Ludo Lense Thread

[Bruma Hobo]

LEAVE MUH HYPOCRISY ALONE!

But seriously, at least people here admit that BioWare should have fixed that.

Actually, people here were defending that decision (or lack of) thinking it's a clever way to let the player choose his prefered difficulty level. People everywhere will make excuses in order to defend their favourite games, and we're no exception.

 

[Lhynn]

Actually, people here were defending that decision (or lack of) thinking it's a clever way to let the player choose his prefered difficulty level. People everywhere will make excuses in order to defend their favourite games, and we're no exception.

Nothing wrong with a game that can get harder the more you master it by simply regulating your habits in an extremely sensible way. BG2 compared to most of the crap released these days is actually fairly difficult either way.

Thats not the issue tho, the issue here is excusing shit design by comparing it with stuff made like 15 years ago.

 

[Ludo Lense]

Since I am getting back into a rhythm of making videos I am gonna make this single thread to avoid spam and so people who don't care can easily ignore my stuff and does who do can discuss it in one place.

Can an admin merge these following threads with this one? I know it will seem disjointed at first but I think it is better to rip this band aid off now.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...tough-love-regarding-a-critique-i-made.95583/
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...at-late-critique-regarding-wasteland-2.95858/
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/my-critique-video-regarding-poe.102172/
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/a-critique-about-shadowrun-hong-kong.103003/

This time around I've looked at Hand of Fate which tried an interesting combination of action game, deck-building and dungeon crawl. I will try to move to a 1 a week schedule since I have more free time now but no promises.

I recorded with my new Blue Yeti and I am eager for feedback, I think my voice is much more crisp. But as always, feedback in general is welcome.

 

[CyberWhale]

Since I am getting back into a rhythm of making videos I am gonna make this single thread to avoid spam and so people who don't care can easily ignore my stuff and does who do can discuss it in one place.

Brofisted because you finally came to your senses.

P.S. If I were in your shoes, I would also put the name of the latest covered game in the thread title (for example; Ludo Lense Thread - Hand of Fate is shit!)

 

[Eyestabber]

As usual, very good video, man. I see you took the advice someone posted on your other thread and reduced the duration of your videos. As much as I noticed that sometimes you really do go on a long winded rant (which COULD be condensed by a couple of minutes), I still think your PoE video was some 40 minutes of my life well spent. What I'm trying to say is simple: you shouldn't feel the NEED to keep it short, your videos are clearly not meant for the ADHD crowd, so it might be best to stay that way.

 

[Bonerbill]

Funny how you never reply to the Youtube comments in your videos.

 

[Ludo Lense]

As usual, very good video, man. I see you took the advice someone posted on your other thread and reduced the duration of your videos. As much as I noticed that sometimes you really do go on a long winded rant (which COULD be condensed by a couple of minutes), I still think your PoE video was some 40 minutes of my life well spent. What I'm trying to say is simple: you shouldn't feel the NEED to keep it short, your videos are clearly not meant for the ADHD crowd, so it might be best to stay that way.

This is game dependent, there is a lot more to talk about in PoE than Hand of Fate. 17 minutes is still quite some time.

I am trying to master the art of brevity by cutting as much as possible and fitting everything I want into a shorter time frame. I will probably miss some info here and there before I get better at structuring but I won't master this skill if I don't impose word limits on myself.

 

[Eyestabber]

Well, don't go overboard with the "art of brevity" thing. As I said, your videos are very content rich. All 40 minutes of them.

 

[Infinitron]

Did somebody say merge?

 

[Ludo Lense]

Did somebody say merge?

Thanks. The original version of my post had a poem where one should look in the mirror and say "Infinitron" 3 times if they want a thread merged. I then realized I have standards so it was promptly erased.

 

[Shaewaroz]

The PoE review was great!

 

[SausageInYourFace]

hey Ludo, yesterday I saw your Wasteland 2 and Risen 3/Gothic videos. Interesting and well argued stuff, even when I don't always agree! Wasteland 2 was pretty spoilery though, which may keep me from watching other videos in the future as long as I have not played the game yet. Maybe you could try to argue your points more generally and with a few less specific examples in the future (or maybe I should just watch them only when I finished the games). Strangely enough, the Risen video contains a spoiler warning, even though there are almost none.

Maybe you could try to talk a bit more slowly which makes it easier to keep up with you when you are talking about complex issues. In the W2 video I had to skip back a few times when you were talking about the writing to get what you are saying. (this was only an issue at some parts though, overall your pace is quite right)

 

[Ludo Lense]

hey Ludo, yesterday I saw your Wasteland 2 and Risen 3/Gothic videos. Interesting and well argued stuff, even when I don't always agree! Wasteland 2 was pretty spoilery though, which may keep me from watching other videos in the future as long as I have not played the game yet. Maybe you could try to argue your points more generally and with a few less specific examples in the future (or maybe I should just watch them only when I finished the games). Strangely enough, the Risen video contains a spoiler warning, even though there are almost none.

Maybe you could try to talk a bit more slowly which makes it easier to keep up with you when you are talking about complex issues. In the W2 video I had to skip back a few times when you were talking about the writing to get what you are saying. (this was only an issue at some parts though, overall your pace is quite right)

This is mainly why I call my videos critiques. I started this thing because I wanted to talk about games in depth so my videos aren't buyers guide's really (they are arguably all positive from this perspective since I tell people they should play them before watching). Strangely, it seems a lot of people see them and use them for that purpose, can't do much about that.

I am continuously trying to improve on the talking slow thing. I mainly do it because I have a lot to say and my videos are pretty long as is. It is also because I am hyper focused when recording due to english not being my first language which results in me speaking faster and having a higher pitch than normal (I would say my Hand of Fate video is the best in this regard).

 

[Ludo Lense]

So the current order is Invisible Inc, Serpents in the Staglands, Sunless Sea, Age of Decadence (27 Euros...>.< this better be the RPG messiah). I don't think there is anything interesting besides around but maybe I am wrong?

 

[Jaesun]

I assume you will be doing AoD when it is released, not the current build?

 

[felipepepe]

Don't forget Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar.

 

[Ludo Lense]

I assume you will be doing AoD when it is released, not the current build?

Yep, that is why it is further in the list.

 

[Ludo Lense]

Well you know the drill, life and all that jazz. At least this time I didn't take an 8 month break

 

[Cadmus]

You lazy hack sell-out I've been refreshing your channel every week.

 

[Irenaeus II]

I have no idea why I was alerted about this thread.

 

[CryptRat]

Yes, this thread is good since I put forward most of my arguments on the excelent quality of the writing in the game.

 

[Athelas]

I'm not sure why you cite the random elements as a negative. Yes, the level lay-outs (and the placement of items, consoles, etc.) are randomly generated, but the actual game mechanics are almost completely deterministic, which means the player is never at the mercy of dice rolls that can result in them missing a shot at 90% accuracy or something similar. Almost anything in the game can be predicted reliably and anticipated. There also seem to be limitations to the random elements - a critical mission objective will never be locked behind a door that requires a security card, I've found.

The complaints about lack of intuitiveness also strike me as odd. Droids and guards have very long tool tips detailing their unique properties, and the game even protects the player from their own incompetence, i.e. it doesn't even let you do things like attempt to attack an armored guard if you lack the sufficient amount of armor piercing (which is arguably a bit of a flaw).

 

[Irenaeus II]

Yes, this thread is good since I put forward most of my arguments on the excelent quality of the writing in the game.

Thanks.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/the-writing-in-this-game-is-average.98103/ is indeed good thanks to my contributions.

Unwatching this now since I have no interest in Invisible Inc.

 

[Atlantico]

I don't watch your videos because I always agree with them Ludo Lense, I watch them because they're really good and informative. And most of the time I agree with them

 

[Ludo Lense]

I'm not sure why you cite the random elements as a negative. Yes, the level lay-outs (and the placement of items, consoles, etc.) are randomly generated, but the actual game mechanics are almost completely deterministic, which means the player is never at the mercy of dice rolls that can result in them missing a shot at 90% accuracy or something similar. Almost anything in the game can be predicted reliably and anticipated. There also seem to be limitations to the random elements - a critical mission objective will never be locked behind a door that requires a security card, I've found.

The complaints about lack of intuitiveness also strike me as odd. Droids and guards have very long tool tips detailing their unique properties, and the game even protects the player from their own incompetence, i.e. it doesn't even let you do things like attempt to attack an armored guard if you lack the sufficient amount of armor piercing (which is arguably a bit of a flaw).

Like I mentioned, Invisible Inc. handles RNG better than most games (like FTL for example). But the deterministic systems you mention always make it much more painful when you are unlucky (my personal pet peeve which I would almost consider a bug is guards that spawn two rooms away from your starting room but whose patrol path leads them to the starting room on the first turn, it is almost impossible to predict this. I lost two Expert Plus games to this and now I am paranoid so each starting room I always put ambushes next to the doors on the first turn.)

In general, when you have a very tight design, flaws that would appear more minor in other worse games get exacerbated. I still think Invisible Inc. is a 10/10 game but I don't feel comfortable saying that it has the perfect generation system and that luck will never ever destroy you.