Lurker > Gall

It's funny, I always hear everyone say the same 2 things about Ornstein and Smough: they're such a cool boss, but they're stupid hard even for Dark Souls. I wonder if they're liked more because of their concept than their gameplay.

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O guru of GotD

I totally agree about procedural generation. It can feel like a real missed opportunity when a game has fun movement/combat/etc, but the level design doesnt properly take advantage of it. I find that I like procedural generation the smaller the scope of the randomness. As an example, I recently played A Robot Named Fight, which is a roguelite based on Super Metroid. That game is made up of a finite (but still pretty large) number of individual rooms, but the way the rooms are connected is random every game. So over time you learn to recognize rooms and develop a strategy for the harder ones, but theres still variety on what rooms youll see.

Anyway, Im glad youre liking Bastion, it's one of my favorites. With regards to the difficulty, getting the weapons fully upgraded help a lot. I certainly wouldnt recommend turning on all the idols before that point. I also dont recommend using the 2 idols that make enemies invincible/intangible at all, I thought they slowed things down too much.

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So Terraria has more of a traditional gameplay focus than Minecraft, with stuff like boss fights and stat and equipment upgrades. It seems like the sort of thing Id like moreso than Minecraft, although I dont really want to get into another another big timesink when Im already neglecting Dragon Age.

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Dragon Age update: soon after officially becoming a Warden, several bad things happen that end up with me and one other Warden having to go off on an adventure all around the land marshalling forces to the cause. So it seems like there's a choice of paths to take at this point, but it doesn't quite work out like that. The first path I tried soon led to me facing a sizable army of skeletons that I just couldn't beat. Eventually I got frustrated enough to look up what I was doing wrong, and it turns out that I had chosen poorly as there's another path that not only has easier fights but, crucially, lets you recruit a healer! So I headed down that path instead and am now finding things more manageable.

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O guru of GotD

Yeah, I see Portal 1 as the game thats basically impossible to nitpick, so Portal 2 having a few nitpicky things makes it feel more disappointing than it is. Another one I would mention: Portal 1 had the advanced test chambers that put new challenging twists on the mechanics. Portal 2 has them too but only in the co-op mode. Which I did enjoy the one time I did it, but not being able to just play the extra levels at my own pace is something I really miss.

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My ratings are only as harsh as they are fair! Seriously though, while I was disappointed in most aspects of New Vegas, I do recognize that it offers a freedom of choice that most games dont, such as allowing you to just punch all the friendly NPCs to death. The problem is, its hard to appreciate that freedom when you do only one playthrough and make pretty standard, non-punching choices. So I want to do another playthrough in which I see just how much chaos is possible, and hey, maybe Ill enjoy it enough to bump it up from Bad.

Anyway, now that Im caught up and have some time before Skyrim, Ive started playing Dragon Age Origins, just to get some background for Inquisition. The introductions pretty long: theres an opening cinematic that explains the Grey Wardens (a faction of adventurers/do-gooders), an extended prologue that shows what your characters life was like before they joined the Wardens, and right now Ive been recruited but still have to go through an initiation ritual. It does feel a bit like a pen-and-paper roleplaying session, which is nice.

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And finished it. They're certainly not good horror games, but as horror-themed shooters I enjoyed them enough. I like that the devs wanted to try weird stuff, though their execution was uneven and often goofy. There's no other game in which you can telekinetically throw exploding babies.

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I'm up to chapter 11 in Dead Space 2. I got the improvements I wanted in the shooting department: the guns and movement feel less clunky, stomping is more effective, and boy are there some crazy enemy types. Not a big fan of the extended hallucination scenes though. It's not very scary to just stand there and wait while Nicole screams at you. The return to the Ishimura actually was pretty tense because you can move at your own pace and it takes a while before something happens.

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Finished Dead Space 1.

Rumors of this game's slow pace are greatly exaggerated. Within the first hour you're facing two enemies at once, and about halfway through it starts getting ridiculous. I would open a door and be instantly spotted by three enemies, with more on the way. In that situation it's best to back out and funnel them through the door, which will often cause them to straight up bodyblock each other. Kind of spoils the horror.

The dismemberment mechanic was neat, though it lead to some of the enemies feeling more goofy than scary. Specifically, the thin enemies with the giant glowing weakpoint that explodes, which was good for a laugh every time, and the wall-clinging enemy with the tentacles you have to shoot in a cross pattern, which could've been in Skyward Sword. Personally, I'm on board for the sequel just ditching the horror and ramping up the crazy enemy designs. I'll start it soon.

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Yeah, Rayman's good

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Big thanks to Zen for providing a tier list for the contest.
https://tiermaker.com/list/video-games/gamefaqs-game-of-the-decade-2-320611/1065339
As of now, my list contains all the games Ive already played, ranked from Classic to Trash, as well as all the games I plan to play and all the ones I might play but am not sure about. Unfortunately, the Tiermaker website is kind of a pain to use so I dont think Ill be updating it all that often. Ill just stick to posting each years rankings in this thread. Here they are for 2010, along with 3-sentence reviews.

CLASSIC
(none yet)

GREAT
(none yet)

GOOD
Civilization 5: It's a huge timesink, which is both a bad and good thing. Even after just one game on a low difficulty, I was in awe of how many strategic decisions there were to make. I think I did okay at learning the ropes and Im looking forward to improving over time.
Super Meat Boy: It is difficult, but I find that the quick respawns and short levels help ease the pain. 2D platformers are one of my favorite genres and I like that Meat Boy doesnt mess around. I give it props as well for being one of the biggest indies at the time and showing there was real success to be had.
Super Mario Galaxy 2: Nintendo basically just threw in a bunch of ideas that didn't fit in Galaxy 1, some of which are good (Cosmic Clones, Flip-Swap Panels), some of which are not (Rock Mushroom, Fluzzard). But still, it's freakin' 3D Mario. Everyone has their personal favorite (3D Land), but none of them are bad.
Starcraft 2: Along with Civ, this opened my eyes to a genre that I hadnt been interested in before. This ones much harder to improve at then Civ though, since things can go south so fast. Still, I do want to return to it to work on the higher difficulties and bonus objectives.

OK
Bayonetta: Even though I mostly sucked, dodging an attack into bullet time was always a cool feeling. Along with the difficulty, theres a few annoying mechanics like the QTEs and vehicle segments that dissuade me from replaying it. I will eventually, but I have to properly psych myself up first.
Red Dead Redemption: Its filled with filler, both in terms of gameplay and story, but it finished strong. Im just glad I didnt actually play it. Marstons a cool character, Id probably vote for him over Sackboy.
VVVVVV: I keep forgetting it exists. Certainly doesn't feel "of the decade." It's a one-man passion project with a neat gimmick, so I can't hate on it.

BAD
Fallout New Vegas: Another strength of this game that's hard to immediately appreciate is the freedom of choice. I'm excited to do another run in which I go as evil as possible and punch everyone to death. After that, though, I don't think I'd be very interested in a third run.
Mass Effect 2: I wasn't expecting these two to end up right next to each other, but it does make sense. They each had one thing I really liked: New Vegas's world, Mass Effect's characters. Now, if a transporter accident led to Shepard's squad becoming stranded in the Mojave wasteland, that would be cool.

TRASH
Heavy Rain: Ethan getting tortured, Madison getting assaulted, Shelby lying to the player. These things aren't funny in isolation, but the fact that they keep happening again and again creates a pitiful spectacle, a thtre de l'absurde. Still, I prefer the laugh-out-loud wackiness of a Beyond Two Souls.
Call of Duty Black Ops: Well, Gary Oldman was fun. But what a waste of a cool framing device. At least it changed the scenery often enough to not get too boring, which is more than I can say for...
Halo Reach: The alien planet setting was generic and lifeless, and the squadmates had little of interest to say before they died. This is the game where I probably missed out on the most by not actually playing it. Even then, the gameplay didn't look that great.

Overall, I would call 2010 an unexciting year. My top 4 are classic genres given a fresh coat of paint: Meat Boy is a retro throwback, Galaxy 2 is more of Galaxy 1, and Civ is Civ. Its a testament to Blizzards commitment to presentation that Starcraft 2 is the one that feels most like a step forward, but still the gameplay isnt too far off from what you got in 1998. To be clear, Im not hating on these games Im all for refining a proven formula but for a new decade, it doesnt feel very new. For AAA, it was a year of growing pains: New Vegas and ME2 have grand ambitions limited by the technology, while Red Dead is basically more GTA4 but with horses. And the indie movement has been steadily gaining steam since 2008 or so, but were not quite at the boom yet.

Speaking of 2008, I will now take a brief trip back in time to play Dead Space 1. I've had it and its sequel sitting in my library for a while but never touched them.

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Lanius was no match for my understanding of supply chains, and the NCR secured the Mojave. Goodsprings and Primm received protection and merchant traffic, albeit with high taxes. The Followers of the Apocalypse were pushed out of Freeside, and some of them would reconnect with the evacuated Great Khans in Wyoming and help them rebuild. Freeside wasn't too bad off, as the Kings maintained both the NCR alliance and Freeside's independence. The Brotherhood also maintained their NCR alliance, but Veronica still feared their interference in her life and so continued her solitary existence.

I hate to say it, but the more I played this game, the less I enjoyed it. Combat doesn't get any better as enemies become bigger bullet sponges, there are too many quests that are just fetching something without interesting choices or dialogue, and honestly, while the writing is a cut above what you typically get in a video game, I found it unexceptional for the most part.

That said, New Vegas does have one major success, which is a world that feels like everything has a history and a reason for being there. But, I find I appreciate that more when reading through the lore on the internet, rather than actually playing the game. In that vein, I'd like to mention something that I think most lovers of New Vegas's worldbuilding will be interested in: the Van Buren design documents.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Design_document#Van_Buren
These are the plans for Black Isle's cancelled Fallout 3 from the early 2000s. They cover most of the locations that would have been in the game, along with who the NPCs would have been, what quests they would have given, and the choices the player could make. It's really cool to see the work that went into crafting the world, and there's even some elements that would be repurposed for New Vegas in much different forms. I recommend starting with the Denver document.

2010 wrapup coming soon!

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I never did play Asylum myself. Back when City came out everyone said it was like Asylum but better, so I just jumped in there. I get that Asylum has its own strengths but I don't think it's a must-play.

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I do recommend Arkham City, it's a lot of fun and not too long if you're just doing the main story.

In New Vegas, I've completed several major questlines, dealing with the Great Khans, the Omertas, Mr. House, and the Brotherhood, including Veronica's storyline. I also did the Dead Money DLC which was an interesting experience. I've noticed that, generally speaking, quests in this game fall into 2 categories: mainly exploration, or mainly skillchecks. That is, going out to a dungeon area to kill some things, or going around a town area talking to NPCs. I tend to prefer the latter, since it feels more like I'm actually participating in solving a problem, even though the skillchecks are a pretty simplistic way of doing it. From what I know about Bethesda's Fallout games, they have better exploration but skimp out on the NPC interaction side, which does not sound like an appealing change to me.

I don't want to spoil Dead Money too heavily, but it tried something a bit different to this pattern. It has a very small set of areas to explore, and the skillchecks you make interact with your exploration in a much more direct way. I liked it in theory, but the DLC has a few mechanics that make things really frustrating. The main reason to play it is the writing, as usual.

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I've played New Vegas for long enough to properly join up with the NCR. I just got the main For the Republic quest from Colonel Moore, and have been tasked with dealing with the Great Khans.

I haven't had many technical problems, except for one major one: the AI. Whenever an NPC or enemy starts to move, it is a mystery where they will go and how many directions they will take to get there. It makes combat even jankier than it already is: enemies you're attacking will turn on a dime or get stuck in walls, and enemies attacking you can often be thwarted by backing up. The backing up strat has been especially effective so far with Veronica and Rex as my companions - I walk into the enemies' range to alert them, and in a few seconds all that's left is a pile of punched and bitten bodies.

And surprisingly, I like this approach to the combat. It doesn't feel like compromising a major part of the game, because the world and the NPCs are what's more important. I'm enjoying the pattern of going to a new area, talking to everyone there, and getting quests that have a lot of options for how to affect things. I can see it becoming repetitive later but for now it's working at keeping me invested.

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It's funny that Ghost Trick and Red Dead got paired together, since after experiencing both their stories I'm not totally sure which one I prefer. In terms of good plotting, in which everything in the story has a purpose for being there, Ghost Trick is obviously much more successful. But while Ghost Trick's characters are enjoyable, I did find them a little shallow, most glaringly in the case you mentioned of the villain being so quickly and easily forgiven. And while Red Dead didn't have very many good characters either, the more I think about it the more I like its final act, which was so effective at making me care about Marston's relationship with his family and why he did what he did for them.

Still, I think Ghost Trick's dialogue gives it the edge for me. Shu Takumi has a great sense for what makes comedy work in text form and it's really just a lot of fun to read what he writes.

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Well, that didn't take long. The other Civs did try ganging up on Brazil, my last loyal ally, but it was too late for them. I was allies with every single city-state, and researching globalization put me at a cool 34 delegates, with 32 required for victory.

It's safe to say I've been bitten by the Civilization bug, and I promise I will return to the game in the future, but now it's about time I start my journey into New Vegas...

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Things were going smoothly in Civilization, and then came the modern era. It started innocently enough - I of course picked the Freedom ideology and set to building the Statue of Liberty in Istanbul. I began to notice Oda Nobunaga's attitude turning sour, but didn't think much of it until suddenly, WAR. Not with me, but with Brazil to his west, but I was still concerned since Brazil and I enjoyed a good trade relationship. With my dominant spot in the World Congress (by this point I was allies with almost all of the city-states) I proposed an embargo of Japan, and sure enough, a few turns later they had somehow negotiated a peace. We passed the embargo anyway just to be sure.

I was relieved that things settled down, but more trouble was brewing. My spy informed me that Maria Theresa was marshalling forces for an attack. In my foolishness, I assumed she had her sights set on America to her north. After all, I saw hardly any activity on our border, and why would she attack me now that we had put aside our differences and become trade partners? Well, I suspect the tipping point was that she had chosen Autocracy after I had already made Freedom the world ideology. Whatever the reason, she declared war on me, and a wave of hussars bore down on me from the northeast.

I was in a tight spot. I had neglected to build up a defense force - what little I had were assorted gifts from city-states, mainly cannons and gatling guns with a few untrained knights and lancers. I formed a barrier around my two cities, but just looking at it it was obvious that she outnumbered me, and my foreign allies seemed completely uninterested in helping. After a turn of fighting, my forces barely held on, and things were looking grim... but wait. I had a chance to choose a new Freedom tenet, and right there I saw Volunteer Army, which instantly gave me 6 Foreign Legion units - and with my vast funds, I was able to instantly upgrade them to modern Infantry. They crushed the enemy's frontline like it was nothing, which seemed to give Washington the hint that it would be a good idea for him to declare war on Austria as well. At that point, Theresa had the good sense to offer her surrender, but I wasn't satisfied. To the east was her city of Graz, which had long been a thorn in my side, getting right in the way of my land route to Buenos Aires. I marched my forces over to Graz and in two turns captured the city. Then I demanded her surrender, this time with a nice golden tribute for the trouble.

Anyway, it looks like my control over the World Congress is pretty airtight, so barring any more surprises I should be right in line for a diplomatic victory.

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I finally had some time recently to play some Civ 5. It's one of many games I've had sitting in my Steam library forever but never gotten around to. Short version: I love it.

Long version: I started off by playing the ingame tutorials, which involved a lot of muddling around as I got used to managing all my units. After that I quickstarted a new game, which gave me difficulty level 2 as the Ottomans, and I was instantly hooked. I was lucky to start near the coast, so I founded my capital of Istanbul and began exploring the continent. I ran into Austria very close to the east, which meant some tensions as we were both settling very close to each other. I ended up settling only one more city (Erdine) a little to the Northwest, which was still pretty close to Austria's capital, but Maria Theresa and I maintained an uneasy trade alliance.

After meeting some neaby city-states and building up my cities for a bit I began building ships and charting the coast. This took longer than I expected since it was a while before I got astronomy and could sail very far, but once I did, the world was my oyster. I sailed around the north and discovered American scouts, and soon formed an alliance with Washington. He would go on to found Protestantism and become the Holy Emperor of America, but he was often in financial trouble and would require some generous donations from my trade-enriched coffers. To the west I discovered Japan and China, the former of which readily became another of my trading partners and the latter of which was more hesitant.

During this time I was focusing on building up my artists with an eye toward the culture victory, but after circumnavigating the globe and discovering Brazil in the far east I found myself head of the World Congress. So I might just go for a diplomatic victory, especially since I missed out on founding a religion of my own. Until then I've been occupied sending my forces all over the world stamping out barbarians to help the city-states.

I can tell that this is much easier than how the game is intended to be played, but I'm still having a lot of fun, and I've always preferred starting off easy and working my way up.

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Shimerman

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Shimerman

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Hayter

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Shimerman

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McGonagle

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Hayter

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Shimerman

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Mando

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McLain
Clarke
McGonagle

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McLain
Johnson

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Merchant
Shimerman

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Alan
Mando

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North
Clarke
Douglas
McGonagle

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Hayter
McClain
Johnson
Howden

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Merchant
Downes
Shimerman
Ogg

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Alan
Draper
Hale
Mando

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Vee
Douglas
Tergliafera
McGonagle

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Howden
Jones
Bailey
Clarke
Duncan

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Johnson
Mercer
Howden
Martinet

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Hayter
Cunningham
McLain
Bristow

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Bailey
Sizemore
Ogg
May

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Templeman
Merchant
Taylor
Judge
Downes

Taylor is not a joke entrant. He makes Reyn and Shulk's unlikely friendship feel real.

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Merchant as Wheatley:
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/2/25/Wheatley_sp_a2_bts5_lockeddoor01.wav
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/f/fa/Wheatley_sp_a2_bts5_lockeddoor02.wav
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/4/49/Wheatley_sp_a2_bts5_lockeddoor03.wav
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/3/31/Wheatley_sp_a2_bts5_lockeddoor04.wav
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/6/6f/Wheatley_sp_a2_bts5_lockeddoor05.wav

Simmons as Cave Johnson:
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/a/aa/Cave_Johnson_fifties_fifth_test_intro01.wav
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/5/53/Cave_Johnson_fifties_fifth_test_intro03.wav
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/8/89/Cave_Johnson_fifties_fifth_test_intro06.wav

Bailey as Kaine/O'Brien as Weiss (through 1:50:50)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ68EDGF0fE&t=1h47m41s
also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvyvQfn30uE

Mobus as Announcer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0BBGzfw0pQ

McLain as Glados:
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/c/c2/GLaDOS_sp_a2_ricochet01.wav
https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/e/ee/GLaDOS_testchambermisc27.wav

Jones as Delilah:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRL3EmtMx-c

Tergliafera as Gundham (through 1:48:00)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HbvLPLBO1E&t=1h46m20s

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Templeman
Hale
Duncan
Mando

I knew nothing about Legacy of Kain before searching for that video and was instantly sold.
Fox is good for a joke entrant.

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O guru of GotD

Noji fell way too early.

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O guru of GotD

It would be helpful if you linked each new topic in this one, since I have this tracked. But sure, put me on the list.

General spoiler warning for the audio, I assume that's okay.
Templeman as Kain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMIHjCmFeNk
Taylor as Reyn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEllFRCCnaQ
Shimerman as Andrew Ryan:
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bioshock/images/e/ed/Andrew_Ryan_-_Fontaine_Must_Go.ogg/revision/latest?cb=20100701090943
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bioshock/images/1/1a/Andrew_Ryan_-_Pulling_Together.ogg/revision/latest?cb=20160515135901
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bioshock/images/9/90/Andrew_Ryan_-_Mistakes.ogg/revision/latest?cb=20100705135743

May as Soldier (click on a quote to hear the audio):
https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Soldier_responses

Cunningham as Rucks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCBVYTiwxtI&t=3m22s
Mercer as Yusuke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bie-ZMSWSU

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Each quote should have a speaker icon next to it that plays the audio. I don't think it works on Safari, if that's what you're using.

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https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_House#Notable_quotes

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Auberjonois
McCarley
Draper
Hamill

I overrated Brighting in in my head. He's still good but not as good as I remember.
Auberjonois makes me smile.

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ECHO (2017 game)
People who say that horror media doesn't scare them
The King in Yellow (1895 book)
The uncanny valley

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Underseeded:
Jennifer Hale
Laura Bailey as Kaine
Matt McKenzie

Overseeded:
Colin Fox
Briana White
Alastair Duncan as Armstrong

I suggest:
Ray Liotta/Alastair Duncan as Armstrong
Laura Bailey as Kaine/Michael Mando
Armin Shimerman/Colin Fox
Jennifer Hale/Rick May
Matt McKenzie/Scott Drier
DC Douglas/Briana White

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