Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@NintendoByNature Not that I've seen. But I only just showed up myself.

@NotTelevision Well, like you haven't played Xenoblade, I haven't played Red Dead, but also like you have heard good things about Xeno, I've heard good things about Red. Even the best games have a few points that aren't great. I consider Xenoblade Chronicles probably my favorite game of all time, it's certainly very high on my list! But it does have a decent few dull "collect 9 of this random item for me" quests - Though doing all the side quests in the game completely eliminates any need for traditional level grinding and splashes in some world building.

I've a mixed opinion on Rockstar games. I can really respect the technical aspects of their games and the raw game play. But I am often really not a fan of the story and characters. I'm not the kind of person who thinks we should shelter ourselves from bad people doing bad things, but frankly I don't like vile people being held up as the heroes. And honestly many of Rockstar's games feature murderers and even rapists as the protagonists. From a story telling view, the existence of these types of characters are interesting but I don't want to play as them unless the actual story is meant to be that of a villains' story. From my experience with their games, that's not the case almost ever. I'm sorry but if I learned my best friend, whom I've known for over 20 years was a rapist and a killer, I'd not stand by them and I'd not maintain that friendship. And yet, that's often the kind of characters you get from their games...

Again, I actually dislike the "white knight" perfect flawless hero approach - but at the same time I don't want a game that holds up vile people in that same sort of spotlight. If the game is about playing as a bad person, treat it that way.

About the only Rockstar game I've played why I actually liked the protagonist was GTA 4, where at least in the beginning, it seemed like a decent man placed into an impossible position. Then we got GTA 5 with one of the protagonists being an outright rapist and killer and the game even made a mini game out of torturing a prisoner... I'll be honest though, I know zip about the Red Dead stories/cast. Maybe I'd like them more.

I'd love to see what Rockstar could do with different writing. All that detail work into a game maybe with a blank slate protagonist where you could make them a monster or a hero or mixed up as you choose. Or a protagonist more in line with GTA 4 where they are a decent person who is forced to do bad things because not doing them places them in a worse position - which honestly I think is the more common reason why anyone resorts to crime.

Part of why I like Xenoblade so much is because the hero initially isn't trying to save the world or anyone, it's revenge. Openly so.

Pffff.... crazy Anti playing multi-player games with himself again...
How can anyone be happy with or proud about any achievements acquired in that way? Oh, look: I beat myself... (shakes head)

@HobbitGamer Haha, no it didn't. I've only combined buses and accidents in recent years.

@bimmy-lee Hm, makes you wonder about all those hentai-loving boys and girls, huh? Some commenters on here certainly act like monkeys, and like other animals ending in "onkeys"...

But no, to me, they're just harmless fun, and recently, I happened to discover a Western effort, that is actually pretty good with a more than decent story, in a setting taking its cues from all the various American screwball and high school comedies and mixing that in with a more adult theme, and characters looking far more realistic and in 3D, instead of the blue-haired anime girls with the saucer-sized eyes and alien chest sizes.

Here, take a look for yourself. It's on Steam for a decent price, just remember to not check that at work.

@NintendoByNature Yeah, that can literally be quite a constrictive sensation. Luckily, I managed to get rid of it over the years, mainly also because I never had any of these feelings before the accident, so for me, it was just a matter of getting back to my former self.

@Heavyarms55 A new troll with a decidedly racist name? Well, I must have overlooked that one, because I've now gotten rid of all the back log concerning the articles I hadn't read yet, and to be honest, I can't remember seeing anyone like that.

By the way: the Red Dead games are great, so I can easily recommend them to you, especially if you like games that take place in a Wild West setting. It isn't simply "GTA in cowboy land", if that's what you're wondering.

@ThanosReXXX it's gotten worse for me over the years actually. Some fun haunted houses around Halloween have you crawling thru small openings. I know it's fun, but it still gets to me. Even getting my kids out of tubes in play places can somewhat bother me. I dont hyperventilate. But it's still enough to make me feel uneasy.

@NintendoByNature I can imagine. All I can say is that I sincerely hope that you have it in you to not transfer that anxiety or fear onto your kids, because that would be the worst thing of it.

@ThanosReXXX nah. I trek thru it for haunted houses and so on. It Would have to be extreme for me NOT to do something with them because of my fear.

@ThanosReXXX Said troll was all over the Nintendo Switch forums spouting all kinds of nonsense. And I know there's a lot of reasons why the Red Dead and GTA games are popular. And even with all I said about GTA, I don't hate the games - I think in terms of pure gameplay and technical design, they're extremely fun and impressive games. I just don't really like the flavor and writing - which is why I rarely ever played much of the stories beyond enough to get access to features I wanted - then I'd just run around the world blowing stuff up and messing with glitches or actually pretending to be a bad guy.

I once broke San Andres. I found a hill where you could drop down and land on a ledge just wide enough to stand on, above a tunnel, and the AI just didn't understand how to deal with that. So I could just stand up there blowing up cars until the police brought in helicopters which could only come straight at me and were easy to shoot down.

Well played, Labo VR, well played indeed.

So there’s a mini game in the VR plaza called Big Blue Book. Simple enough, book on a table with a lock. Open the lock, turn the page...”LOOK BEHIND YOU”. So I did.

Now I’m going to play New Leaf. Until my Switch stops reading my posts.

Playing one of most Wiinderrated and high Wiintellect games, Opoona!

Not big into turn based RPGs (I enjoy action ones a lot more), but this one is so unique in terms of gameplay, visuals, soundtrack and atmosphere. Not to mention I'm always happy to discover a new Wii title, haha.

Got a UV light for future family vacation reasons, but before such a thing could rev up, I flashed the light around the house for future family vacation reasons. By one of the rugs was a very old Tootsie pee stain, but the light revealed that it was in the shape of a heart. For me, that had to be the most bittersweet thing I have ever saw, even after two years (IT'S BEEN THAT LONG ALREADY!?!) after her passing. Also, said rug was sprayed and washed shortly afterwards.

Also that UV light really made the glow in the dark funko pops really glow!....REALLY!

Whew. Have I mentioned this week for me has been crazy work-wise? If not, it has been CRAZY! Good news is I haven't had a ton going on this evening, so I assembled the new gaming chair I picked up last weekend. It was surprisingly easy to do with the straightforward directions. It only took me about 45 minutes or so.

@bimmy-lee I'd say it's worth a shot as long as it wouldn't be too crazy to pull off, both out of pocket or otherwise. It would definitely make for an interesting project!

Better let @NEStalgia know about those Frozen stencils....

@ThanosReXXX They could make a pretty in-depth superhero origin movie, but that would take many hours and more than likely more than one movie. Not many people are as patient as I am when it comes to screen time lol. It's amazing what they DO condense into a 2 1/2 hour movie sometimes, but that material widely varies.

What is this "reasoning" you speak of? I've heard it's the Holy Grail of the internet.

@Heavyarms55 You bring up a good point with GTA 4. Reflecting on it, I think you’re right. It’s not like a bad guy/criminal protagonist has to be unlikeable. There are countless crime movies and shows like Breaking Bad that invite the viewer to face moral dilemmas from the perspective of the bad guy. It’s not like we totally side with them, but we better understand the various components that cause someone to make these choices and identify with them as human beings in a struggle. You’re right about GTA 4 doing that better.

GTA 5 had the harder task of making these deplorable characters relatable, and frankly they didn’t really succeed . I didn’t understand the motivations of why these characters acted this way. Trevor and Michael just seem like they want to sit on a large pile of money and Franklin is a bit of a stiff for most of the game. So I think the problem is the story, like you, left me cold with no one there to identify with and barely any moral stakes to contend with.

I know they could’ve done better because there are other open world games where the choices you make are constantly “hitting you in the feels”, so my criticism isn’t an indictment of the developers but just a wish they try a little harder. They obviously wanted to create a mature satire of the state of post- Great Recession US at times, but it comes across as childish and them just picking the lowest hanging fruit levels of easy spoof. It lacks insight in other words. And causing mayhem on the street doesn’t have the same level of joy it had in the earlier games.

Ohh boy. This is starting to look like a post on the “Unpopular gaming opinions” thread 😟. I’ll reserve further commentary for that thread. These are just my thoughts on my experience with GTA 5.

@NotTelevision I think the best writers can take even monstrous characters and make then understandable and that tends to make for very interesting stories. It's easier and more enjoyable to follow a character through a story if they're forced into doing bad things by circumstance or just horribly convinced that doing the wrong thing will, perhaps, be the right choice in the long term. Or you have stories where bad people go through a redemption arc. Or even following a character as they descend into becoming a monster/sociopath can be really interesting. I'm thinking of stories like that of Jacen Solo from pre-Disney Star Wars, Clarissa Mao from the Expanse, or Ains Oowl Gown from Overlord. We follow Jacen from idealistic youth to Sith Lord convinced the only way to save the Galaxy is to control it - by any means needed. Clarissa Mao the spoiled daughter of a rich businessman carries out acts of mass murder to get revenge for the imprisonment of her father - who she believed did no wrong - only to learn that the person she hated was in fact right and Ains initially tries to hold on to his human morals after losing his humanity, but we see him slowly devolve into a more and more vicious person - even leading him to remark that at one point he'd have been horrified by what he was doing but now feels nothing.

Rather, GTA 5's cast felt like being asked to play as someone who was just a selfish street crook. A killer and rapist in it for the thrill and nothing more. Characters with little to no limits who don't even appear to question or regret anything - with no goals aside from short term personal gain. That's really not appealing to me.

Just got Metorid 2 Return of Samus for the GB but I noticed that the version of the cartridge is German. I loaded the game and noticed that the text in the game at least the save/start etc. are in English. Does anyone know if the game is Language locked in any way or it is just the front label that has words in German?

Also is there more text in Metroid 2?

UPDATE: I just read that even in the Japanese cartridge all text in the game is in English. And there is not much text in there as well

@Heavyarms55 Ohh for sure. Those three types of villain/ anti-hero character arcs work really well and keep you engaged with the premise. I think there are times writers can deviate from it, but it’s really hard to pull off successfully.

I also just thought of some earlier Rockstar games like Max Payne 1&2. They have a simple revenge plot but they are executed quite well. So that idea of circumstances leading your character to the underworld, has some good precedents in earlier Rockstar games.

Sometimes taking a really familiar storyline and filling it in with style and a unique mechanic can be the recipe for something really special.

Not saying all games need to have this incredible story but if that’s what games in the future are going to focus on more heavily, then it’s fair to discuss examples of when a story works and when it doesn’t.

How bad is the coronavirus affecting gaming? Sony Microsoft and Nintendo are being quiet. Sony and Microsoft have new consoles coming, but they are being fairly quiet.Nintendo are being quiet, but we don't know why. Sony and Microsoft are working on new consoles and will reveal things when they are ready. If the coronavirus is affecting things badly, Nintendo should say something as we will know what is going on and whether or not their plans have been affected by the coronavirus.

@DannyBoi No need for this. They just don't want to give information before the big release of Animal Crossing. After that they will probably do something. But if the outbreak affects the deadlines of the games they do not want to make a Direct with incorrect information just misleading the players.

My hand drawing kickboxers i have made just now. 😀

@bimmy-lee
Which one do you like ?

@Vinny I would agree that Opoona actually IS an underrated game. I've enjoyed it as well. I now might have to make @NintendoByNature aware of this too...

@Tyranexx Ha! More like the Holy Grail of real life. On the internet, it's pretty much comparable to Unobtainium...

@ThanosReXXX hmm might have to check it out.

@Heavyarms55 Yeah, GTAV I could have enjoyed a lot more if Trevor didn't exist. I liked Michael, he was fun to play, interesting to watch. The fun kind of mobster to play. Franklin grew on me. I didn't like all aspects of him. I couldn't tell who they wanted him to be. At times he was an interesting character and at times he was a "thuglife" cliche, and not in a comical way. I had the sense there were two writing teams for his sequences and both had different concepts of what the character was. A stand-up guy in a knock-down world, or a hoodrat. Sometimes he was one, sometimes the other. Trevor OTOH disgusted me beginning to end. Any time they presented him was unpleasant and offputting, and eventually combined with the brainless gameplay is what made me just drop the game and move on. It wasn't fun with him.

I missed the new troll yesterday. Almost amusing though. Anyone who promotes gaming on a gaming laptop probably never tried it. At least not on a battery like Switch. I used to do that. I had a heat mat for my lap, and still would feel like I was wading in a nuclear reactor. At least for 15 minutes until the battery died.

@Eel Ok, WTF is an orbeez? I even googled it. I found things including the official website. It has videos. I STILL can't figure out what it is. They make it sound edible and non-edible, and generally a safety hazard. They talk about how it grows 100x its size yet in every picture and video there's only one size shown as though they don't change shape at all. It did have a kid focused video featuring "Kiki" and "Piper" Great, kids videos where one is a natural born Hooters waitress. And anyone that names their daughter "Piper" should be burred under the 18th hole of their favorite country club. Immediately. Where Trevor be at?