Random Gaming Thoughts

Anything that is gaming related that doesn't fit well anywhere else
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o.pwuaioc
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

Post by o.pwuaioc »

Note wrote:
o.pwuaioc wrote: I got a whole bunch of fanzines from this one guy, but half of it was invective against Clinton or undying adulation for Reagan. I never bothered with unknown fanzines after that.

Digital Press was a bit different, though.
They were gaming fanzines with political topics thrown into the mix? That seems really weird. Sorry to hear you got stuck with those.

Paradox seems like an interesting gaming related fanzine as well, but there aren't many issues archived online. There's a few here though: http://www.paradoxfanzine.com/
It was just one guy, and this was coming off the heels of Family Ties, but still, the vitriol threw me off.

I also miss the late 80s/early 90s music zines before it all went on Geocities.
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Raging Justice
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

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Ziggy587 wrote:Yeah, there's always lots of milestone trophies that you get just from doing mandatory things in the game. Or scripted events, etc. I suppose they make people feel good. There's usually very few trophies that are actual accomplishments. If that bugs you... Can't you t urn off trophies? Or at least the popup for them?
Yeah, you can turn off the popups. A lot of streamers/let's players do that. I actually prefer when they leave them on as I like to see what sorts of trophies they are getting.

You know when I get a trophy notification I start to wonder with curiosity what it was for. Is it because I just finished off that enemy with a really cool combo that I have been trying to nail down for the past hour? Is it because I just finished that whole stealth section undetected? Is it cause I beat that large sub boss without taking a single hit? Then I see it's just for something stupid like "You just killed your 100 enemy! Congratulations!" and I just roll my eyes.
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Ziggy
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

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I was just playing Batman Arkham City for the first time. You start the game off as Bruce Wayne, but like 5 minutes into it you put on the bat suit. You get a trophy for becoming The Batman LOL. To be clear, it's all scripted. You don't have to find the suit, you don't have figure out how to radio Alfred for it, you don't even have to manually equip it or anything like that. You just have to start a new game and you get that trophy. The game is like, "Congratulations!" So I guess I'm suppose to be like, "Damn straight! I'm awesome at video games!"

The milestone trophies, like killing X amount of enemies, are kinda neat. Not in an accomplishment kind of way, just in an interesting stat kind of way.

What would be cool is if there's a toggle to turn off mundane trophies. Because most games do have at least a few trophies that are actual accomplishments, and something you have to go out of your way to intentionally do.
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Raging Justice
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

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Ziggy587 wrote:I was just playing Batman Arkham City for the first time. You start the game off as Bruce Wayne, but like 5 minutes into it you put on the bat suit. You get a trophy for becoming The Batman LOL. To be clear, it's all scripted. You don't have to find the suit, you don't have figure out how to radio Alfred for it, you don't even have to manually equip it or anything like that. You just have to start a new game and you get that trophy. The game is like, "Congratulations!" So I guess I'm suppose to be like, "Damn straight! I'm awesome at video games!"

The milestone trophies, like killing X amount of enemies, are kinda neat. Not in an accomplishment kind of way, just in an interesting stat kind of way.

What would be cool is if there's a toggle to turn off mundane trophies. Because most games do have at least a few trophies that are actual accomplishments, and something you have to go out of your way to intentionally do.
I guess this is where my thinking differs. I believe that beating levels, beating bosses, or progressing a story to a certain point (like finishing a chapter) are milestones. I would never hand out trophies to players for killing a bunch of enemies or using a magic spell X number of times. I hate trophies like that.

Since you brought up the Batman games, one thing I like is the trophies for getting a certain combo. THAT is a milestone, as most players may have to play those games for a few hours before they get good enough at combat that they can avoid getting hit long enough to build up a good combo.

Finding a certain number of Riddler trophies. THAT is a milestone. You have to actually find those things and solve puzzles to get them.

Anything that increases completion percentages in a game is a milestone to me. Finding a certain number of collectibles, completing a certain number of optional side missions, etc.

I'm not saying that getting a game's trophies needs to be some absurdly difficult task. Like I wouldn't design a game's trophies to be so hard to attain that only 1% of people playing my game could get the platinum, but I do believe that every single trophy in a game should represent some level of effort or skill from the player. You don't get any freebies from me. Using 50 healing items in an RPG is not an accomplishment. You don't deserve a trophy. Some games even give players trophies for dying...which is beyond absurd. Congrats player! You failed at the game 50 times have a trophy! Ugh, no. When you stop sucking and start making progress (i.e. beat another level) or just do something cool (45 hit combo!), then you get a trophy.

That's just my opinion, and I realize that a lot of people don't care about this stuff and probably think I'm taking this too seriously. Yes, I can be self aware :wink:

P.S. I also hate the other extreme, trophies that are unbelievably, ridiculously, hard to obtain. I like balance. If I did a trophy list for a game, they would all require some effort and skill, nothing that is piss easy. However, I would avoid anything that is like a 9 out of 10 difficulty. Hell, I'd probably even patch the game if players struggled with anything that much.
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marurun
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

Post by marurun »

Maybe part of the problem is calling them trophies. Steam calls them achievements, which feels more flexible.

Perhaps if there were two types of trophies/cheevos, milestone type and performance type.
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Raging Justice
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

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marurun wrote:Maybe part of the problem is calling them trophies. Steam calls them achievements, which feels more flexible.

Perhaps if there were two types of trophies/cheevos, milestone type and performance type.
Yeah, I don't know. I have always loved the concept of trophies and achievements, but the way that they are implemented in many games today leaves me underwhelmed. Some companies don't even seem to care. Like every now and then you'll still see a new Playstation game come out that doesn't even include a Platinum trophy. I would have thought platinums would be standard in every Playstation game by now. It's 2023 for crying out loud, we're moving into a new console generation and I still see nonsense like this.

Oh well, whatever.
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Raging Justice
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

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So a new Sonic game came out, and it's gotten a mixed reaction

Surprised Pikachu face

That seems to be the Sonic cycle. I actually view Frontiers as something of a fluke with the positivity it received, though even that game is disliked by some people.

I think the day a Sonic game comes out and is almost universally loved like the old Sega Genesis ones were it'll be a sign of the apocalypse or something.

Anyway, I will have to check out Sonic Superstars out of curiosity
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RCBH928
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

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Raging Justice wrote: I think the day a Sonic game comes out and is almost universally loved like the old Sega Genesis ones were it'll be a sign of the apocalypse or something.
Wasn't there a recently released 2D sonic game that was just as good as the originals?
Either way, I do not like this infinite releases. We got a game, we liked it, end of story. Releasing a forever sequels is not interesting to me, but people out there seem to like and will continue to buy any thing with Mario, Sonic, or whatever else on it. How many CODs and Assassin Creed's do we have now?
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Raging Justice
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

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RCBH928 wrote:
Raging Justice wrote: I think the day a Sonic game comes out and is almost universally loved like the old Sega Genesis ones were it'll be a sign of the apocalypse or something.
Wasn't there a recently released 2D sonic game that was just as good as the originals?
Either way, I do not like this infinite releases. We got a game, we liked it, end of story. Releasing a forever sequels is not interesting to me, but people out there seem to like and will continue to buy any thing with Mario, Sonic, or whatever else on it. How many CODs and Assassin Creed's do we have now?
That's a silly comparison. Mario at least tries to innovate on a regular basis and generally has a high standard of polish and quality. Nintendo also doesn't pump them out on a yearly basis like we see with Assassin's Creed.

Also, having a one game only standard would be ridiculous given that many franchises' first outing was rough and lacking in some way (like the first Ratchet and Clank game). Iteration = growth and improvement.
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RCBH928
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Re: Random Gaming Thoughts

Post by RCBH928 »

Raging Justice wrote:
RCBH928 wrote: That's a silly comparison. Mario at least tries to innovate on a regular basis and generally has a high standard of polish and quality. Nintendo also doesn't pump them out on a yearly basis like we see with Assassin's Creed.

Also, having a one game only standard would be ridiculous given that many franchises' first outing was rough and lacking in some way (like the first Ratchet and Clank game). Iteration = growth and improvement.
1- To each his own and while yes I would say that Mario and other Nintendo IPs have different implementations and new ideas, personally, I am not up for playing yet another mario game where he basically jumps and collects coins. I rather play something new and different like Cyberpunk or Cuphead.

2-As for having one game standard, I wouldn't say one game but I think a good balance is a trilogy that is until a new technological capabilities become available to create a new form of gameplay like gta1+2 vs GTA3 .
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