The Gamer's Quarter

J.Goodwin · . Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 297 Location: North Shore, MA

What does it mean that a game is like smoking?

As a person who has never smoked, I have to ask.
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Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

I meant it in the "I'm not a smoker, but today I want my body to shut down," sort of way. Melancholy and dark aren't what I was looking for, more like noir and vodka ...

A lot of people here seemed to get it, and I'm glad, because I'm unable to articulate it any better than I have.

So far, Cave story is nice.
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dessgeega · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:15 pm Post subject:

within a deep forest is pretty downtempo, if that's what you're looking for.

i kind of follow, but i've never actually heard portishead.

i usually try to play games with sunsets or thunderstorms.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

SuperWes · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 3:34 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure if it's possible that I could get it. Whenever one of my friends' relationships would end we would always throw on the Richard Marx greatest hits CD and forced them to listen to the whole thing. I guarantee you that you know the words to every song and have no idea why.

-Wes
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Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

I just had a remarkably moving experience playing Cave Story.

But not like you think.

See, I was on the grasslands level, and was playing without a windower; it was my full screen. In the background, on my computer, an ad-supported bit-torrent client was running; edonkey, in other words. Please don't berate me for this -- there was a moment of surreal coincidence that happened thanks to the program.

As I've played C.S., I've been wondering what it was that everyone found so melancholy about it. I'm not very far into it; I assume the game has some sort of silence later on or something.

Anyway, so I'm playing the game and all of the sudden a female voice is mixed in with the chiptunes. Clear as day, she says, "I'm breaking up with you."

I gasped.

Secondary music began to play under the 16-bit music; a sweeping symphonic score. There were long silences, and then she would speak again. The dialogue continued as I shot my way through more green marshmellow people. The girl added, "I've been with you for how long now, and you won't even shave? You're disgusting."

I played for 5 minutes with a girl breaking up with me in the soundtrack. I thought over and over, "This is fucking genius. The game is just secondary to a radio play. No wonder people reccommended it for end-of-relationship gaming."

It was like End of Eva. Suddenly every action I took was just a metaphor for the end of a relationship. I had to stop playing. Everything was miserable.

When I ended the ap, a fullscreen ad was playing in the background. It was some indie film trailer, about a girl breaking up with a guy. It was coincidence. Cave Story may be ruined for me, but it got me to thinking about a real, artistic piece that could be made out of adding secondary text to a game.

Imagine a hack of Secret of Mana that had seemingly unrelated dialogue over it -- like a Pink Floyd, Wizard-of-Oz thing. Our brains are going to create meaning where there is none, and the coincidences would be like concert-video-games; live and unrepeatable. Single-person gaming would suddenly have an improvised feel -- pre-programed interactions would be so much more powerful if they were happening only once, for you.

I'm going to do this as an experiment. I'm going to take dialogue-heavy movies that I haven't seen before; classics with little score, and play them behind games. Or maybe I'll do it with alternate soundtracks (Think Silent Film Mashups). I think this could be really, really cool.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Dude, that sounds amazing. Although I thought the twist was going to be that it was your girlfriend actually breaking up with you over Voipbuster.

Anyway, Captain Blood. Trust me.

Mister Toups · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:10 pm Post subject:

kimkallstrom1 · . Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 26

narcissu

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

Crystal Pixels
Like browsing a stranger's diary, only it's made of glowing blue vectors and in the form of a minature solar system.

Desperation
Feels a little misdirected at time but the garbled version of Fur Elise is worth it.
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OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Tablesaw · . Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 303 Location: LACAUSA

Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

I just finished Cave Story for the first time (read: basic good ending). While the game was wonderful, melancholy, and bitter-sweet, it didn't have the bite that I wanted. I think SotC may be the closest thing to the game version of love-lorn trip-hop that I was looking for.

Somebody needs to make a game set in a jazz lounge that you can't leave.

I think I might try SotC on foot -- no horse, till necessary.
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Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

Also: Columns for the Game Gear has the saddest sound ever.
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dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

Toups back me up on Phantasy Star 2?

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

I can't thank you all enough for all these great suggestions. Cave Story is brilliant, and I'm getting into Narcissu and Within a Deep Forest now.

I really can't get over how great Cave Story is.
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Mister Toups · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:54 am Post subject:

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

I always found Metal Storm on NES to feel isolate and solitary.The game itself is q uite a trip too.
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Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

So, I've just confirmed a blurb in the next issue of Play about Cave Story. It'll be short, but thanks again for bringing the game to my attention.

I hope this doesn't bother anybody. I just want to bring the game to a larger audience. Is this a conflict of interests for The Gamer's Quarter?
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Mister Toups · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:51 pm Post subject:

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

All this talk of Cave Story convinced me to download the game, and I'm really glad I did.

The game deserves all the attention it gets and then some. I love it.

rf · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 23

I never got more than 30 mins. into Cave Story. It wasn't bad, and I could see what would make people rave about it, but doing so involves stretching my imagination--if I'd played it without hearing anything about it, I wouldn't have been all that impressed. Is it one of those things you get or don't from the start, or do I need to stop mouthing off and give it a longer chance? (Man, what a cliche-packed sentence.)

Mister Toups · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:41 pm Post subject:

Hard to say. It grabbed me from the get-go and I loved every minute of it. It's consciously designed to appeal to people with retro tastes, though.
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Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

After all the build up, I was like: This is it?

Then, after two days of playing, slowly, I realized: This is it.

The story takes a while to involve you, and then when it does, you didn't realize you were involved. It's like falling in love.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject:

i mean heart of the alien is a really bad game.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

I have to agree there. Have you tried the High-Res Edition of Another World?

Also, I'm now looking for moody games too.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Quick Shot II Turbo · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 23 Location: harry potter