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And yeah, despite the presentation being great, mechanically it's simply not a very good platformer. It has a bunch of cool mechanics both for platforming and puzzle solving, but never really uses them beyond a single-level gimmick. It's also really, really easy, and pads its length by forcing you to do boring collect-a-thons at times.
Of course they are, that's why I mentioned adventurefags going gaga over the game being a platformer.
"BAAWW, instead of clicking on everything onscreeng and combining everything with everything I have to collect some boring collectables".
In general, I think a Metroid-like structure, where you gain new powers as you progress, and they enable you to explore previously closed areas, would have fit the game better than what it ended up with.
100% agreed. Sadly, they devs went with different approach (maybe they lacked experience with games like Metroid / 3d Zeldas / Soul Reaver 1/2).
The only thing that Psychonauts do perfectly is level design (original and versatile).
But: story is nice, writing is good / moody, graphics are great and the goddamned gameplay is imo satisfactory (works).
Games like PST or Arcanum have bigger problems in the gameplay area IMO. As I mentioned before, PST was the only game so far that I played mostly using numerical keybord. Not sure if "gameplay = reading" is such a good idea in computer game...
He has basically given up then. You don't go into teaching unless you've accepted the idea of no longer doing or creating anything substantial of your own. It will just take up too much time.
The games industry doesn't pay as well as a university gig, and it's way more work comparatively speaking. Maybe he just doesn't have it in him anymore and he'd rather take something more fun/easy and rewarding towards the end of his career. I can't blame him too much.
He has basically given up then. You don't go into teaching unless you've accepted the idea of no longer doing or creating anything substantial of your own. It will just take up too much time.
The games industry doesn't pay as well as a university gig, and it's way more work comparatively speaking. Maybe he just doesn't have it in him anymore and he'd rather take something more fun/easy and rewarding towards the end of his career. I can't blame him too much.
The only thing that Psychonauts do perfectly is level design (original and versatile).
But: story is nice, writing is good / moody, graphics are great and the goddamned gameplay is imo satisfactory (works).
Games like PST or Arcanum have bigger problems in the gameplay area IMO. As I mentioned before, PST was the only game so far that I played mostly using numerical keybord. Not sure if "gameplay = reading" is such a good idea in computer game...
On PST, I think the combat gets too much flak; it's mediocre, but not offensively bad, and you can pretty much autopilot through it. And aside from combat, the gameplay is pretty much a combination of a text-heavy adventure game with some IE-style exploration, both of which work very well; you do a lot of reading, but it's well written text, and you do need to understand what you're reading to avoid failure; the world is very cool and a joy to explore, and the game even gives you open-ended problems to solve without a lot of clues occasionally.
The problem with PST is very simple: the latter parts of the game are clearly rushed and full of shitty combat: Curst is pretty bad, Baator is just lol, and the first part of the Fortress of Regrets screams "unfinished!".
I dunno, the guy's been at it for 20+ years. Cut him some slack. We don't know his exact reasons for going for this. Maybe he sees it as a way to more effectively guide the games industry going forward, or something.
If I were to say I wanted to make a game about rescuing hostages in Iran - without guns! - assuming I could figure out how to make such a game, I'd get laughed out of the pitch meeting.
Similarly, there's no way any publisher is going to fund development of a game about Abraham Lincoln that doesn't involve actually fighting alongside the Union army, leading it to victory. The behind the scenes machinations would take a backseat to an elevator pitch along the lines of "You are honest Abe! Once you used your axe to split rails. Now you must use it to split heads!" or, if you're a gamer of more serious intent, perhaps "Do YOU have the military expertise to Defy History and lead the rebel troops to a victory the real world denied them?!"
"Two years prior, in 1864, Ray and Thomas are fighting in the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. After they defeat the enemy, they are ordered to retreat to Jonesboro. They refuse, deserting their posts to save their home from Union troops. When they arrive, they find their mother dead. Ray promises to rebuild their house, and knowing their superior Colonel Barnsby will not let them off, they flee, taking their young brother, William, with them. Colonel Barnsby arrives few hours later, telling O'Donell, their superior, that he will track them and hang them personally."
Seriously, this is the dumbest article I've ever read in my life.
Warren Spector said:
for example, a Ben Affleck can go from "Gigli" to "Argo" in the course of his career
How could someone go from poppy mainstream trash comedy to poppy mainstream trash thriller in the course of his career? Can I get some popcorn with my mainstream political retardation?
:patriot:
The real question is, can Warren Spector go from "Argo" to "Gigli?" Or more appropriately, from Deus Ex to this shitty article on "Gamesindustry.biz"
While Spector's point is rather muddled (and has largely been belabored since before Wolfenstein 3D hit the shelves), I can't figure out whether that newfag is completely missing the point on purpose as part of a "humor" routine, if he's angling for a large bag of Codex edgy points to get his career jump-started, or if he's simply a contrarian and/or idiot.
The rather obvious core point is that Mr. Spector has matured by a decade and a half, and wants to do something highbrow or more meaningful than a shoot-'em-up; meanwhile, the gaming industry still hasn't budged from ye auld "pile o' guns and ammo/swords and fireballs/martial arts/etc., kill stuff, FUCK YEAH!" approach to game development. It's the same as it was in 1992 in that respect, except with far more decline involved of course, but the decline is somewhat irrelevant in this very specific context.
Also, Argo is in fact an extremely faithful recreation of the events it portrays—an incredibly rarity for any film, let alone a Hollywood film. When most films claim to be "based on a true story," you can bet that you'll hardly recognize the source material. Not all Hollywood films can be tritely dismissed as "mainstream." Hollywood is largely mainstream, but Argo really wasn't made with mainstream appeal in mind.
Not surprised at Metro's opinion, he hangs out in CDS Steam chat with the rest of the Electronic Arts/Ubisoft fan club.
The problem with PST is very simple: the latter parts of the game are clearly rushed and full of shitty combat: Curst is pretty bad, Baator is just lol, and the first part of the Fortress of Regrets screams "unfinished!".
While Spector's point is rather muddled (and has largely been belabored since before Wolfenstein 3D hit the shelves), I can't figure out whether that newfag is completely missing the point on purpose as part of a "humor" routine, if he's angling for a large bag of Codex edgy points to get his career jump-started, or if he's simply a contrarian and/or idiot.
The rather obvious core point is that Mr. Spector has matured by a decade and a half, and wants to do something highbrow or more meaningful than a shoot-'em-up; meanwhile, the gaming industry still hasn't budged from ye auld "pile o' guns and ammo/swords and fireballs/martial arts/etc., kill stuff, FUCK YEAH!" approach to game development. It's the same as it was in 1992 in that respect, except with far more decline involved of course, but the decline is somewhat irrelevant in this very specific context.
Also, Argo is in fact an extremely faithful recreation of the events it portrays—an incredibly rarity for any film, let alone a Hollywood film. When most films claim to be "based on a true story," you can bet that you'll hardly recognize the source material. Not all Hollywood films can be tritely dismissed as "mainstream." Hollywood is largely mainstream, but Argo really wasn't made with mainstream appeal in mind.
Not surprised at Metro's opinion, he hangs out in CDS Steam chat with the rest of the Electronic Arts/Ubisoft fan club.
I went out to the supermarket and bought a copy of Argo and I watched the entire two-hour film plus the 15 minute special feature which includes interviews with Jimmy Carter, the Canadian diplomat, the 6 US diplomats who escaped, and Tony Mendez, the CIA agent responsible for the operation.
You have a lot of fucking gall to call me a "contrarian" on this website of all places, particularly in defense of an editorial written expressly contrary to the established opinion and collective inertia of an entire multi-billion dollar industry.
For one thing, I never addressed the core point that Warren Spector was attempting to make in his bumbling editorial for the prime reason that I don't disagree with it. I don't disagree that the industry should run away from the stereotypical guns-and-glory archetypes of the 80's and 90s. I do, however, think that it was a poorly written article by someone who is poorly representing my position.
When I was in high school, I used to go to debate tournaments. One of the things they taught us was to argue two contrary positions to the same resolution. That resolution was picked purposely because it was controversial, and then the tournament organizers required each participant to write (and be prepared to debate) both a negative and an affirmative case for that resolution. One thing that taught me is that you need to be objective regarding someone's debating skills if you're going to offer an honest critique of how they've argued their case, lest it devolve into a pissing match between incorrigible ideological opposites.
If you read the core claim of this article, it is that videogames need celebrity activism. HOGSHIT.
I'll take the case in point Warren raised in his article, that of Argo, a film whose superficiality encapsulates the stupidity of this argument. The film Argo contains literally 2 minutes of exposition explaining the last 2 decades contributing to the present political climate before cutting to enraged flag-burning Iranians storming the American embassy and a host of American diplomats and political refugees shitting themselves.
The fact that you have to make the case for the authenticity of this film with respect to the rest of the shite that makes up the Hollywood film industry really betrays you.
The film is based on a novel written by a former CIA agent, who no doubt is an objective and trustworthy source on the entire incident. "That it was based on a memoir of the incident by a former Central Intelligence Agency operative involved in the rescue is part of the problem. That memoir is a primary source and valuable, but good history, and good story-telling about history, weights sources and tries to correct for their biases. “Argo” does not."
But neither of these facts undermine my point about Argo being popcorn bullshit. I could make a movie about my taking a shit this morning, which is a True Story[TM] but that doesn't make it a serious and meaningful piece of political activism. Jimmy Carter even says in the interview special feature that the rescue of 6 American diplomats through their effective use of diplomatic channels was the one sign of good news amongst a whole rash of shit for the Carter administration. It was essentially the one bright spot. The Islamic revolution raised concerns that the entire region would fall to that style of government and Iranian hegemonic aspirations (read: independence) were a severe threat to the region. The question of 25 years of the US-backed dictatorship of the Shah are relegated to 2 minutes of exposition, whereas chase scenes and howling Iranians compose the overwhelming majority of the composition.
Dealing with the actual question of Argo as political activism, it's an utter failure. Not only does this film arrive at a time of extreme sensitivity in the relations between Iran and the United States, it contributed nothing to the political discourse. It did not soften relations or even provide for a meaningful press opportunities. It did not advance the cause of nuclear non-proliferation, human rights including especially minority rights in Iran, or curb in any way the frothing militarism of wingnuts in either culture. Apparently it served to enrage the Iranian government and buttress political hardliners, who dismissed the film as "CIA propaganda." As Affleck explained, "And it’s the same regime, it was Khomeni, now it’s Khamenei -- there’s still this Islamist, this Stalinist regime, and that makes me sad. That makes me feel like, yeah we had this wonderful thing that happened in our movie, where America really did something right, but that we haven’t figured out how to navigate our relationship with countries in the Middle East."
Maybe it's because the Iranians were disgusted by your depiction of them, like they were disgusted by the depiction of the Ancient Persians in the grotesque popcorn shitball 300?
Defending democracy against effeminate weirdos. Hollywood political activism at its finest.
A small filmmaker recently went to Indonesia and made an award-winning documentary in which he successfully convinced mass-murderers of the Indonesian murder regime to make their own movie expressing their horrible crimes against humanity.
Receiving recognition amongst Indonesian human rights groups and major newspapers, the film has had the effect of uncovering a suppressed past of brutal mass murder which has previously went unacknowledged in Indonesia. The movie explores the motivations of these men not just in killing thousands of human beings, but also their motivations in expressing their story. The director uncovers the mentality of the murderer and the regime and society which has protected them from any kind of legal or societal ramifications from their actions.
It documents a murderer as he recalls staring into the eyes of the disembodied head he had just removed from a living human being, and how it haunts his dreams and forces him into a lifestyle of memory suppression and partying to forget the trauma of his actions.
It also documents in living, authentic horror, straight from the horses mouth, actions that were at the time praised by American media and politically supported by the American government. It is a successful documentary on human psychology, an anthropological ethnography, and a study into cultural morality. And it is at once far, far more precious than this shitbag Hollywood feelgood tripe Argo and vastly more underappreciated.
So maybe you get my point now about how Ben fucking Affleck is not the best standard for political activism and serious, thought-provoking content? Maybe not, but as you even acknowledged in your post, this article's point is "muddled" .... to say the absolutely, very fucking least.
No, videogames do not need Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio. That is the least thing that they need.
Something I've noticed about American media culture - not just games, but also cinema, books, etc - is that they think that the height of artistic achievement is to successfully introduce slightly more sophisticated than average themes to a decidedly average audience. To create a successful compromise between artistic success and commercial success.
One of our goals with BioShock was to introduce the deeper shooter to a large segment of the gaming public and make it a commercially succesful franchise. Although that's a goal I imagine some here would look down upon, it's was critically important to me personally as a developer and a gamer.
Now, that's okay, but the problem is when these people are treated by the media as artistic masters rather than the compromised pragmatists that they are. While the REAL talent gets overlooked for being "too niche" and "irrelevant".
As for Spector, Yes, he perhaps has lost his way, but you will not see me throwing insults around. The man fucking produced Ultima Underworld, System Shock & Deus Ex. Shut your holes and bow, worthless peasants. And yes, he was in part responsible for desig in each of those games, significantly so.
Psychonauts sucks as a platformer. Like Grim Fandango, it's a game that should have just been a regular adventure game. If you're not going to bother with the action part in an action adventure, stick to making point and click games.
Psychonauts has visually interesting level design but actual gameplay is average. It's not fun to play for the platforming alone, people play it for the story and characters. Games like Crash Bandicoot 1-3 (although admittedly most of the most challenging and well designed platforming sections are in fact 2.5D), Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy 1&2, (the good levels of) Sonic Adventure 1&2 and Sonic Generations have well designed levels and 3D platforming that are A)actually fun to play and B)focused on platforming and not combat (J&D, R&C, Sly) or collecting shit
Yahtzee is a SJW casual who ignores all good games so he can give blowjobs to Papers Please which apparently is the height of artistic achievement in video games.
Warren Spector's a fucktard?
