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Lestrade Bug Fister
Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 1760 Location: Toronto
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:26 pm Post subject: Bring the watering can: the summer drought is upon us |
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Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah, so I was wondering why I was so jittery and ornery earlier today. It's the shakes caused by not having a game I really want to play. Don't get me wrong, technically I do have games to play, namely:
• Layer Section
• Nights
• Contra III (just bought it for Wii)
But the problem for me is, all these games are skill-based arcade games—the type of game I enjoy in controlled doses between sessions of a larger, meatier, story-based game.
Well, having just completed Super Paper Mario a couple of weeks, I am stuck within that terrible void known as The Summer Drought. I literally can't find on any release list, nor think of, any game to play right now. And like books, if I don't have a long-term game to keep me going, I start to go craaaaazeeeeeeeee.
What are you playing during the dry summer months? Is anyone else like me—i.e. constantly in need of a long-term adventure? |
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JasonMoses .
Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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There are so many games out there that I can't remember the last time I was in your position, Lestrade.
Surely there's some well-known classic that you've never played before?
Also I should totally start a Layer Section thread. My TV's already in tate mode and everything. |
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Lestrade Bug Fister
Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 1760 Location: Toronto
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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Oh yeah, do that!
Possible missed games: Beyond Good & Evil? I often find it hard to go back to certain older titles once the "moment" has passed. |
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JasonMoses .
Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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Have you played Star Control II yet? |
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Lestrade Bug Fister
Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 1760 Location: Toronto
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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That is so not up my alley, there isn't even an alley to begin with.
To be honest, my taste in games is pretty focused—or limited, if you prefer. I'm very picky without meaning to be. |
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Cycle Mac daddy
Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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well then what kind of thing are you looking for! _________________
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JasonMoses .
Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah what
How can Star Control II not be up your alley? |
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Cycle Mac daddy
Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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i didn't like the battles in star control 2! do they suck or do i just need to get the hang of them _________________
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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they suck. star control II is just starflight with scottish pterodactyls.
layer section has an amazing narrative, and i'll take narrative over story any day.
which is probably why i don't really have anything to contribute to this thread. sorry.
right now i want a game which is like noctis but on a rainy beach with a lighthouse. _________________
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Mister Toups Hates your favorite videogame
Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 1693 Location: Lafayette, LA
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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dessgeega wrote: | they suck. star control II is just starflight with scottish pterodactyls. |
dess _________________ where were you when nana komatsu got a wii? |
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JasonMoses .
Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I've played a lot of Star Control II Super Melee netplay with friends and once you get the hang of it the combat is really fun. The problem is that the ship you're stuck with at the beginning of Starcon II is basically a space dump truck. Give it time. |
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Lestrade Bug Fister
Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 1760 Location: Toronto
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Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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I cured my gaming blues by heading to my favourite café with my wife, downing a beer, studying Japanese and drawing a bunch of cool shit for my portfolio.
I am certainly a story person as opposed to a narrative person, if I have to choose. But of course, having both is best. Admittedly, what I really want is more story-heavy action and/or adventure games. I want Half-Life Episode 1, Halo 3, MGS4, Metroid, etc. I want games that wow me and games that have emotional impact. I want games that are, yeah, like movies sometimes. Sorry if that makes me uncool.
I enjoy games like the ones I listed in my original post but if anything, I was put on this planet to absorb and create stories (hence why I draw comics), so this is naturally what I look for.
But let me open the question again: what do you folks do when you feel you're in a drought? Do you go back through your catalogue—if so, do you find this ill-advised or not? Do you go rent/buy old games you missed the first time around or do you just drop this crazy hobby until the next big thing that piques your interest comes around? |
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JasonMoses .
Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:51 am Post subject: |
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Lestrade wrote: |
what I really want is more story-heavy action and/or adventure games. I want games that wow me and games that have emotional impact. I want games that are, yeah, like movies sometimes. Sorry if that makes me uncool. |
It just sounds like you want to play Star Control II. I mean seriously, have you played it? It sounds right up your fucking alley, to continue using the imagery from previously in this thread. |
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helicopterp .
Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:38 am Post subject: |
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Lestrade wrote: | But let me open the question again: what do you folks do when you feel you're in a drought? |
a.) AGENTS.....ARE......GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
b.) Quote: | heading to my favourite café with my wife, downing a beer, studying Japanese and drawing a bunch of cool shit for my portfolio. |
Doing other things you like to do with people you think are fly is much better than getting antsy about not having a new game to play.
c.) AGENTS....ARE.......GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! _________________ Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one. |
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Intentionally Wrong .
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 248 Location: [Subject Hometown Here]
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:27 am Post subject: |
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I hear you. I'm unemployed at the moment, and I'm housesitting at my parents' place for three weeks. I only have an SNES and a PS1 over here; I guess I could bring one of my other systems over. And this old and cruddy PC, of course.
Somehow I've never gotten past the opening of Final Fantasy Tactics, so I think I might try that. When I'm not working on my IF-WIP. |
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Swimmy .
Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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When I'm in a drought, I go back to old games I haven't completed. But! I try to emulate them rather than play them on whatever console. Save-stating is usually enough to get me over whatever was keeping me from beating them in the first place. There are a lot of Playstation games like this--how did anyone ever play Vagrant Story without cheating? _________________
"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin |
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Joe .
Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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FORZA MOTORSPORT 2 _________________
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SuperWes Updated the banners, but not his title
Joined: 07 Dec 2004 Posts: 3725
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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Hey Lestrade, it sounds like you might really like The Darkness. It's sort of short, but it's highly focused on storytelling and atmosphere. More impressions here.
-Wes _________________
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D-A-I-S .
Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 123
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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dessgeega wrote: | right now i want a game which is like noctis but on a rainy beach with a lighthouse. |
that would be great except it wouldn't be very explorable unless it was a really big lighthouse and maybe had an <strike>unexpected underground complex under it and</strike> shut up shut up SHUT UP
anyway the problem with this idea is that one of the best things about beaches is tidepools and those aren't really as fun in the rain, right?
oh god what if there was a game where you were walking down a beach and you came across some rocks and there were some tidepools and you shrunk down really small and jumped into a tidepool and explored it. and the tidepools would be randomly generated each time and could be from anywhere on the world so they might feature all different kinds of tidepool creatures. oh man I am totally frothing
actually being in a tidepool when it rains would be pretty sweet. also, tempted to make an Ecoquest reference here. or do I want an Odell Lake/Down Under one?
Come to think of it, have either IC or TGQ had a rain-in-games thread? I wouldn't want one started right this moment - I'm a bit flustered, as you may deduct from my even posting my thought trains here - but it'd be a nice contrast to the scorching heat some of us are experiencing. Good rain is almost - perhaps sometimes even better - than good snow.
On topic: I approach games the way I, sadly, approach nearly everything else: brief periods of intense devotion to whatever I've had my interest momentarily aroused by (old games and DOSBox, obscure foreign stuff through nefarous means, online games, etc), followed by long periods of near inactivity while I struggle to figure out what I actually want to be doing. Summer doesn't really change that up much, although I do have a higher rate of starting "projects" (play Abuse and put some videos of it on Youtube! finish ripping that SPC set! reform the old group I used to play online games with!) only to completely flameo out on them, no matter how trivial they are.
Just curious, but have you tried GTAIII, VC and SA? For me, those all tend to be "big" games, approached at a relaxed pace, and sometimes when someone doesn't like one they like one of the earlier or later ones. Of course, if you've tried/hated and/or finished them all, that doesn't help much.
If I had more of an attention span, I'd knuckle down and tackle something like Baldur's Gate or Planescape or one of those B+ JRPGs that people rave about but don't get a lot of mainstream attention (like the Shadow Hearts series, apparently). |
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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i don't actually need it to be raining, just overcast and deserted. _________________
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dhex Breeder
Joined: 13 Dec 2004 Posts: 6319 Location: brooklyn, Nev Yiork
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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lestrade should play fear. or stalker. too bad no console stalker. _________________
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Intentionally Wrong .
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 248 Location: [Subject Hometown Here]
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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This thread is hitting me with pretty severe deja vu, particularly D-A-I-S with his tidepool business. Are you sure you haven't discussed this idea before? |
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simplicio .
Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091
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Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:13 am Post subject: |
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Dess how long has it been since your last Riven session?
Lestrade, given what you've said about your tastes, I think Beyond Good & Evil is exactly where you should go next. _________________ "Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919 |
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Shapermc Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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Swimmy wrote: | When I'm in a drought, I go back to old games I haven't completed. |
Yeah, pretty much. I also use the time to catch up on movies I've been meaning to watch/rewatch. Also, I find that droughts only last about a month, with the occasional exception of two months with only like one thing. But yeah, you may want to try the Darkness? _________________ “The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932
"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!" |
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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simplicio wrote: | Dess how long has it been since your last Riven session? |
probably too long. i've paid so much attention to the design of the game, though, that it's like playing a schematic at this point. _________________
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