Home ›
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
If you have an email ending in @hotmail.com, @live.com or @outlook.com (or any other Microsoft-related domain), please consider changing it to another email provider; Microsoft decided to instantly block the server's IP, so emails can't be sent to these addresses.
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
Comments
oh god, i'm already following five DC series fuck fuck fuck fuck it's starting again
I don't give a shit about LMFAO but I like those Everyday I'm X remixes on Youtube.
NO! I SHALL NEVER JOI...eh, who am i kidding, the deed is done.
I was gonna ask you: thoughts on Batman 700? Cuz I didn't understand shit except that there will be future batmen and that Damian will become Batman after Dick is gone, I guess
@MadassAlex
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/89
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/91
«The new LMFAO hit vid has an "arrow to the knee" reference. *fill in misplaced nerd pride about 'geek culture' being accepted into 'the mainstream'*»
But LMFAO is terrible.
Fuck yeah, brojuan, reading the shit out of that.
No worries, Alex
Juan: Which DC series are you following (at a guess; Action Comics, Batman, Animal Man, Swamp Thing and Batwoman)?
Also, I liked Batman #700, it was trippy but fun. Damian-as-Batman was touched upon in #666 as well, we get to see DamBats without his hood and he looks like Grant Morrison. Also, according to Morrison it's Damian that will go on to train Terry.
Yeah, I remember that, the Three Batmen of Hell, right?
Well, not following, just catching up. Haven't gotten to the reboot. And it's Justice League: Generation Lost, Batman, Red Robin, Batman and Robin, Gotham City Sirens and Batgirl.
there might be a pattern there.
Batman 700 covers something of a metaplane crisis as Batman experiences flashes of past, present, alternate, and future Batmans. Basically it's like the Batman-Planetary crossover except not as good.
Just a word of advice. Skip Batman Inc. Issue 8. Just trust me on this. It's no important to the plot and it's confusing, ugly, and really bad.
Also, when you get to the reboot, Snyder's Batman ('Batman') is the only Bat-title really worth following.
i didn't get any of that out of it ._.
like, I understand there was time travel involved and we saw different ages of the Batman and his enemies, but...I thought it was like...i dunno what it was actually
This sounds like a pretty simple distinction, but I love these two sentences. A game confers its themes through its mechanics and the choices it gives players, and this is what bothers me about morality systems in video game RPGs. Instead of posing proper questions to the player, ones that make them consider their values, moral choices so often embody extremes of saint and sinner.
One thing that has to happen, especially in video games, is for game mechanics to step aside when it comes to making these sort of important decisions. No reward, no telling what's coming up next -- one simply has to make a decision between two evils to progress.
This is one element that burned brightly in The Witcher 2. By disentangling moral choices from game mechanics, the game designers ensured that such choices were never motivated by possible character rewards but by the the tension in the narrative itself. They supported it well with Geralt's characterisation, too; whichever choice you made, he gave a strong rationale for making it. And he often expressed his distaste at having to make the call at all.
But this doesn't even have to come from social scenarios. It can tie into the immediacy of combat or puzzle-solving or whatever one likes.
Video games often try to present themselves like a movie. This is, in a vaguer sense, just fine. But when you give the player the power to make their own narrative decisions, there's no reason to eschew realism for game mechanics, because it's the reality that ultimately draws investment in characters. And just like real life, I believe the decision-making process in games would be better served by making it a factor outside of dialogue sections as well as inside. Choices could be made based on physical actions or even doing nothing at all. There's no reason this couldn't work in tandem with dialogue.
Of course, social decision making is just one type, and evidently not applicable to tabletop combat games. I think the next important factor for vidya, and this is something Magic does extremely well, is to give players actual tactical choice. Many games include the illusion of this, but it's not so much a "choice" to choose between a longsword and a longsword +1. It's a calculation; you go with the better option. But Magic's depth ensures that better cards don't automatically dominate and that an entire deck has to support clever strategies. This is the kind of thing I'd like to see in games; less linear character advancement, and more opening up tactical and strategic options.
> one really good line
> write mini-essay
> alex no alexing!
Malk: I really like Batman and Robin and Nightwing and (in terms of art) Batwoman is GORGEOUS.
Agreed. I've talked about this before, I think. Basically, gaming's morality is not morality, but basically, "What bonus do I want for my character?" or "What ending do I want? And which ones I'm missing in order to get 100%"
It's not actual decision making, if only because the gamer is far more interested in seeing it all or getting what fits their gameplay style. Which is nice, but I feel that gaming does this in an artifical fashion of sorts (IE: Telling you how to get the bonuses)
Extra Credits (juan no juaning) has an excellent episode about this, and they make the exact distinction you just made.
A lot of "choices" in games aren't choices, but calculations. Even if the optimal calculation is subjective, the only choice was one's initial idea of what they wanted. So further choices really just follow that initial calculated path. An excellent example is Infamous. There's an initial choice between good and evil, but you only get strong abilities by maxing out one of these two paths. So while the game provides you with the option to be good or evil on a regular basis, making different calls hurts your optimisation and leaves you with a less powerful character.
And that's not even taking into account how "good" and "evil" are set up as a clear dichotomy. What also bothers me about that game is how its morality system was presented as a selling point while clearly being one of the worst on the market narratively and mechanically, and that's an issue with both the industry and the consumers.
I guess, ultimately, consumers have to vote with their dollars and demand more from games. Tabletop games have achieved a level of depth and refinement that video games struggle to keep up with, even ignoring economic concerns.
In any case, let me heartily recommend The Witcher 2 (and by extension, The Witcher, although I've not played it). It's an excellent example of the direction I'd like to see video game RPGs move in, shoddy combat notwithstanding.
--juans like a motherfucker--
Somehow, I've ended up reading women talk about why they don't like guys to be shorter than them. One of the more common justifications is "guys tend to have hangups about their girl being taller than them".
First of all, just anecdotally, I don't have a problem with taller women. Second of all, if guys have such problems with taller girls, why did the guys (whose height you complain about now) date you in the first place?
Because they thought they could cope but didn't manage to do so at the end?
I don't agree with the idea that all males have such a problem, but I don't think your logic is as definitive as you seem to think it is.
Oh, I know one of the types with said preference. The logic she uses is the feeling of protectedness a taller bro inspires.
Nick: That was an awesome video
Tried to watch the 'Murrikan adaptation of Let the Right One In. Suuuuuucked.
You suck, Matt Reeves.
I just subscribed to /r/NoFap and started a countdown
ITBEGINS.jpg
Now bend over, sweetie.
IJBM is no one's sloppy seconds!
It's Everyones!
Started up Katawa Shoujo.
Sleep...? Is that some kind of cake?
Game idea:
The combat system of Jedi Outcast meets the tactical setup of Monster Hunter meets the aesthetics of Demon's Souls meets the narrative setup of The Witcher. With the team management of Mount and Blade.
Monster hunting in a a world-half-empty low fantasy setting where standard hunting techniques make the bulk of your arsenal, but where rituals and petty magicks can empower or hinder you. A small handful of named characters fill out your team, with hired redshirts able to contribute to your efforts as well.
This is a game where you can spill the blood of a Christian man to lure a troll towards the mouth of its cave and use mirrors to shine sunlight onto it.
Also, it will never be made.
Personally, I don't think that's a bad thing. Especially if you compare something like my posting style, which rarely runs a post longer than a few sentences.