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NSFW Best Thread Ever [No SJW-related posts allowed]

Discussion in 'General Gaming' started by Jaesun, Mar 15, 2011.

  1. Erzherzog Magister

    Erzherzog
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    Or beer companies making ads telling you to drink responsibly.
     
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  2. Angthoron Prestigious Gentleman Arcane

    Angthoron
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    Okay, so you aren't differentiating it then.

    Let's put it this way. You're watching an 80ies action flick. Conan, maybe, or Commando. You know, one of those films where the hero butchers an army of bad guys. That's pretty cool, right? And maybe the hero has a buddy, or a bunch of buddies, who tag along for the adventure, and they're killed off in a tragic dramatic way that makes it look like they matter. That's not cool, right? This is normal. This is the CoD-level drama. Your protagonist's buddies - they matter. Maybe they died in slow motion, or a tragic tune played. They're your buddy. They matter, dammit! Shed a tear. Kill those towelheads that are running at you, those godless savages that killed your buddies. Again, a completely normal entertainment industry (and not only) rhethoric.

    Now, reverse the scene. You and your buddy are the godless savages. The people you killed, they died in slow motion, to a tragic tune. Does COD do this? Does it do it as you avenge your buddies, or as a loading screen spouts another banality to give a teenager a cool quote to share with his buddies over a bottle of beer? Which part of COD makes war look like it's uncool? What part of generic fantasy, where protagonist's parents are brutally killed in front of him, are anti-violence? It is simply not. By the same line of thinking, Unreal Tournament opens with an anti-violence message and is an anti-violent game. You're the immortal hero, above morality, bringing justice or whatever the hell to the world.

    Now, hailing The Line as the best thing ever since sliced bread is, again, wrong, but keep in mind that there are more blatant "anti-war" message games out there that got as much love as The Line (Bastion, and that platformer that was about NUCULAR BOMBS after all, whatever the name is). Anti-war messages are quite well-loved in our cultures - just as is our love for war on the other hand. Once I have more time on my hands, I'll actually check it out and see what all the noise is about, but basically that's how it is at the starting level.

    And again - deaths of buddies and people on player's faction and player killing THE EVIL ENEMY is extremely different from the player taking the active role of actually being THE EVIL ENEMY he'd normally fight in a game. It's not like "omg i kild a hoss", no.


    That's a "narrative" approach, however. If you approach everything purely from gameplay approach, then it's pretty identical. Except people are fapping/raging about The Line for the story aspect and not for the gameplay. Quite sad, really. I'd like to see a game that has gameplay as controversial and quite fapped at as this.
     
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  3. felipepepe Prestigious Gentleman Codex's Heretic Patron

    felipepepe
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    Agree with Angthoron, there's a massive difference between killing random people for lulz and having the consequences punched in your face. That "No Russian" level was no different than a GTA game... "yeah, I just blew up half of my own town with a tank, lulz". You just shoot nameless people that have no names or consequence... I didn't play "The Line", but from what I saw in videos they try to push the consequences in your face. Yoiu didn't kill random people, you killes families, civilians. And it wasn't a evil plan by the evil nazis, it's was you, your fucking decision.

    In the end, I still thing it's more of journalist hype than anything else deep or impressive... even though they are civilizans and you see them portrayed as victims, the player still don't care. They have no connection to them, they are still just random NPCs. For true impact, you should kill your own tem, your own family & friends, someone that the player cared for. Or show them the civilians, make the player pass through the city as an ally, recieve a gift from a child and see her hugs it's mother, just to send him to slay all them later in the game, even making the mother grab an weapon and attack him in tears. THAT would have been hard, dark, would have a deep impact.

    As it is, is no different than blowing up that town in Fallout 3. No one cares, some will even lol at it.
     
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  4. Angthoron Prestigious Gentleman Arcane

    Angthoron
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    We love anti-war rhetoric. It sells well every time. Hard to pull off without seeming preachy, but it'll always stand out, so if you're half-competent, you can make a bit of noise around your title with it. The Line is no different there.

    And yes, in the end, the disconnect is still too much. You see cutscenes, or you may choose a "renegade/paragon" option, but it's still a part of a heavily scripted game. You can't do something brutal outside the scope of the game and then get terrified by the consequences. There were moments in Fallout games that could be way darker. I'd like to see a game that wouldn't lead you by the leash to be either a good guy or a bad guy on the terms that it offers, but obviously that's too much work for modern studios, too much investment, too much time, only to end up as a likely niche product.

    So, in the end, for many it fails to deliver an impact because no matter what, even if you know better, you end up shooting those phosphorus rounds to kill the civilians. You didn't make that choice, the game made it for you.
     
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  5. Cassidy Arcane

    Cassidy
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    SpecOcks: The Line and Dear Esther have one thing in common: they are two pretentious pieces of shit, one with terrible gameplay and the other with no gameplay at all.
     
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  6. evdk comrade troglodyte :M Patron

    evdk
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    Codex 2012 Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign
    Which is better and why? Discuss!
     
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  7. Spectacle Arcane Patron

    Spectacle
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    It took me two weeks to get through the 5 hour campaign of Spec Ops since I couldn't bear the popamole for more than 30 minutes at a time. So I'm inclined to say that no gameplay is better.
     
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  8. Clockwork Knight Arcane

    Clockwork Knight
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    I guess I'll concede the point for Agnthoron as he argues it better than me. I see how you're right from a narrative perspective, but I see people being shocked over killing (virtual) people only when they're told to, being perfectly fine with it otherwise.

    --

    Anyway, is juvenile humour still the best humour? It sure is.

    Show Spoiler
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  9. The Brazilian Slaughter Arcane

    The Brazilian Slaughter
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    Indeed, felipepepe of the mines.

    The Codex version is that we only got to know Fallout 3 (The whore) until we finally met her younger sibling, at which point we abandoned her foul ways completely.
     
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  10. RK47 collides like two planets pulled by gravity Patron

    RK47
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    Dead State Divinity: Original Sin
    least the other i can watch on youtube and...oh wait.
     
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  11. Angthoron Prestigious Gentleman Arcane

    Angthoron
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    What is going on here bro? o_O

    Also, yeah, your mileage with shock at killing collections of polygons may vary.
     
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  12. Angthoron Prestigious Gentleman Arcane

    Angthoron
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  13. Spectacle Arcane Patron

    Spectacle
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  14. evdk comrade troglodyte :M Patron

    evdk
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    Codex 2012 Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign
    Jesus Christ, that's some brand recognition.
     
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  15. Dexter Arcane

    Dexter
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    First, the title didn't sell particularly well and was rather somewhat of a disappointment for 2K Games among other titles like Borderlands 2, X-Com: EU, Civilization V Add-On etc. and there wasn't much "journalist hype" around it, it was rated rather badly around most publications: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/spec-ops-the-line
    It also wasn't marketed on "anti-war rhetoric", most people thought it was just another Call of Duty/Medal of Honor/Battlefield 3 Campaign/Homefront/etc. It got popular only after people started playing it and recognized that it's actually a good game, different from all the other crap out there.
    I don't remember any "Renegade/Paragon" options in it, and most choices you have aren't even hinted at, but embedded directly in the gameplay, there's no "dialogue options" at all.

    And yeah, that particular phosphorous scene wasn't as thought through as it could have been and seemed kinda misplaced since you had no other option and could see it from 3 miles away. Would've likely been even better if there was actually a different choice, it wasn't as choreographed and the player decided to use it of his own will instead, but the entire 2nd part of the game is based on that particular scene.
     
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  16. Clockwork Knight Arcane

    Clockwork Knight
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    The third pic is actually unrelated to the other two, but now I see they work perfectly together.:lol:
     
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  17. felipepepe Prestigious Gentleman Codex's Heretic Patron

    felipepepe
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    But look how interesting, it's a AAA+ popamole shooter like thousand others, but it has a "low" reviwer score and a higher user score. The others, like CoD: BLOPS 2 have high reviwer scores and abyssal user scores.

    It became a "cult" game, not due big portals, but the little guys in blogs, forums and youtube videos talking about it.
     
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  18. Black_Willow Arcane

    Black_Willow
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    And to think the first Spec Ops game (Rangers Lead the Way) was a really nice shooter.
     
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  19. Spectacle Arcane Patron

    Spectacle
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    It doesn't get interesting until a couple of hours in, so it's no surprise that the reviewers failed to notice that it was anything more than popamole shooter no. 238
     
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  20. Awor Szurkrarz Arcane In My Safe Space

    Awor Szurkrarz
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    Codex 2012
    Is the Witcher sex mandatory? Because if not, you can simply decide to not bang any chicks or bang different chicks on different playthroughs.
     
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  21. Cassidy Arcane

    Cassidy
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    Astroturfing is an alternative way of generating hype.
     
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  22. Infinitron I post news Patron

    Infinitron
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    Grab the Codex by the pussy Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Kingmaker
    But not an effective way of generating sales, apparently.

    There is no conspiracy, man. There's always been a tendency for unpopular games that do one thing really well to become "cult classics". See: Alpha Protocol.
     
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  23. Corporate_Jew_Master Arcane

    Corporate_Jew_Master
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    Only in Witcher 2 and in the beginning, since Geralt and Trish are involved with each other anyway. Magic Potato-mans deadpan way of speaking made the dialogue somewhat awkward at moments, so it's a good thing they didn't try to force bad romance down your throat.
     
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  24. DwarvenFood Arcane Patron

    DwarvenFood
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    Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
    Thanks, I was wondering about the other game since I learned it was a series of some sort.
     
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