Little things that annoy the hell out of you

[BIL]

I'm toying with starting DR BIRUFORD'S KUSOGE ABBATTOIR, where I introduce each video cosplaying as Bryan Fury before flinging a massive black dildo at the camera, Tekken 7-style. What do u guys think, cool or cool

[drauch]

Is it the sort of thing that largely happens with Youtube types that are trying to sell their personality as their brand, rather than relying on the quality of what they're posting itself? I assume that's what leads to those sort of fluff intros being tacked on to the start of each video, gotta market yourself for the clicks, etc.

I imagine people think that's just "what you do". Like a TV show has an opening, so why not my instructions on how to change the wax ring on a toilet or my game review. If you mainly just watch gameplay videos and the like you don't come across it hardly ever, but the moment someone has to open their mouth it's game over.

[drauch]

I'm toying with starting DR BIRUFORD'S KUSOGE ABBATTOIR, where I introduce each video cosplaying as Bryan Fury before flinging a massive black dildo at the camera, Tekken 7-style. What do u guys think, cool or cool

I wanna see a buncha shmup dicks fly across the screen over wailing guitar, then Gynoug dickman spurts out the logo DR BIRUFORD'S KUSOGE ABBATTOIR, while the Two Crude Dudes pose in each corner.

[BIL]

Concept saved for rapid prototyping

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Is it normal for people to play something like an RPG for the first time using a walkthrough to navigate instead of, you know, just resorting to the walkthrough if they get stuck somewhere? I don't get why you'd ruin the experience of exploring a new game by following a walkthrough step-by-step if it's your first time playing a game, but apparently for some people that's a thing.

[emphatic]

YouTube videos with an intro

"Like and subscribe, guys, it really helps my channel".

Don't tell people what to do.

I also really hate software moving to the subscription model.

[BulletMagnet]

Is it normal for people to play something like an RPG for the first time using a walkthrough to navigate instead of, you know, just resorting to the walkthrough if they get stuck somewhere? I don't get why you'd ruin the experience of exploring a new game by following a walkthrough step-by-step if it's your first time playing a game, but apparently for some people that's a thing.

Back when I was a kid I would often do this, because my main goal at the time was to not miss anything before moving on to another game (and it could probably also be argued that "we'll make the game so obtuse that you'll basically need to buy the guide" was a more pervasive development model at that time), but since then I've come to better appreciate the experience of figuring stuff out for yourself, even if you don't manage to dig up everything, and very seldom refer to FAQs or the like; my bumper-sticker motto is "if I can't solve it, either it's too vague or I'm too dumb".

[JBC]

I couldn't imagine having to look away at a guide every 2 minutes. Repetitive anything pisses me off but repetitive interruptions are one thing that drives me up a wall. I bet this is what a lot of people do with From Soft games just to say they are easy.

[vol.2]

I'm definitely not a From Soft player, but I was led to believe that their games are highly skill-based, to the point where a walkthrough isn't going to do you much good. Is that not the case?

[JBC]

^ They are skill based to a greater extent than usual but there is a numbers game you can choose to grind out to aid you a little. The games definitely do not play themselves no matter what level you are at or what equipment you possess. However, a lot of the difficulty comes from navigating them and learning their systems blind. If you were to use a guide instead of trial and error it would certainly push you through with greater ease.

There are a ton of kids online who like to claim they are easy and that they did a SL1 (soul level 1) run their first go in every one of them and that their penises are an okay 13.5 inches long. It's really silly.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

There's a number of games where I think a guide is exceptionally helpful for avoiding missables such as sidequests. Some of the "Tales of" games in recent times (Abyss, Vesperia) are really bad about the sheer number of sidequests that require backtracking at a very specific point in time before advancing the plot beyond a certain point, lest you miss out on some things such as bonus dungeons and bosses! I'm 100% onboard with using a guide when you're on your second playthrough so as to see everything potentially missed, but I don't think you should resort to following a guide step-by-step on a first playthrough, ruins the experience.

[Blinge]

I'm definitely not a From Soft player, but I was led to believe that their games are highly skill-based, to the point where a walkthrough isn't going to do you much good. Is that not the case?

Nah walkthroughs will absolutely help in FromSoft games.

Like, where's a good place to stand to avoid aggroing a second enemy
What's a good gear setup for X area, or the whole game.

What's a good boss attack to punish etc

[Blinge]

Is it normal for people to play something like an RPG for the first time using a walkthrough to navigate instead of, you know, just resorting to the walkthrough if they get stuck somewhere? I don't get why you'd ruin the experience of exploring a new game by following a walkthrough step-by-step if it's your first time playing a game, but apparently for some people that's a thing.

These days I'm too scared to touch a golden era CRPG or something without consulting a guide on how to roll a character.
Do I really wanna risk ruining my whole experience because I fucked myself at the first hurdle?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Are there really that many CRPGs that are that strict, though? A lot of CRPGs are multi-member make your own party style ones, and those generally don't let you screw yourself as far as I can tell.

The only one I can think of is a strictly single character one that was an indie game called Psionics which allows you to roll stats and trying to run anything with sub 7 stats is probably suicidal, but given how tough the first few minutes are you'll figure that out very quickly if you try to run a character with 1s and 2s in the stats!

There are some tough ones out there though, I remember one called Mines of Titan that was quite tricky, but as with many CRPGs I've played the hardest part is the beginning where your character creation decisions have the most impact.

[Blinge]

Maybe I have the wrong impression

Can i fuck myself over forever by rolling a bad character in ..
Ultima 1-3? asking for a friend.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Ultima 1: I've played and beaten the Apple II version, it runs quite well without needing to use emulator speedup (like you do to make Wizardry I bearable). Character creation doesn't affect much honestly, though Clerics are pretty handy because of the lack of spell failure and a couple unique spells for dungeons. I beat the game with a Wizard and had no issues. Fighter and Thief I don't think can cast spells, which is troublesome for the dungeon portion of the game.

Ultima 2: By far the most difficult of the early Ultima games I'd say. I'll warrant this is definitely an example where character creation can screw you; didn't think of this one. It's not simply starting out or character creation that makes it difficult (though these are both very hard) but because of various uh... quirks, it's really rough. I found a page where these are detailed really well here: https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Ultima_II ... r_creation

tl;dr if you gain too many stats your stats will roll over to zero, and if you get too much Charisma + Intelligence shop prices suddenly get MORE expensive than intended

The first time I tried Ultima 1 I enjoyed the game a lot and made very good progress without external assistance. The first time I tried Ultima 2 I almost immediately starved to death without knowing how the heck to get gold and find a town that sold food. It's just a really tough game in general. It's also generally regarded as the worst Ultima game, for good reason. It's also silly because character creation directly encourages you not to pick race and class combinations that provide the same bonuses (whereas normally races would want to pick classes that benefit from those racial bonuses in most RPGs):

As a thumb rule, avoid creating a character whose race and class give a bonus to the same attribute. In particular, in the Apple II version, you would create an unbalanced character who either (1) has no discount at game start (thus making the game longer and more tedious) or (2) cannot wear the heaviest armors (thus making game completion impossible).

Ultima 3: With a wide variety of classes it's easy to make some poor picks, but generally speaking as long as you pick a team with a good general mix of abilities (rather than something that's obvious shmuck bait like 4 thieves) you should be fine. There are some potential pitfalls in this game; I think you can make things tricky by levelling up too quickly if you don't have good equipment to match, thus triggering harder enemies? and raising stats is... quite difficult as a beginner (not to get into spoilers). I think you can also swap characters you're using Wizardry style during the game if I remember correctly, except not in the NES port? It's been a while since I've played this one, sorry, bit fuzzy on the details, but it's far less cruel to a first time player than Ultima 2 is.

[orange808]

Food and/or water as a core necessary maintenance stat always annoys the hell out of me. A relic of ancient design--and a constant annoyance throughout the Ultima series.

Landing on planets is another annoying thing in Ultima 2. Instant death if you don't hit the space bar at the perfect moment.

It's too bad, because Ultima 2 has a lot of elements that were more interesting than Ultima 3. It's a better setting and story. The time gate element and ability to visit other planets opens up a lot of potential--although it's largely untapped. Would have been nice if the quick sword was in a random location. Minax is an interesting final boss. It sure beats putting cards on an alter and running away in U3.

I like the simple combat in U2. The strategic combat in Ultima 3 opened up some possiblities, but simultaneously introduced exhausting repetitive grind. Combat decended into a monotonous chore and enemy encounters (aka random encounters) devolved into maddening/frustrating interruptions. By the end, I ached for the fast combat interactions of the first two games.

It's also frustrating that there are so many dangerous and deep dungeons in those games with no significant rewards/perks/gear to offer.

They are mostly period/museum games to me. Loved them when they were released, but things have changed.

Ultima I may be the best of them. It's over before it wears out its welcome.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

By the end, I ached for the fast combat interactions of the first two games.

You'd probably enjoy Ultima IV then. It's Ultima III style combat, but you've got some incredibly powerful ranged options which can sweep the field. Combat isn't as zippy as the single character Ultima games, but it's not as slow as Ultima III is. Three of the classes can use the top tier ranged weapon, the Wand, and it is devastatingly good. Ultima IV is probably my fave of the early generation of games for a variety of reasons, although I might recommend the friendlier NES version for a first time player.

Food and/or water as a core necessary maintenance stat always annoys the hell out of me. A relic of ancient design--and a constant annoyance throughout the Ultima series.

It's especially absurd when you encounter Gremlin enemies whose attacks steal half your food instantly. They can make you starve just by touching you and are a legitimate nuisance. Fortunately they're exclusive to dungeons, but yeah, food and water micromanagement are a pain, and games where you don't have to worry about those are a nice acceptable break from reality.

The Tales of games had a good idea in making cooking an optional once after every battle thing, where you get minor bonuses depending on what you cook.

[Mischief Maker]

I know I've said variations on this theme dozens of times before, but when a video is described as a "walkthrough" I expect it to be instructions by a person who knows the game on how to efficiently beat it.

Not some moron wandering in circles past the giant red pulsating button to open the door again and again and again.

"How am I supposed to do this?" (tutorial window in the upper-right explains exactly how to do this, but gets ignored for five minutes).

[orange808]

You'd probably enjoy Ultima IV then. It's Ultima III style combat, but you've got some incredibly powerful ranged options which can sweep the field. Combat isn't as zippy as the single character Ultima games, but it's not as slow as Ultima III is. Three of the classes can use the top tier ranged weapon, the Wand, and it is devastatingly good. Ultima IV is probably my fave of the early generation of games for a variety of reasons, although I might recommend the friendlier NES version for a first time player.

Thank you. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of an "old", so I've already played it. I agree with your impressions, overall. Never played it on the NES.

My biggest individual annoying moments were probably related to the AI for NPC party members in Ultima 7. Don't ever let Iolo have a firedoom staff. He's a maniac!!

[Blinge]

I know I've said variations on this theme dozens of times before, but when a video is described as a "walkthrough" I expect it to be instructions by a person who knows the game on how to efficiently beat it.

Not some moron wandering in circles past the giant red pulsating button to open the door again and again and again.

"How am I supposed to do this?" (tutorial window in the upper-right explains exactly how to do this, but gets ignored for five minutes).

I mean, you're absolutely right. Yours is the definition of walkthrough

he is doing a 'playthrough.'

[BareKnuckleRoo]

This is going to sound extremely petty, but I know a lot of people whose jobs have gone from being in an office to remote from home. It makes total sense, as they're jobs that don't require a physical presence to operate, such as web development work. However, hearing comments about "well, time for another day in my underwear!" or stuff like that is starting to really grate on me. I'm in a professional environment where the nature of the job requires a physical presence and limits what I can dress or wear, and while I know they don't intend it, it's starting to feel like it's rubbing it in. Not everyone can go remote as there's many jobs that literally cannot be done remotely and it feels to some extent like I'm now far underpaid compared to people who are able to work remotely, as I keep hearing it's such a fantastic perk.

I truly feel bad for people who work retail in today's environment. The awful entitlement of the people who still refuse to follow basic health measures and make retail workers suffer for it are spectacular failures as human beings.

[BIL]

I was working remote for a few months last year, but I made a point of dressing at least smart-casual... I don't think there were any company orders, I just think of numbnuts like that CNN Jeffrey Toobin dude who was caught jacking his dick on cam during a Zoom call. Why let your guard down? Work hours =/= Jerk hours!

[orange808]

When some hack does a copy/paste job from a jargon-heavy journal article and posts it to a pop science webpage. I don't think the author even understands what he posted.

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-fossils-l ... cytin-.amp

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I found some bizarre Youtube channel that's trying to apparently be the next World of Longplays, instead calling itself "Runplays". However it appears to be run by someone who is batshit crazy. Weirdness includes:

• Arbitrarily crops videos of 4:3 ratio games to try and squeeze them into a widescreen aspect ratio. Will do this different depending on the game (Lennus is uncropped, Mario Kart has the bottom cropped, Secret Agent has the top and bottom cropped).

The worst example of cropping I found is an old MS-DOS game called Dark Ages, which has ITS ENTIRE INTERFACE cropped out. / (sane video for comparison)

• Applies a heavy blur filter to everything, basically making a goddamn mess of the original pixel art.



• Has tiny text on the intro screen of most of the newer uploads begging viewers to watch ads (lol, no).

• Actually REMOVES the HUD/interface from some games. Firepower 2000/SWIV is uncropped but has somehow had its score/weapon indicators removed (probably disabling a layer in the emulator). Claims to do this for aesthetic improvement.

• Cheats used, including infinite health and levitation for platforming games. Has actually recorded footage of games simply sitting in one corner the entire time (sane video for comparison)

To their credit, the sound quality is perfectly fine, and unlike World of Longplays they freely explain to/admit they're using cheats in the video description, so there's that I guess.

[Sumez]

That's hilarious

[TransatlanticFoe]

I scrolled through and picked out a few games I'm familar with. There's an awful lot of "sat in the corner with an invincible cheat on". A bit of running to the right not killing anything but jumping in midair instead (can't see the acronym for that taking off). A personal highlight was in Weaponlord, where after the first fight suddenly they were playing as the final boss - but the story stayed the same. And my favourite, inappropriate vehicle swaps in SMS Line of Fire:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uPXhQjD75nE

To call it "movie mode" is hilarious. Yes, I do want to watch a movie where a boat goes across land and the main character transforms into the final boss. Or the implementation of plot armour gets so meta that the hero, blissful in its invulnerability, simply sits around ignoring everything until the main villain shows up asking for a fight.

Seems like it's just a script to automate playing games, maximum videos for maximum ad hits and maximum monies vs. absolutely bare minimum effort.

[Udderdude]

These runplays are giving me the runs.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

And my favourite, inappropriate vehicle swaps in SMS Line of Fire:

Hilarious.

I politely suggested that cropping out massive portions of the game window, adding a blur filter, and removing the HUD were not presenting the games in a way that would resemble the original experience, but apparently they believe that uniqueness for the sake of being different is an inherent virtue:



Stubborn tastelessness makes you a visionary, or something.

It would be amusing if it wasn't for the fact that, like you said, it appears to all be done in the name of churning out meaningless "content" as rapidly and copiously as possible, regardless of the quality, in order to try and generate ad revenue. The tiny, barely legible message at the beginning of videos begging for people to watch both ads makes it clear they want this to turn into a cash cow. World of Longplays' popularity is in large part due to it taking the time to use savestates and slowdown to try and produce something that, to the untrained eye, looks like authentic gameplay. They sadly don't mark their videos as using tool assistance, but it's better than what's being presented here which doesn't even attempt to engage with the gameplay in a meaningful way.

The channel isn't as unique as they believe either; there've been others who've stretched vert shmups to widescreen aspect with equally sad and hilarious results.

The tragedy is that they have been uploading a number of obscure MS-DOS games lately for which there's only like one other playthrough on Youtube, and have real potential to showcase their own run of the game, but the questionable cropping and unwillingness to put any effort in actually playing the games makes them useless for anything except perhaps raising awareness that these games exist.

edit: Because I apparently haven't suffered enough, here's a playthrough of Wild Guns where they've cropped the interface, disabled the crosshair, and spend half an hour standing in the middle of the screen firing at nothing in particular. Why would anyone ever want to watch this?

Their video descriptions also contain a paragraph worth of irrelevant tags:

Spoiler

Super Nintendo [this appeared on an NES game]

Walkthrough ["use cheats" does not amount to walkthrough advice]

Speedrun, TAS [lol, no]

HD [absolutely a lie]

AVGN [not affiliated with AVGN in any way shape or form]

Best [is this a joke?]

720p, 1080p, 1440p [stretching an NES and applying a bad filter to the game doesn't mean your footage is high res]

[Udderdude]

If I was looking for a gameplay video of something and found one of these turds, I wouldn't even bother clicking on it. The massive hq20x filter would immediately make me run like hell.