video games (was Re: UFCS for D)

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Adam D. Ruppe" <destructionator at gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:vcadggwxsbxhdkjhrqfl at forum.dlang.org...
> On Friday, 30 March 2012 at 22:43:00 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>> But that would *never* happen under US-style IP law.
>
> You know what's funny: I used to use an Atari ac adapter
> for my Sega. (still do, when I actually use the thing)
>
> The Internet tells me that Sega controllers work in
> Ataris too!
>
> Accidental compatibility there!
>

Yea, that was before the suits smelled money in the games direction, 
invaded, and decided "What's with all this oppenness bullcrap? LOCK THAT 
SHIT DOWN! Rope 'em in and lock 'em in!"

Like the AV cords: For fuck's sake, what's with the proprietary AV 
connectors? DVD players (even small ones) get by fine without that bullshit: 
They could easily have gone with proprietary conectors on the device end 
like the game companies do. But they're not actually asinine enough to do 
it.

>
> My computer chair is probably the nicest furniture I own...
> In my house's big room, I have a floor bed: a couple
> blankets and pillows on the floor, next to my big tv.
> (my "big tv" being a 20 year old 19" set! I'll use it till
> it dies. Then duct tape it back together and get a few more
> years out of it.)
>

Finally! Another person that's not jumping on board the "If flatpanel HD 
sets are so popular then I guess I have to go spring for one, too" 
bandwagon!

>
> Besides it's just that I always feel like I *should* be working,
> or at least available in case something comes up,
> and if I'm sitting at the computer, at least I can pretend
> to be...
>

That's kind of another thing: If I need to be doing work, it's going to be 
damn hard if I have a bunch of games two clicks away.

I'm both tongue-in-cheek and totally serious on that :)

>
> BTW, Worms 2, now there's a great game.

Yea, I've always like Worms. That's a good one. I grew up with the original 
Worms though, so the changes in Worms 2 took some getting used to: The 
cartoon worms, the new voices, the lack of scaling (the kids call it 
"zooming" these days ;) ). Got used to it though, and it's very good.

Another fantastic turn-based strategy is Moonbase Commander. Super 
under-appreciated.

> I hear they are
> doing a new 2d Worms game, written in D. I look forward
> to it. (totally on topic now :P)
>

Really? Cool!

>> I doubt I
>> would have ever gotten all the way through Chrono Trigger if it weren't 
>> for that feature.
>
> huh, Chrono Trigger moves pretty quickly. I don't mind it
> at regular speed at all.
>

I'm trying to remember what it was that felt really slow to me...It's been 
awhile since I played it, but I think it *might* have been fanfare at the 
end of each battle...? Something like that anyway. It was a short, minor 
thing like that, but it was frequent enough that it just felt like I was 
being really slowed down.

> Unless you were playing the AWFUL playstation version. The
> super nintendo one was pretty well paced. The events moved
> along quickly, the characters moved at a good speed,
> and most importantly, NO LOAD TIME.
>

No, it was definitely the SNES one.

Aside from active time battle (which I've never liked in any of Square's 
games that used it), it's certainly not a bad game overall. Quite good, 
really. Although, I was always more of a Lunar fan, even if the battle 
system wasn't quite as polished as Chrono Trigger's.

>
> What the /hell/. I know the playstation wasn't exactly
> the beefiest hardware ever made, but come on.
>

Yea, constant loading sucks. Actually, that reminds me, have you seen that 
YouTube video of Sonic 2006's hub-world "gameplay"? Pretty much exactly like 
you describe: contant (slow) re-loading for at every trivial step...Except 
it's on the 360/PS3. No doubt that must have been a real rush-job.

>
> Since I'm talking about final fantasy, I played their playstation
> games to, #7, 8, and 9. I've played 7 and 8 more than once, but
> haven't gotten myself to try 9 again (despite it sitting next
> to me for years now. Seriously, I can reach it right now!)
>

You know, I've always had mixed feelings about square. I've always liked 
JRPGs, especially 16-bit ones, and square's have always had top-notch 
storytelling and presentation, but there's always been one reason or another 
that I never got far with any of them, despite beating other JRPGs like 
Lunar (multiple times, on both SegaCD and PSX).

The SNES Final Fantasy's seem right up my alley, being 16-bit JRPG and all 
(and I have a couple of them on PSX), but the active time battle just makes 
it really difficult for me to want to stick with it enough to get anywhere. 
So I don't think I've ever managed to get more than a couple hours into 
those.

In the PSX era, I was more into PC gaming and didn't have a PSX, so I got 
the PC FF7. Not long after I got to the overworld map (roughly disc 2? After 
Aeris is kidnapped, but before...uhh...you discover her ultimate fate - does 
that even *count* as a spoiler anymore? *Did* it ever? ;) ), I ended up 
getting bored with it and never got any further.

Later on, I got FF8 (for PSX), and even though I didn't mind the draw 
system, early on in disc 2 I realized I was only playing it to see what 
happens and was genuinely dreading/rushing-through the battles (which just 
seemed boring), so I gave up on that too. Didn't like how it was so ultra 
stat-heavy, either. I can enjoy stat-fiddling up to a point (such as in 
Castlevania: SOTN - the #1 best game ever created), but in FF8 it just 
seemed excessive.

Never tried 9. Played a demo or two of FF10, and thought "meh", and I guess 
I've kinda given up on FF since. I spent years trying to like the series and 
just couldn't :/ Ironically though, I think I'm the only person in the world 
who actually *likes* "FF: The Spirits Within". (I think part of what I liked 
was that it was a CG movie that *wasn't* a cartoon.)

>
> Aaaanyway, two objective complaints I have about it are
> a) load times and b) cutscenes. 7 and 8 had these problems
> too, but it was different...
>

Heh, on games like that, I feel a little bit differently about cutscenes. 
While my hatred for cutscenes and story-driven games has been growing for 
over a decade, storytelling has always been one of the core points of JRPGs.


> FF7 fight time from start of graphic to menu input: 7 seconds.
> FF8, same thing: about 7 seconds too, but you could turn them off, omg.
> FF9.... 15 seconds.
>
> (btw, FF1, same measure: < 2 seconds.)
>

Heh. Yea. Faster the hardware, the more waiting. Go figure.

>
> That's right, the load time just about doubled between 8 and 9!
> How ANNOYING.
>
> And cutscenes: 7 had a few. 8 had a few more. 9 piled it right
> up.
>
> Gah!
>

Hmm, I'll be sure not to try 9 ;) I guess even in JRPGs, story and cutscenes 
can be overdone.

>
>
> But the worst when it comes to exposition is Metal Gear Solid.

Oh my GOD yes, you're right. I was even going to mention that in reply to 
the FF stuff.

MSG1 was a great game at the time, despite the constant chatter. In fact, it 
was one of the main reasons I got a PSX (the other reasons being Castlevania 
Chronicles and SOTN). I don't think MGS1's gameplay holds up very well now, 
though.

MGS2 was CRAP. I couldn't understand how so many people actually liked that 
so-called "game". World's worst offender in terms of pointless incessant 
yammering with no gameplay (at least until Zelda Skyward Sword came out, 
which seems roughly even with MGS2 - but at least most of MGS2's cutscenes 
could be skipped - although there were so many that even *skipping* them 
still took forever).

I do have to admit though, the gameplay in MGS2, what incredibly little 
there actually was, was actually pretty good. But I've been spoiled by the 
Splinter Cell series which is stealth gameplay that even puts MGS2's 
gameplay completely to shame. Plus, the first three Splinter Cell games 
actually have very *good* (ie, not moronic) storylines that...here's the 
best part...are *seamlessly* integated with the gameplay and *don't* 
interfere with it (Splinter Cell 4's storyline is properly integrated, too, 
but it's a really f*ing stupid "THIS time, it's PERSONAL!" travesty). 
Seriously one of the best game series of all time (aside from the story in 
#4).

I played a demo of MGS3 and...never even finished the demo. The chatter was 
just as bad as in MGS2, plus loading times were worse, plus the gameplay 
itself was boring: It seemed to involve too much "Go into the menu to change 
clothes". What is this, Metal Gear, or Barbie's Dress-Up Menus?

I've never touched MGS4 and I never will. No matter what the gameplay is 
like.

Then the same guy behind MGS *cough*reinvented*cough* Castevania to 
predictably horrid results. And yet somehow it was well-received. After 
playing the demo, I cannot understand why: *everything* looks like 
plastic-toys-wrapped-in-cellophane, and the gameplay is a pure God of War 
clone (which itself was just mediocre: As my brother astutely pointed out, 
God of War is just the nighttime levels of Sonic Unleased with an Ancient 
Greek theme). Man, what I wouldn't give for a *second* Metroidvania game 
that *doesn't* require being played on a tiny little handheld 
screen...Preferably with the badass Alucard (and not that pussy Soma).


> But MGS2 was just non fucking stop. Round a corner, mandatory
> call. Listen to them blabber on meaninglessly for like 45 minutes.
> Seriously, some of the exposition scenes were that long, just
> dribbling dialog.
>
> My god.
>

Yes, and if you were massochistic enough to actually listen, the *content* 
of the conversations was maddeningly inane (that's "inane", not "insane". 
Although "insane" works, too.) It's like listening to a detailed analysis of 
Sex and the City plotlines: Who the fuck cares?!?!

>
> Anyway I'm really rambling.

Oh, like I'm not? ;)

>Preaching to the choir I'm sure.
>

Yea, but it's fun to actually *agree* with someone on gaming (or anything) 
for a change.

>
>> It's a Rare game from back when Rare was actually still good.
>
> heh, they also did Perfect Dark and the great Battletoads
> on the nintendo. I never did finish that battletoads, but
> I beat the living crap out of my brother over and over again!

Heh, yea, Battletoads was fantastic. I never beat it either, at least not 
without Game Genie. Insanely hard. A real "gamer's" game. That hoverbike 
section was just EVIL!

Rare used to be truly fantastic, right up there with Treasure. But when Free 
Radical split off, it killed both companies: Rare lost the ability to 
understand the art of gameplay, and Free Radical just re-released Goldeneye 
over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and called it "TimeSplitters".