Posts made by Thenomain

@Sparks said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

Multiplayer is a blast, though, especially with the new vertical elements to a battlefield. My asari duellist play style can best be described as "EAT BIOTIC DEATH FROM ABOVE!"

I don't multi-player because I play RPG-inspired games for the RPG part, although now I have reason to.

I didn't mention this, but like DA:I there's a table that you can send people out on missions to get things and bonuses with a timer and blah blah blah. What's new is that quite a few of these missions are multi-player! Having not spent one minute in a Mass Effect multi-player environment, if anyone wants to call me up on one of their missions let me know.

I'm Thenomain.

In case that was ever going to be confusing.

So I started playing 12:30 am EDT on release night (NVIDIA was giving me headaches; incidentally, my NVIDIA user handle is now 'I Hate Forced Opt-In Systems' if anyone wants to look me up) and then it was 3am and I decided to stop. Yesterday I started at around 6:30 pm EDT and looked up to discover it was 10:30, decided to finish off a plot and it was 3am again.

I was struck how it didn't go from set piece to room full of chest-high walls, its openness was a promise that DA:I made and delivered on, but the lack of claustrophobia was a mixed blessing. I love being able to get the high ground but I've only used it once. I probably should have used it twice because the enemy managed to flank my position. I was pretty impressed but then I'm not a twitch-game player, so a lot of this impressed.

What didn't impress was that there are ammo crates everywhere; apparently aliens in another galaxy use the same heat-sink system that we do, who knew!

Which segues into what has been bothering me the most; the writing. The characters are okay, if unoriginal, but all of them, even Ryder, act in ways that sound like this is normal. Especially Ryder. I've been playing a somewhat sarcastic but very people-focused Ryder and at one time they say something like, "I know, this place is terrible, right?" This is hard not to spoil, but it's said in a tone of someone who's been there more than two hours. I'm not buying it.

It's not just the new characters, either. There are some sound-bites of Liara lying around and this is where I realized why I don't like the writing: there is no subtlety or craft to it, it suffers from Tell Don't Show. If I had to hear another line about a "600 year nap", yes, we get it, it's the future now. There's even a place where you find a "secretly procured" image of the Normandy SR2.

Nnnnngh.

Now I don't mean to compare it to Mass Effect: The Shepherd Chronicles (ME:TSC), though the game certainly dances around the events of ME3. I do look at BioWare as a company known for their writers and it doesn't show.

I am enjoying the game. I gratefully welcome back the land roving, am glad that the open space is being used...kind of. "Oh no!" says the AI, "here's a pocket of enemies!" as the game reminds me how to leave the truck and I'm zooming right on by, waving to the very slight pocket of skirmish combat set up for my idle distraction. I've yet to find the kind of set-piece combat that was all over Mass Effect 1-3 which is fine; we've been playing that since Halo and before, but I'm looking at the aggro range and not for the encounter.

The level-up system doesn't feel clean, but in retrospect I had no idea what the hell I was doing in ME1, either. Having so many options is overwhelming in a way I don't think is good, but I didn't think this in Dragon Age: Origins and it was your Baldur's Gate-style RPG system where you don't know if something's going to be useful until after you've bought it.

Exploration is good, but doesn't have that pressure and threat that it did in ME:TSC. It feels, in fact, exactly like DA:I, though the pay-off of the main missions feel tangible. Your decisions are pretty limited on this front, but they have an effect with the key NPCs on the game, and this is where I think the writers got it right.

For instance, I've been playing my slightly cheeky people-oriented Ryder and there are a lot of places where without my input the character has been slightly cheeky but people-oriented. I imagine the number of lines of dialogue are massive compared to any BioWare game ever. It could be an illusion, but it's an illusion I'm enjoying.

So decent everything all around, a decent freshman effort from this BioWare group, and I look forward to DLCs for their tighter writing and focus.

Summary: Glad I bought it.

Since this isn't going to be general video game talk, but specifically about ME:A. I'm going to keep my bits as spoiler-free as possible.

--

A Five-Second Review: Some people have said it's "Dragon Age: Inquisition in space." They're 100% right.

More soon.

No, NVIDIA, I will not create an account for your "GeForce Experience" system just to download the latest driver. I know most corporations are hungry for trackable user information, stop embarrassing yourself. You already have the Shield to embarrass yourselves with, why go this extra mile?

Some people's CEOs...

@Clarity & @WTFE :

@Monogram said in General Video Game Thread:

ME: A will be a day one buy regardless of anything. Even if I'm not pre-ordering, because I don't believe in that whole 'Day One DLC' or 'Pre-Order DLC' bullshit. Not getting suckered into that shit ever again.

There is no Pre-Order DLC on ME:A, nor have I seen any Day One DLC. Oh it will come, no doubt, though one of the many, many Extra Credits reveals that Day One DLC is something like 75% more likely to be purchased than later DLC. You can wisely not throw away your money like that, but you can't ignore numbers like that.

I regret buying Fallout 4 while it was brand new, but I'm too much of a Mass Effect Fanboi not to do it here. Mm, check out that Asari ass.

@Miss-Demeanor

There is a picture in the new Mage book of a punk girl Libertine. She had shaved pits. I've never been so disappointed in someone not drawing a woman with unshaven pits before, but man I was that day. It just looks wrong.

Wonder Woman's lack of pit hair doesn't even register on my radar of critical gender politics. But hell, people wanted to boycott Rogue One because it was comparing Trump to the Empire, somehow. Which is to say: Everyone is kind of stupid.

Mass Effext: Andromeda is pre-loading. That is all.

@Lithium

"Maverick" was absolutely the guy's character name. I am almost positive Amber is right but it may have also been HellMOO. (edit: Cross-checking with Autumn's list, Islandia or Hell. Or Tim. I still think Hell.)

In modern parlance, this would be a "mistell" or a "mis", "tell" being the page-like command on...IRC-based systems like MMOs, I think? This is close enough to "mispage" that it hasn't been difficult for people to follow.

@Ganymede said in Where's your RP at?:

Let death be a choice by players, and I think you meet everyone's expectations.

As it happens, John Wick made two RPGs that approach this question: 7th Sea and Legend of the Five Rings.

In 7S, it's up to the victim to decide if they're dead. In L5R, it's up to the attacker. 7S is a game about high adventure. L5R is a game about intrigue and stealth. In 7S, it'd suck if your high-flying Errol Flynn action made your character dead. In L5R, if you're that careless then maybe your character deserves to die.

Fate Core splits the difference: If it gets that far, your character is simply gone and you can decide if they're dead or have a chance of coming back later.

It's fun to look at the threat dial and its limitations based upon setting and theme, but I agree that in Mu*dom I'd rather have a negotiated outcome or the system to explicitly tell me what the drawback is, ones life or captivity is off the table.

@Chime said in MU Things I Love:

@Thenomain said in MU Things I Love:

@Chime

Thanks, Theno~

You'll always be my strongest code-crush, you know that.

I've always found that it's far too easy to kill without consequence.

In a tabletop that's not a problem, as the game is tailored to the table. In a larger game, it introduces the first edges of PvP that are hard to keep from slippery-sloping to its logical conclusion.

@Arkandel said in MU Things I Love:

@Thenomain said in MU Things I Love:

I largely stopped enjoying myself in this hobby about four years ago. That what I do can help other people from hitting this point is pretty much all that keeps me going.

You are a weird, grumpy old man.

Is it really a surprise, though? You and I have buried the hatchet (well, you buried it, I accepted embarrassingly slow), but what kinds of things do I explode over? It's largely when I think (right or wrong) that someone is pissing on someone else's ability to communicate or someone else's ability to enjoy a game.

None of us are perfect, but damn, Theno, try harder!

@Arkandel said in MU Things I Love:

Before I close this, I wanted to give a bit shoutout to @Thenomain. He's one of the people we are taking for granted and whose efforts have really made a huge difference. He's coded his heart out so many times and we - collectively - haven't given him his due until we've actually needed someone to make sure we have a game to play on, who would spend countless hours making it even possible to do so.

If you're going to single me out, I'd like to single out people who are not as vocal and who do not spend their social capital with reckless abandon as I do:

@Chime
@faraday
@Sparks
@Glitch
@Cobaltasaurus
@Volund
@Griatch

This is far from a complete list and is only in the order that it came to mind. I am loud and presumptuous and constantly need talked down from getting upset about things that aren't critical, things that don't need someone to die on their hill. (Except ANSI abuse. I will take this one to my grave.)

We can also thank TinyTIM, the first Mush. We can thank the first TinyMUD. We can also thank all the RPG and TV/movie companies who have not sued us or sent us C&D letters.

Really, if I leave this hobby tomorrow I will not be disappointed if nobody remembers anything I've done; I don't do this to make a name or to be thanked. It's nice, but I know as well as the rest of you that I don't usually deserve it. I do it because I want people to enjoy themselves.

I largely stopped enjoying myself in this hobby about four years ago. That what I do can help other people from hitting this point is pretty much all that keeps me going.

Keep going, you crazy creatives.

@Sparks

I cannot tell you how many people have asked me to do this, mostly by stealing ideas from RfK which did something much like this, but with far too much staff interaction required.

Could you send me a copy of this system for me to pick apart? Thanks.

@Catsmeow said in RL Anger:

@Thenomain said in RL Anger:

Would there be Google without ...

.. Archie

And where would we be without Colossal Cave Adventure? It's nerds all the way down.

Nerddom transcends all societal and chronological classification.

@Wizz said in Good Comics for People Who Don't Like Comics?:

Supreme Power and the second volume Squadron Supreme from Marvel are pretty great.

I should note: I do not like superhero comics. It's not that I don't like superheros, but that I don't like stuff that's thrown together. It's why I almost exclusively refuse to read fantasy books except on the strongest recommendation. It's not the power fantasy, it's that I'm close-minded about anything that reminds me of a soap opera. (For quite a few people I know, Joss Wheedon is a "soap-opera" style writer; I completely understand their complaints, but his humor is so delightful that I can forgive terribly agonizingly unrealistic character interactions.)

It takes the basic origin story of Superman, alien baby found in a cornfield by some country folk only HOSHIT the government finds the crash site, takes him and tries to raise him instead and that goes...not well. It's a neat deconstruction of Superman and the Justice League, super powers in general, American culture, etc. etc.

This, mind you, is why I liked "Red Son". What if Superman landed in Georgia, Russia? It makes an extremely compelling case for Lex Luthor as the good guy. Deconstructions and character studies are all fun.

@Derp said in Good Comics for People Who Don't Like Comics?:

If you don't mind webcomics, I would recommend Girl Genius. I think it would suit you.

I enjoyed it quite a lot in the beginning, but then it became a set of endless stories about a perfect character and I lost interest. It's still a good comic, just lost the (ahhem) spark.

@Coin said in Good Comics for People Who Don't Like Comics?:

I already introduced you to Planetary in the past. You might want to read other stuf by Warren Ellis, since you did like it.

Well yes, Planetary was completely amazing. The time-travel bit at the end was kitchy, but as a send-off I was satisfied by it.

Also that comic about five villains with serious emotional issues (one of them a dissatisfied hero) stopping...I can't remember now, the Super-Villain response to the Justice League mentally castrating villains. Clearly the story made a huge impact on me. It was alright, but again, it was about the people more than the situation.

As such, I would like to posit you might like Global Frequency and, of course, something I have suggested you read many times and I am unsure if you actually, you know, listened: Transmetropolitan.

People keep recommending this at me. I tried reading Transmet once or twice and wanted the main character to shut the fuck up by the third page. Maybe I could give it more credence and try to at least read through the first comic, but I was thinking how depleted uranium delivered at speed to the brainpan would not come too soon to that asshole.

I cannot explain why.

@Royal said in Good Comics for People Who Don't Like Comics?:

Y: The Last Man

Yeah, I should look up this classic, too.

@ThatGuyThere said in Good Comics for People Who Don't Like Comics?:

@Kairos said in Good Comics for People Who Don't Like Comics?:

Fables, which has been mentioned before, is quite good. I'll second that. I've heard good things about Saga as well but can't speak from experience.

I will third this, Fables in one of the best series in the 2000s though I can only really recommend the first 75 issues.

You know, I do have the second book in my drawer, here, and I liked the first book pretty well. And the Tell-Tale game, which I know is almost too different to be directly related but still. (Snow White appears to be completely different people. That's fine. No media transition of a property is perfect.)

@Gingerlily said in RL Anger:

@Auspice

I was born inn 1979 and refuse to be anything but Gen X.

You (and I) should add: You're welcome, Millennials. Because thank god we didn't ruin college and killing mental hospitals or anything. We did help those idiot Boomers crash the tech sector, but then we cleaned up the bits and started over while they were ruining college and killing mental hospitals.

I say "we" like I had anything to do with it, but I do feel justified in saying that what Gen X did made way for the Millennials to do what they're doing. (Would there be Snapchat without Flickr? Would there be Facebook without Geocities? Would there be Google without ... okay, Google was inevitable, but also Gen X As Fuck.)

@Sparks

I don't think it would be hard to keep a game population down to the low 20s, really. Sadly.

@Apollonius said in Generic sci fi game.:

I'd like to just be a bartender in space. With a handsome beard. A bartender in space with a handsome beard.

Hipsters.
In.
Spaaaaaaaaace.

Hold on, Google is trying to tell me something.

...

Oh goddammit!