make me do boring stuff in between (because I'm always parkouring/sneaking around and get in trouble). Actually, I get cutscenes between missions, just the way I like! The exception are sequences outside animus (long and boring stuff, imo), but they are so detached from main game focus so I can forget them and keep playing proper game. Still, I wonder why they decided to have those, for the same reason I dislike other long boring stuff: they keep me from playing the actual game. I suggest you try those games and observe intense lack of yawning in between missions. It's refreshing

By action I mean playing the game. Like, you know, entering level and participating in gameplay (no matter if it stealth, shooting or driving a crane). I figured many things make you wonder. Like sentences. They do funny thing in your head, when you draw conclusions like that. Me: I want to access levels sooner and without long, boring in-between sequences. I want these in-betweens to be condensated into something fun and fitting. Like cutscenes K4_Kydure: You want game to hold your hand. The point of stealth game is to avoid action Me: ... The seem to slowly vanish from existence. I disliked those. Felt like all control over character was taken from me, instead I'm supposed to push exactly this button at exactly right time. Like: why, game? I wanted to roll away and kick him in the groin. Instead, either I will tap key 'E' and decapitate him in spectacular manner, or I don't tap 'E' and die. That's more like interactive movie than actual gameplay. On the flip side, I liked qte assasinations in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.

Transitions between missions are too long. Boring conversations are boring. Short cutscenes fit action games better. Free roaming works in open world games. Free roaming doesn't work in action games with missions in isolated areas. I can't skip boring content, because I don't know if I don't miss out on something important. Putting boring content in game is pointless. Story can be expressed in exciting way. Compare Dishonored to Thief: The Dark Project. In Thief, I can get all the mission details in 2 minute cutscene, through few images and hero's commentary. If something important is going on, hero will inform me. I do not need to chase characters and talk to them to gather hints. I get them all in 2 minute sequence. I can jump from 1 mission to another in few minutes without feeling I'm missing out on something. And it fits action games more. Recently however game designers started to artificially extend games length by additing long, boring transitions between missions which I dislike. And I can't skip it because I don't know if I really dislike it until I experience it.

Yes, I can skip it. So, I get content that I shouldn't really be doing because it is boring (by design). And I have option to skip it. And this is how games should be made these days, that's fun! And I totally should not complain that game designers won't do that instead:

Pace-slowing-down locations in action game. Great job on your previous mission, Fisher. How about you walk around your plane, go upstairs, buy some weapons, overhear some conversation, call your daughter. Same for you, Corvo. You are truly master assasin. Now have fun walking around Hound Pits pub, searching for princess, cheap trinkets, or peeking at this chick caretaker bathing. Thisis exactly what games yearn for in games, right? (these sequences can last even 20 minutes) NO WE DO NOT! MISSION COMPLETED SCREEN -> MISSION STATISTICS -> SHOP -> STORY & BRIEFING CUTSCENE -> NEXT MISSION FFS

Hi Ross, I voted 'no' and here's why. Playthroughs. Are. Boring. You. Are. Awesome. Hard to explain it differently. Playthroughs are for people who like to watch something in the backgroung while they are busy wasting their lives. You, Ross, made it different with Freeman's mind, because you gave main character a, well, character, added screenplay and turned it into masterpiece. This episode is well made playthrough. Really it's better than most of what I've seen... But I can't imagine the audience for this. Common 'I watch playthroughs in the background' gamer won't get your jokes. Common 'I watch playthroughs in the background' dude won't care for game that old. He will simply don't care. Not to mention I prefer your jokes in scrpited fasion without random dudes I don't know doing random stuff Hence I voted no. In no way treat it as 'don't do stuff', Ross. Because you do awesome stuff and I can't wait for more! And this video is decent. I just wish you put your talent to better use.

This (awesome) review + discussions about FM schedule + personal inclination towards sadism had me inspired. I hereby challenge Ross to complete Dungeon Siege Pit of Despair level (google it I dare you!) should he fail to deliver Freeman's Mind ending episode this year. Muuaahahahaaa!