jtr7 on 15/4/2013 at 03:50
Not always, R_T. Hell, every update makes something work differently than I'm used to. I never searched for "jtr7" on YouTube, nor searched in Google (or any other 'Net search) for Rageaholic and jtr7 for anything. Unless my account was hacked, hahahaha!
Captain Spandex on 15/4/2013 at 03:58
Hahaha! It's like Batman and Joker!
jtr7 on 15/4/2013 at 04:14
:p
Hey, another possibility for the purple might have come from how Google's autocomplete can suggest the wrong thing and I'll click on it, for example, looking up Nicolas Ferrand's concept art, I'd sometimes type 4 letters and Enter, and as I hit Enter, I see I'm going to get the wrong results. Nicolas Ferrand's pseudonym is "viag", and Google autocomplete suggests "Viagra", so I gotta do an extra step to foil the autocomplete. :laff: I can't remember accidentally clicking on a suggested keyword search, though. Apologies if I screwed up my own search somehow.
Judith on 15/4/2013 at 08:47
Quote Posted by Springheel
The latest interview with Roy had him saying something to the effect of, "It's been 10 years since the last Thief, and the way we play games today is really different than the way we played them ten years ago."
Maybe I'm getting old, but what exactly is so different about it?
10 years ago I didn't have to: spend 8 hours a day working, take time to buy and prepare food, or take care of my apartment. I could play games for 4-6 hours straight, had time to read manuals etc. Now I have these 1-2 hour chunks of my time and I really want it to be meaningful. Most people have even less. Today's games are designed in such way that if you have 15-30 minutes of spare time, you can easily jump in, play, get to a checkpoint, and turn off your console or PC. Today's "couch gaming" is more like portable gaming in terms of time spent. Everyone in entertainment industry knows that (games included), that's why they're fighting for their consumers' attention so hard.
Renzatic on 15/4/2013 at 09:39
Quote Posted by Captain Spandex
Dark Souls isn't 'easy', but how exactly is it not dumbed-down?
It's not terribly deep. As an RPG or as a dungeon-crawler. Even modern triple-A titles offer more character customization and role-playing elements than it does.
Difficult games can be streamlined and shallow as sin like anything else. Worse still, their difficulty can become a gimmick, as in the case of Demon's / Dark Souls. Super Meat Boy, for example.
Depends on what your definition of "dumbed-down" is.
No, you won't spend the 3 hours before you start the game buried neck deep in a character sheet. It's more like the Gothic series in that regard. You pick a basic starting class with stats you like, then you build your character from there. All new skills and magics are taught or sold to you by NPCs. Nothing is ever earned as you level up like D&D and the like.
It also depends on what your definition of "role-playing" is.
There isn't much NPC interaction at all. You won't have to worry about building up your charisma so you can talk your way through a situation. But that's not what DS is. It's about dropping you in a big open world without any safety net, and having you work your own way through it to the core mysteries of why you're truly there, what the cause of the undead mark is, and all that good stuff. You learn the history of the world by your own initiative, and determine on your own who's telling you the truth or not.
As for character customization, you're completely ignoring the brilliant way the game handles weight, stance, poise, equipment requirements, and how they all play against your stats. I love the way the game doesn't refuse you equipping an item if your stats aren't up to it. If you don't have enough strength to swing that giant sword, you can still use it, but it'll take you a good 5-10 seconds to swing it, and leave you stumbling and vulnerable for a good two seconds afterwards while you pick it back up again.
And gimmicky? That's a well overused word when it comes to video games. What's gimmicky about DS' difficulty? It's never unfair. Just incredibly unforgiving. Everything has to be approached in a measured way, always aware of what your enemies are doing, and the environments around you, because both can easily kill you. There's no rushing forward hacking away to win the game. If you're fighting a knight type character, you have to pace, parry, and riposte, looking for openings to strike. If you're in a dangerous environment, you have to be aware of your surroundings, wondering if you've got medicinal items in your inventory to make your way through, because one wrong move, one bad judgement call, can drop you off a ledge, burn yourself to a crisp, or poison you to death, and return you to the bonfire that's half an hour back. Enemies can and will use the environment against you. Even if you have your shield up, if you're up against a cliff, all it takes is one good hard kick to knock you off the edge.
The game requires you to constantly be on your toes, never rushing, always thinking two steps ahead. It's probably one of the most intelligent and best designed games I've ever played. It's never cheap. Never puts you in an absolute no win situation. It's mostly comes from the fact that it's incredibly brutal, and doesn't go out of its way to make concessions or accommodate you in any way whatsoever. You live or you die. The game doesn't care either way.
And that's why I love it so much.
If that's gimmicky to you, I don't know what you consider good gameplay.
SeriousCallersOnly on 15/4/2013 at 10:48
Quote Posted by Random_Taffer
Seconded. Really looking forward to Dark Souls 2 as well.
You'll be glad to hear that that game is currently being dumbed down.
(narratively, the designer - who did some movie game i forget - has said that we wants the story to not be 'oblique' and the previous designer was fired. Hello quest compass)
Renzatic on 15/4/2013 at 11:18
I swear to god you people jump on any excuse you can to start beating your chest and scream "they're dumbing it down, they're dumbing it down, the sky is falling errrmmmaaagggeerrdd".
The 10 minute gameplay trailer they showed just the other day shows the game looks and plays almost exactly like the original DS. And the original designer wasn't fired, he was made executive producer rather than director. Kind of a kicked upstairs move, but he's still got the final say on what ends up in the game.
FenrisUlf on 15/4/2013 at 11:43
Finally watched that trailer. Actually it really doesn't tell me anything about the game itself. Sure it's a pretty movie but that's not gameplay. :P
A few comments I have about it since they showed it four times :P
Go Garrett is in Harry Potter world now? :) (At the beginning there looked like a jid in a wizard robe going by.)
Breaking through windows for an escape. That REALLY fits the world actually. It's not a smart move at all if you want to keep quiet but it definitely fits my gameplay style :) Guards would definitely treat it like a dead body AIwise.
The ninjamove seemed a little obnoxious. I've heard of slowmotion being talked about. That move looks like it is not fullon ninja but I worry that it might head that way. Just seemed more in the direction of "he's good at getting away".
The look of the whole think as someone pointed out seemed more welltodo and not as grim. I don't mind this for this scene. Sure horror and grimness are part of the franchise but I do think it is important that they mix up the venues/missions/textures/atmospheres. A busy city scene would be great as long as their are slums and haunted areas to compensate.
The necklace thing. Stealing off people seemed to be an idea that I hope they explore further. The necklace seemed awesome. I hope they are able to individualize treasures more like that. Instead of every piece of jewelry looking the same.
Oh yeah, why did the guard look like a half-orc? :) Didn't seem human.
Okay maybe all the rumors are rumors thus far and I will wait for actual gameplay.
But I do think the "10 years ago we played games different" line was asinine. We play games the same way. For entertainment. Give us something fun.
Edit: The "What's Yours is Mine" slogan made me facepalm when they used it for TDS. WHY oh why are they using it again? :(
Springheel on 15/4/2013 at 13:10
Quote:
10 years ago I didn't have to: spend 8 hours a day working, take time to buy and prepare food, or take care of my apartment. I could play games for 4-6 hours straight, had time to read manuals etc. Now I have these 1-2 hour chunks of my time and I really want it to be meaningful. Most people have even less. Today's games are designed in such way that if you have 15-30 minutes of spare time, you can easily jump in, play, get to a checkpoint, and turn off your console or PC.
It may have changed for you personally, but there are plenty of gamers who are ten years younger than you who don't have those responsibilities yet. And some of us had them already ten years ago.
The popularity of games like Skyrim, which, according to my students, is often played for 4-6 hours straight, suggests that there are lots of people with time to invest in games, doesn't it?
Judith on 15/4/2013 at 14:11
Not only for me personally, for most players and developers as well, as they've grown up too, or at least got older. They became fathers and mothers. Starting their own families also had a huge impact on their perspective, at least in terms of making the games they'd like to play. Also, devs are not really interested in kids or teenagers with pocket money as a source of income. When I was a kid I pirated most of them, because either originals were scarce, or I didn't have money anyway. Since I started working many years ago, I'm a returning customer, buying approx. 1 AAA title per month, usually within a launch week, for a full price.
