Amusingly bad reviews

[Doctor Butler]

...The Last of Us is "the citizen kane of videogames" or some other similar drivel..

Oh God....

[Squire Grooktook]

I don't mind playing a game for the story once in a while, but The Last Of Us checks every cliche on the "zombie apocalypse" checklist imaginable. I'd rather be playing the most cliched of jrpg's honestly. At least they're not tryhard as fuck.

[BryanM]

Like, who the hell would want to play an 8-hour long scrolling shooter?

Definitely not in one sitting.

So many games in the genre have the lowest amount of variance possible - Super Mario Brothers one at least has a stage select mechanism. That's one of those things I really like about Bat Rider.

He needs to, there's nothing more that can be done with it that isn't weary and stale.

He says, 14 days before

There's always more and it's always worse.

Everything gets old after a week, such is the way of things. Better that we be capable of boredom than mindless robots that never tire of the same shit.

[Lobinden]

I don't mind playing a game for the story once in a while, but The Last Of Us checks every cliche on the "zombie apocalypse" checklist imaginable. I'd rather be playing the most cliched of jrpg's honestly. At least they're not tryhard as fuck.

I don't think it's "wrong" to play games for the story primarily, and if that's what you enjoy, all the more power to you. (frankly anyone who says that anyone else is "playing games wrong" is arrogant and has their priorities in life very messed up) but I don't think that videogames are a storytelling medium, at least not in the conventional sense, and therefore playing games for a conventional narrative experience is counterproductive. Honestly, I would say that Papers Please is one of the only games ever made with a "good story", and that is because it is one of the few games out there that directly tells its story through game mechanics rather than superficial elements like cutscenes or exposition dumps.

When I want to play a game for "the story" I usually pick up a CRPG or something along those lines. I think games which take narrative elements from literature and/or genre fiction are better than games which take narrative elements from film.

[Squire Grooktook]

I don't think it's counter productive, it's just different.

There are also lots of games that tell their stories through gameplay (Rayforce, Dark Souls, Super Metroid, etc.). I like both styles. Cutscenes and info dumps can even work well with gameplay, giving you a "break" from some intense action and diversifying things a bit.

But like I said, I think people hyping up The Last Of Us as some masterpiece of writing shows how little taste and experience most people have in both game stories and stories in general IMHO.

[Special World]

Did you play through Last of Us to the end Grooktook?

I think the ending of the game is why people consider Last of Us to have a great/intelligent story, rather than just a cliche story with good writing. The ending is really quite good and really subverts player expectations for how the narrative should play out.

[Squire Grooktook]

Okay maybe I'm full of shit, I didn't see it through to the end :3

[Special World]

I can't judge, it took me a really long time to warm to the game, and I never would have given it that long if I hadn't been playing through it with my gf

[Doctor Butler]

[Special World]

tbh ddp dfk is my least favorite cav stg by a mile

0 is harsh tho

[Lobinden]

I don't think it's counter productive, it's just different.

There are also lots of games that tell their stories through gameplay (Rayforce, Dark Souls, Super Metroid, etc.). I like both styles. Cutscenes and info dumps can even work well with gameplay, giving you a "break" from some intense action and diversifying things a bit.

But like I said, I think people hyping up The Last Of Us as some masterpiece of writing shows how little taste and experience most people have in both game stories and stories in general IMHO.

I think it is counterproductive in games such as The Last Of Us (going by your example), in which the flow of the gameplay and level design are interrupted and restricted by conventional narrative devices.

I think "quiet time", as in sections of gameplay which are either more relaxed or completely relaxed to get the player anticipating the more intense parts, is more effective than cutscenes, and for that I would use the Souls series as an example.

[Special World]

Last of Us is like that though. There are a lot of parts where you explore the environment and just enjoy the scenery. There are also a lot of parts where you can take a cool-and-stealthy approach rather than running in guns blazing, so you get a sense of quiet satisfaction instead of adrenaline. I think there's a lot wrong with narrative structure in games, but I would hardly call Last of Us a prime culprit.

Also, the Souls series (and Bloodborne) tell their stories primarily through visual design. While that's all well and good for Dark Souls, that doesn't work for a game that actually wants to tell a structured story. A lot of people are obsessed with learning the story of Dark Souls through the item descriptions but... I'd hate for every game to be like that. That's like games where all the story is audio logs. If "item story" became a trend, I'd absolutely hate it.

There's visual story and there's cutscene story. For some games visual story works great. For other games it doesn't. You could tell a pretty good approximation of Last of Us's story by visual design alone, but then you'd have a REALLY derivative story. Because then it'd just be The Road.

[Squire Grooktook]

I don't think it's counter productive, it's just different.

There are also lots of games that tell their stories through gameplay (Rayforce, Dark Souls, Super Metroid, etc.). I like both styles. Cutscenes and info dumps can even work well with gameplay, giving you a "break" from some intense action and diversifying things a bit.

But like I said, I think people hyping up The Last Of Us as some masterpiece of writing shows how little taste and experience most people have in both game stories and stories in general IMHO.

I think it is counterproductive in games such as The Last Of Us (going by your example), in which the flow of the gameplay and level design are interrupted and restricted by conventional narrative devices.

I think "quiet time", as in sections of gameplay which are either more relaxed or completely relaxed to get the player anticipating the more intense parts, is more effective than cutscenes, and for that I would use the Souls series as an example.

Cutscenes and quiet time simply do not do the same thing. You cannot flesh out characters or plot with quiet time. You can with cutscenes, and often time a cutscene will be far less intrusive and irritating then a stretch of gameplay in which nothing interesting (gameplay wise) happens.

Quiet Time" Vs Cutscene: Neither is "better". Just different. If there's on truth of game design that everyone should learn, it's that almost nothing is objectively "good" or "bad" or "better" or "worse". All game design is a matter of taste and vision.

Right now, Fire Emblem is making me remember how much I love a good post-mission cutscene. Odin Sphere is also a good example of a game that's presentation, story, and atmosphere made me love it as one of my favorite games ever despite the game itself being a clusterfuck.

[Lobinden]

I don't think it's counter productive, it's just different.

There are also lots of games that tell their stories through gameplay (Rayforce, Dark Souls, Super Metroid, etc.). I like both styles. Cutscenes and info dumps can even work well with gameplay, giving you a "break" from some intense action and diversifying things a bit.

But like I said, I think people hyping up The Last Of Us as some masterpiece of writing shows how little taste and experience most people have in both game stories and stories in general IMHO.

I think it is counterproductive in games such as The Last Of Us (going by your example), in which the flow of the gameplay and level design are interrupted and restricted by conventional narrative devices.

I think "quiet time", as in sections of gameplay which are either more relaxed or completely relaxed to get the player anticipating the more intense parts, is more effective than cutscenes, and for that I would use the Souls series as an example.

Cutscenes and quiet time simply do not do the same thing. You cannot flesh out characters or plot with quiet time. You can with cutscenes, and often time a cutscene will be far less intrusive and irritating then a stretch of gameplay in which nothing interesting (gameplay wise) happens.

Quiet Time" Vs Cutscene: Neither is "better". Just different. If there's on truth of game design that everyone should learn, it's that almost nothing is objectively "good" or "bad" or "better" or "worse". All game design is a matter of taste and vision.

Right now, Fire Emblem is making me remember how much I love a good post-mission cutscene. Odin Sphere is also a good example of a game that's presentation, story, and atmosphere made me love it as one of my favorite games ever despite the game itself being a clusterfuck.

I can see your point. Despite how I might have sounded, I don't think that cutscenes are "evil" and should be removed outright (and if we're being honest I would rather have post-mission cutscenes than something like the storytelling in Half Life 2, where you are just standing around listening to npcs talk barely acknowledging the player's existence and actions whilst you are probably trying to crouch jump on their heads or something), it's just that cutscenes are so very misused in modern game development.

Cutscenes ideally should be the icing on the cake, a short sequence of dialogue before or after a mission/stage/level, or like in Demon's Souls where they are there to "big up" the bosses.

I have to admit the whole quiet time v.s cutscenes thing is probably a matter of preference regarding which you think is "better", I prefer atmosphere and environmental storytelling (at least in videogames) over character interaction so I am inclined to prefer "quiet time".

[Special World]

Yeah I hate Half Life story scenes. I just end up running around and hopping on top of the other characters, killing all the immersion.

[Doctor Butler]

This thread is way off-topic, now isn't it?

[Special World]

Dunno if this has been posted or not: http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/547x ... d-shooters

I just skimmed the vid, but jfc there's a lot of terrible picks frontloading this top ten list. Might as well be "top ten famous shooty things we've heard of." Saw Xevious at the very beginning and... welp.

Imagine sitting down and being like "hmmm, top ten shmups... Xevious, 1942, Asteroids... yeah, this is good."

[RHE]

well, he was clearly pissed off that he could not get past Stage 2 - such a poor player!!

[Doctor Butler]

well, he was clearly pissed off that he could not get past Stage 2 - such a poor player!!

DoDonPachi is too strong!

[Special World]

He's not wrong. DFK makes me rage-restart within the first 2 minutes, like 50% of the time.

[BrianC]

I can't believe these guys have never heard of R-Type. I thought this was a joke at first, but reading forum posts, it actually isn't (though it wish it was).

Video of "Magic Dragon"

[Doctor Butler]

I can't believe these guys have never heard of R-Type. I thought this was a joke at first, but reading forum posts, it actually isn't (though it wish it was).

Video of "Magic Dragon"

That's the most garish looking hack I'd ever seen.

[BrianC]

That's the most garish looking hack I'd ever seen.

Seems to be a pirate "original" (for lack of better word) rather than a hack. I dunno, that columns clone and BB Car also look extremely garish.

[Blinge]

TotalBiscuit has a look at Raiden IV Overkill.
He drops a few shmup faux pas at the beginning but it could've gone a lot worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYY-Ic09W0

[AntiFritz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujdABYRNfIA

Jesus christ

Spoiler

No resolution options is a legit complaint though.

[Immryr]

i don't think he said anything too ridiculous there. if you're not already into this kind of game $25 is going to seem like a lot of money for not much content.

[Blinge]

Why did this guy get a review copy?

[Kollision]

the mushi guy deleted and disabled all comments!
what an asshole

[Stevens]

Guess he didn't like being called out. Did anyone take a screen shot?

[drunkninja24]

Dang, I was hoping to see a response to my comment, he was trying to claim that games like R-Type & Einhander take up full screen space without a problem......you know, totally ignoring the fact that both Mushi and those games use the same 4:3 screen, cept for the fact that Mushi is vertically oriented.

And I also severely doubt he actually got death threats (though if he did, that's completely idiotic) and is just looking for an easy excuse to delete messages