An opinion you're probably all alone with?

[LaZodiac]

Not related to the replies above, but I just remembered an opinion I had that none of my gaming friends wanted to hear, and it's about Pokemon.

Basically, when a new Pokemon game was coming out, everyone I knew was talking smack about it "because it has fewer pokemon than the last game"

now, to me, that was objectively untrue, because the last Pokemon game was a re-make, and thus had even less new pokemon, i.e. zero

All my friends told me "that doesn't count, it's just a remake"
But I'm just like... you paid the full price of a game to buy it, yes? Then you bought a Pokemon game with zero new pokemon in it, yes?
and had no problem with it?
Then, what's the problem now?

This mindset is so alien to me...
I just can't wrap my head around it.

No one hates Pokemon more than people who like Pokemon *nods head*.

[Zombimode]

The simple answer is "I'm an adult with things to do and my gaming time is limited and I want to make progress in the game I'm playing in my limited free time and I can't do that if the game is yanking me about because the information I was given isn't actually the information I needed and I had no idea that the person I thought was giving me reliable information was, in fact, not doing so and thus wasted my free time not actually playing the game in the manner I would have otherwise enjoyed."

Not a short answer, but the simplest one. If I know the game is going to jerk me around going in, that's one thing. If the game is going to jerk me around when pretty much every other thing in the game builds itself on the premise that information is accurate and exactly what I need (even if it takes some parsing) then throwing in the random "haha, this person is just like a real person and got it wrong!" is just jerking me about for the sake of it and I don't appreciate that. I don't play video games because they're like real life. I can go get wrong information from Twitter in half the time if that's what I really wanted.

I take one or two (really. The overwhelming majority of Morrowind journal entries are NOT misleading) misleading directions over questmarkers etc. any time.

If there is one concept I could really go without it would be questmarkers (and compass directions).


Other hot takes:

1. To me Planescape: Torment is a good RPG. Nothing more, nothing less. Definitely not the "bestest RPG, no, GAME evarrr!".

2. I want my RTS games slow paced and not focused on multiplayer.

3. Speaking of multiplayer: the belief that balance for a competetive multiplayer environment is a sensible concept for singleplayer is completely erroneous (looking at you, Warhammer Total War and Age of Empires 2 DE). These two things should not be intermixed.
Not sure if that is actualy a hot take, though.

Oh, and I second the Mako. That thing was great

[Lord Raziere]

No one hates Pokemon more than people who like Pokemon *nods head*.

There are reasons I play fan games now, and its to shun both buying remakes and to not have to pay for whatever new game that comes out after the nat-dex cut. I barely feel a flicker of desire to care about Scarlet and Violet. I got Legends Arceus purely because of a christmas present card for the nintendo eshop. Soon I shall be free to transcend wealth and hate, and experience pokefan enlightenment.

[Batcathat]

1. To me Planescape: Torment is a good RPG. Nothing more, nothing less. Definitely not the "bestest RPG, no, GAME evarrr!".

This reminds me of a possible one of my own. I've heard great things about the story, writing and worldbuilding of Planescape: Torment and I suspect I'd love it, but I can't know for sure since the interface is so bloody annoying I don't think I've ever gotten further than like 30 minutes into the game. It's like having a really awesome looking car that you control by taking a hammer to your groin.

[WritersBlock]

I remember recruiting the healer succubus and then if I ever talked to the tiefling girl in my party from that point on, she threw a massive hissy fit and would leave the party swearing at me unless I pretty much got down on my hands and knees and begged her to stay. Left a REALLY bad taste in my mouth. Worst Girl.

[Rodin]

3. Speaking of multiplayer: the belief that balance for a competetive multiplayer environment is a sensible concept for singleplayer is completely erroneous (looking at you, Warhammer Total War and Age of Empires 2 DE). These two things should not be intermixed.
Not sure if that is actualy a hot take, though.

This is one thing Blizzard really nailed starting with the Warcraft 3 expansion. You aren't playing with a stock army set for multiplayer, because that would be boring. You're playing with units that don't exist in multiplayer, like the Naga. In Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty they brought back units from the first game and allowed you to customize your units to make them more powerful.

[veti]

The simple answer is "I'm an adult with things to do and my gaming time is limited and I want to make progress in the game I'm playing in my limited free time and I can't do that if the game is yanking me about because the information I was given isn't actually the information I needed and I had no idea that the person I thought was giving me reliable information was, in fact, not doing so and thus wasted my free time not actually playing the game in the manner I would have otherwise enjoyed."
.

I think, honestly, if you're measuring achievement in terms of quests resolved per session or anything like that, then - maybe Morrowind is not the game for you.

Being sent the wrong way got me thinking. I searched thoroughly, and then looked for some way to be sure that I had searched thoroughly. I slowly retraced my steps to make sure I hadn't missed something obvious. Then, and only then, did I start looking in other directions.

Your mileage clearly varies, but I found it one of the most satisfying episodes in the game, when I finally overcame the misdirection and found my quarry. Of course it helped enormously that this was before you could simply look up the answer on the Web.

[Vinyadan]

I think, honestly, if you're measuring achievement in terms of quests resolved per session or anything like that, then - maybe Morrowind is not the game for you.

Morroblivion sounds much more like it. It has quest markers, Morrowind's travel system (and travel spells), and the option to fast travel.

[factotum]

This reminds me of a possible one of my own. I've heard great things about the story, writing and worldbuilding of Planescape: Torment and I suspect I'd love it, but I can't know for sure since the interface is so bloody annoying I don't think I've ever gotten further than like 30 minutes into the game. It's like having a really awesome looking car that you control by taking a hammer to your groin.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri suffers from that as well--it doesn't have the context-sensitive mouse click option later games had, so you have to select from a menu every time you want to do something with a unit, even if it's move it over one square.

[Batcathat]

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri suffers from that as well--it doesn't have the context-sensitive mouse click option later games had, so you have to select from a menu every time you want to do something with a unit, even if it's move it over one square.

Absolutely agree. As a fan of both the Civilization games and science fiction I was looking forward to Alpha Centauri a lot, but I ended up barely playing it, at least partially due to what you're saying.

[Alcore]

I actually like Morrowind for its bad design. No other game has made me actually think of what I was doing; you could argue that wasmthe difficulty. No other game has me using the sun as a compass. Unlike Skyrim everything you need to know is taught in the tutorial.


You want to know my first stumbling block in Skyrim? The golden claw. The quest was simple until you got to the hall of stories. "The answer is in the palm of my hands" he says. Funny; his hands are unmarked and the claw in my inventory doesn't show the palm and I can't drop it because quest item. It's not like I can select it in my inventory and zoom in or rotate it, am I right? I mean a game feature that far out there but so integral to the main plot given no mention in the tutorial couldn't exist, right?

I can count on one hand the number of games with that feature and the other two are Tomb Raider games.



I miss the pilgrim quest in the tribunal questline. I, at the end, felt like I had actually done something culturally significant; like I had become a true son of Morrowind.

If only Skyrim had that level of quality...

[Vinyadan]

I can count on one hand the number of games with that feature and the other two are Tomb Raider games.

I think it was a feature of Still Life. If you zoomed on the library card, you could see that it was the Weird Al Yankovich memorial library (which wasn't plot relevant, the important thing was the number or the name of the owner).

I miss the pilgrim quest in the tribunal questline. I, at the end, felt like I had actually done something culturally significant; like I had become a true son of Morrowind.

Tamriel Rebuilt has some really good Temple missions, among which a very well done local pilgrimage at Almas Thirr.

[Eldan]

Absolutely agree. As a fan of both the Civilization games and science fiction I was looking forward to Alpha Centauri a lot, but I ended up barely playing it, at least partially due to what you're saying.

If that's an option for you, there's a few mods that port most of Alpha Centauri into the engine of later CIV games. I've even found some that manage to port over voice clips and the special project videos, which are some of the best parts. I don't think any have quite managed to make terraforming work in CIV, though.

[LibraryOgre]

I actually like Morrowind for its bad design. No other game has made me actually think of what I was doing; you could argue that wasmthe difficulty. No other game has me using the sun as a compass. Unlike Skyrim everything you need to know is taught in the tutorial.

Is Morrowind "bad design" or "20 year old design"? There are a number of games that I love that I can't bring myself to play, or find incredibly frustrating, because of old game UI quirks. Quest for Glory? Man, I wish I had WASD control there. Dark Sun? I'd love an update even to the Infinity Engine. Pool of Radiance? Just a decent save system would make it WAY more fun for me. Leave everything else, even limit me to 8 saves, but let me name them so I can tell where I am.

I don't think Morrowind has a genuinely bad control scheme or game design... it's just OLD, and some of the conventions we take for granted today weren't in use.

I remember recruiting the healer succubus and then if I ever talked to the tiefling girl in my party from that point on, she threw a massive hissy fit and would leave the party swearing at me unless I pretty much got down on my hands and knees and begged her to stay. Left a REALLY bad taste in my mouth. Worst Girl.

Huh. I never had that problem; I was already romancing Anna, so Falls-from-Grace and I never got the snippy interactions.

[Psyren]

Is Morrowind "bad design" or "20 year old design"? There are a number of games that I love that I can't bring myself to play, or find incredibly frustrating, because of old game UI quirks. Quest for Glory? Man, I wish I had WASD control there. Dark Sun? I'd love an update even to the Infinity Engine. Pool of Radiance? Just a decent save system would make it WAY more fun for me. Leave everything else, even limit me to 8 saves, but let me name them so I can tell where I am.

I don't think Morrowind has a genuinely bad control scheme or game design... it's just OLD, and some of the conventions we take for granted today weren't in use.



Huh. I never had that problem; I was already romancing Anna, so Falls-from-Grace and I never got the snippy interactions.

Have you tried Hero U? I heard it was a modern successor to Quest For Glory, and even had some of the original creators, but haven't gotten around to trying it out.

[LibraryOgre]

Have you tried Hero U? I heard it was a modern successor to Quest For Glory, and even had some of the original creators, but haven't gotten around to trying it out.

I haven't; I have a backlog of games, and dropping $30 on something is lower on priority list.

[Alcore]

I don't think Morrowind has a genuinely bad control scheme or game design... it's just OLD, and some of the conventions we take for granted today weren't in use.

I do think Morrowind has a genuine bad design. Not all of it but there were as many steps forwards as there were step backs. In many ways Morrowind was more poorly designed than Elder Scrolls 2. Granted it was a new engine they were working with which is why I was hopeful for Oblivion.


Which is why Skyrim was so good; my expectations were too low to go any further down...

[Rodin]

I don't quite see why you would want WASD for Quest For Glory, other than familiarity with that particular set of 4 keys from games which benefit from it. The QFG games are designed around the arrow keys for the first game, the numpad for the second, and full mouse control for 3+. You're casting spells by clicking on a button or by bringing up the text parser.

If you're controlling the game entirely with keyboard (like in the first QFG) then it makes sense to use the arrow keys. Your right hand is controlling character movement and your left is used for initiating any other typing that needs to happen.

[LibraryOgre]

I don't quite see why you would want WASD for Quest For Glory, other than familiarity with that particular set of 4 keys from games which benefit from it. The QFG games are designed around the arrow keys for the first game, the numpad for the second, and full mouse control for 3+. You're casting spells by clicking on a button or by bringing up the text parser.

If you're controlling the game entirely with keyboard (like in the first QFG) then it makes sense to use the arrow keys. Your right hand is controlling character movement and your left is used for initiating any other typing that needs to happen.

Largely, it's that I've gotten used to it, yeah, and my mouse is set up for right-hand use.

[Anteros]

Morroblivion sounds much more like it. It has quest markers, Morrowind's travel system (and travel spells), and the option to fast travel.

Sounds like Morrowind without all the things that made it good and unique. Hope there's a way to turn that nonsense off so I can just play Morrowind but with a decent UI.

[Alcore]

Largely, it's that I've gotten used to it, yeah, and my mouse is set up for right-hand use.

Heh


I am using a laptop. Any game that requires the arrow keys is almost unplayable. It doesn't have to be WASD but anything on the left hand side with similar setup will do.

[Vinyadan]

Sounds like Morrowind without all the things that made it good and unique. Hope there's a way to turn that nonsense off so I can just play Morrowind but with a decent UI.

There are mods that disable fast travel, but I don't know how they would interact with the public transport system. Personally, I've found that habit makes it easy to ignore fast travel. You have alternatives, so you just go to the silt strider or the Mages Guild, or cast your spell. Morrowind also always had the option to teleport everywhere instantly (coc balmora, coc ebonheart...) but I think very few used it in normal play, even if they knew about it.

Quest markers are easy to turn off, you just need to choose the wrong quest as active, or a markerless one. Actually, I think there is a singular nirnroot in Seyda Neen that would allow you to do just that, and I wonder if that's the reason it's there. Anyway, there are dedicated mods to edit the UI and more or less completely turn off the compass.

[Anteros]

There are mods that disable fast travel, but I don't know how they would interact with the public transport system. Personally, I've found that habit makes it easy to ignore fast travel. You have alternatives, so you just go to the silt strider or the Mages Guild, or cast your spell. Morrowind also always had the option to teleport everywhere instantly (coc balmora, coc ebonheart...) but I think very few used it in normal play, even if they knew about it.

Quest markers are easy to turn off, you just need to choose the wrong quest as active, or a markerless one. Actually, I think there is a singular nirnroot in Seyda Neen that would allow you to do just that, and I wonder if that's the reason it's there. Anyway, there are dedicated mods to edit the UI and more or less completely turn off the compass.

The difference is in the design though. Sure you can avoid fast travel, but if the map is designed with you using it in mind then normal travel is going to be a slog. Same with quest markers. Sure, you can ignore them even in Skyrim but good luck finding anything since the game is designed around you using them and doesn't actually give directions to things.

[veti]

The difference is in the design though. Sure you can avoid fast travel, but if the map is designed with you using it in mind then normal travel is going to be a slog. Same with quest markers. Sure, you can ignore them even in Skyrim but good luck finding anything since the game is designed around you using them and doesn't actually give directions to things.

Well, the map is presumably Morrowind's, so that should be OK. As for the quest thing, assuming it's possible to simply import Morrowind's journal entries, that should be fine too.

The compass would be either a great help or a major annoyance, depending on your point of view. You might have to disable it completely to get something like the real Morrowind experience.

[NeoVid]

The only platformers I've ever liked were the Jumping Flash series.

The only RTS games I've ever liked were Guilty Gear Overture, Brutal Legend and Team Buddies.

I constantly wish the game that had set design standards for and been cloned endlessly by future MMOs had been City of Heroes and not WoW.

Out of all the Final Fantasies I've completed, my favorite was 8, while 7 was mostly nonstop disappointment and/or frustration.

[Vinyadan]

Well, the map is presumably Morrowind's, so that should be OK. As for the quest thing, assuming it's possible to simply import Morrowind's journal entries, that should be fine too.

The compass would be either a great help or a major annoyance, depending on your point of view. You might have to disable it completely to get something like the real Morrowind experience.

Indeed, the design, the quests and the journal entries are Morrowind's. Morroblivion is far less ambitious than Skywind seems to be, and features very few changes (the radiant AI being the most prominent).

[Corlindale]

Final Fantasy VIII is the best Final Fantasy I've played. Perhaps it helped me become invested in the story that I first played it as an angsty 13-year-old, and therefore quite sympathised with Squall. I also loved the Junction system despite its clunkiness, and I think VIII hit the complete epitome of ridiculously over-the-top combat animations. Whether it's Squall making the blade of his sword clear the stratosphere, Zell running around the entire planet to wind-up his punch, Quistis throwing planets at people, or Selphie murdering enemies by literally throwing an end credits sequence at them. Amazing.

I tend to get tired of open-world games rather quickly. I'm hoping Elden Ring will change that when I finally get my hands on it, though, as I absolutely love all of the Souls-games.

My enjoyment of GTA games is inversely proportional to how seriously the games try to take themselves. Hence Vice City is my all-time favourite. There's just something about the campy 80's atmosphere and chill music that takes the sting out of the technically horrible things you are actually doing in the game.

[factotum]

My enjoyment of GTA games is inversely proportional to how seriously the games try to take themselves. Hence Vice City is my all-time favourite. There's just something about the campy 80's atmosphere and chill music that takes the sting out of the technically horrible things you are actually doing in the game.

Aka the Saints Row approach? I think that can be taken too far, and I offer SR4 as the perfect example of that--why even include the ability to steal and drive cars when you're actually a superhero who can fly to your destination far faster than drive anyway? The game mechanics were all fighting each other. The DLC in SR3 that offered the same thing was far better because it was explicitly a limited time ability, so you would eventually run out and have to get back to runny drivey smashy car-y.

[warty goblin]

Blizzard games are too-polished soulless husks that make me feel empty inside. Starcraft, Warcraft 3, Diablo 2, Diablo 3 (particularly Diablo3), Overwatch, they all evince the same curious sensation of hollowness in me.

It's not that I dislike the genres these games are in. I'm not over the moon for Diablo clones, but RTS and class based shooters are totally my jam. I can't think of an RTS I want to play less than Starcraft. Not because it has some design feature or other I hate, but that it has no features I can invest in enough to hate; all the fun has been sucked out by the balance-vampire. Same with Overwatch, I'd rather mess around with installing Enemy Territory: Quake Wars from disk and hunting down the patches to run around as an anonymous dehumanized alien robot corpse in a bot match than play Tracer for 30 seconds. At least the alien robot corpse can do weird fun things.

[veti]

Indeed, the design, the quests and the journal entries are Morrowind's. Morroblivion is far less ambitious than Skywind seems to be, and features very few changes (the radiant AI being the most prominent).

It seems to me that Skywind has a bigger problem with the journal, because Skyrim only ever shows you the last journal entry (current objective(s)) per quest, and there's no suggestion of dates or age. It's part of Skyrim's timeless, depth-less quality.