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Originally Posted by imac2much Haha, yeah I know that you don't like the story in RDR, but I thought it was the best story I had played in an open world game at the time, so I guess it has a special place in my heart. Since then, I think I prefer the ridiculousness of SRTT better anyway... I do not count MGS2 or Max Payne 3 as good blends; I hate having story crammed down my throat, especially when I despise the characters and the overall cheeseball plot. I think my biggest pet peeves are stories that take themselves too seriously but are full of ridiculous situations and plot holes (like Heavy Rain and MGS3), though this may be ironic for you since I think that's how you feel about RDR. Ghost Trick is an excellent example. This was my surprise favorite hit last year, and I agree it has an excellent mix of unique, challenging gameplay with a great narrative. Bioshock is another good example... why didn't I remember that one... I'm able to overlook bad narratives sometimes if the gameplay is good enough, but there's something about pandering games like Bayonetta and Lollipop Chainsaw that I can't enjoy (even though I completed Bayonetta, I had to eventually start skipping all the stupid cutscenes). I prefer games with good narrative and acceptable gameplay, but I do admit I don't play a ton of adventure games since I find most of the puzzles rather obtuse and the barrier to entry quite high. Some may bemoan the simplicity of TWD, but it allowed my wife and I to focus on just making dialogue choices and enjoying the story

Mostly what I feel about RDR is more or less the same I feel about GTA4. Rockstar makes decent dialogue in the moment and entertaining characters sporadically but RDR was largely the same sort of neurotic assortment of morons as GTA4 and MP3 but if they were trying to create a sequence of events drawn about by characters with clear motivations, drives, and abilities to see those motivations fulfilled, they failed spectacularly every time. Same as every GTA game since 3, the bad guys are bad JUST BECAUSE someone has to be. Tenpenny had SOME grit to him but 90% of that was just because he was voiced by Samuel L. Jackson and you could at least believe a corrupt cop would kick C.J. around given the setting (At least before you hit Vegas.). Edgar Ross might have well been twirling his mustache. So I had no emotions at the ending of RDR, just a shrug of "Well, that happened." Same as at the end of GTA4.

For what it's worth, I don't even see the cheesecake inherent in Bayonetta and Lollipop Chainsaw. It was just white noise to me. I just enjoy the repartee of the characters and story. Bayonetta didn't really have anything to offer in the story department but LC has great hammy villains and it's hard not to find Juliet's bubblegum charm and her boyfriend's straight-man routine infectious. It's the same joy that made Shadows of the Damned fun, only with a GOOD expression of the gameplay it sought to make.

Adventure game puzzles are very hard to balance properly. I enjoy ones just hard enough to tax me but not obtuse enough to suck the joy out of it. The right degree of struggle can make a puzzle excellent. Remember the dead Justice Minister puzzle from Ghost Trick. I would hate to find the person who, during that slow-mo launch finale, didn't, at least internally, pump their first and shout YES in triumph at it. My only regret in Ghost Trick was that the final showdown was just a total cake walk. In 999, a cakewalk was acceptable (And about the only part of that dreadful climax that actually worked well.) because failure would have prolonged that climax in a bad way.

Originally Posted by Kaltic Depends how they calculate the hard drive space. If it only considers the drive Steam is installed on and if the drive is partitioned and it only considers the partition. Because if it calculates based off of that then I nearly fit into the common ones with my hard drive, but then again I partitioned a 1TB drive in almost half. Also go 1440x900... and you know having the same monitor for the past 6(?) years!

I had a pair of 20" Trinitrons from '97, in '05 I bought a 20" 1680x1050 IPS display to replace a (failing) one. In '08 I added a 22" 1680x1050 IPS (capable of 76 Hz). A year ago I finally broke down and got three 24" 1920x1200 IPS displays. It was so since to finally have 1200 vertical back. I've been eyeing the 27" displays, but after seeing the coarse anti-glare on the U2711 I decided to stick the the 24" for the time being. Fortunately the reviews have been looking good for the U2713HM. The 27" Catleaps/Korean imports don't fit my multi-input needs, and I prefer to pay more than chance it. I've been waiting for a good sale on a U2713HM. Though I would probably stick to gaming on my 24" until I upgrade from my GTX 260 (whole computer really).

Some years back now I picked up a Samsung 24" and a 26" (240HD and 260HD models respective) at Tiger Direct at decent prices for the day.

Both have Cable ready tuners in them, I wanted something I could use as a TV or Monitor but had hi-res for the PC end of things. I run the 26" at 1920x1200. The monitor is gorgeous and does a GREAT job of TV as well.

BGCQ's, check the Announcements.

There is a state of diminishing returns in monitor size. The bigger it is, the further you have to sit away so it doesn't look pixelated. Also, those on a budget build should consider that the bigger size monitor, the more beefy a system you will have to have to push the extra graphics. I currently have a 1366 X 768 18.5" about 2 feet from me and I think that's the sweet spot.

I think a big part of view towards the RDR story comes from the fact that not everyone is into/understands westerns. I'm a big western lover, and they generally work with that "Well, that happened." vibe. There's a lot of subtlety, casualness, and heavy helping of cliche.

RDR spoilers; don't read if you don't want the ending ruined for you:
The hero getting gunned down in a hail of gunfire is the classic, almost essential western ending. Jack just walking up and shooting the big bad guy for revenge is also a classic element.

Like I said, I love westerns, and RDR's story didn't disappoint me. I can definitely understand how some people would interpret it as badly written though, because bar the really well done newer western movies, most westerns are pretty generic and cliche. That's just how it is.

IndieGameStand's deal of the day is PWYW for Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space

And I hate to Desura this up but noted 2012 game of the year Banzai Pecan is down to $8 on Desura. http://www.desura.com/games/banzai-p...-young-century

I don't think this is a great game but I liked it and some folks seemed to want to know if there was a sale so... there.

Originally Posted by Idiotekque I think a big part of view towards the RDR story comes from the fact that not everyone is into/understand westerns. I'm a big western lover, and they generally work with that "Well, that happened." vibe. There's a lot of subtlety, casualness, and heavy helping of cliche. RDR spoilers; don't read if you don't want the ending ruined for you: The hero getting gunned down in a hail of gunfire is the classic, almost essential western ending. Jack just walking up and shooting the big bad guy for revenge is also a classic element. Like I said, I love westerns, and RDR's story didn't disappoint me. I can definitely understand how some people would interpret it as badly written though, because bar the really well done newer western movies, most westerns are pretty generic and cliche. That's just how it is.

Pretty much word for word this what I would say. I loved RDR.

Thinking of buying FTL: Faster Than Light for the full price

I checked steam prices and it hasn't gone on sale thus far, Thoughts? Should I simply wait until the winter sale?

Really torn, I really want the game but can't justify paying full price

Originally Posted by Idiotekque I think a big part of view towards the RDR story comes from the fact that not everyone is into/understand westerns. I'm a big western lover, and they generally work with that "Well, that happened." vibe. There's a lot of subtlety, casualness, and heavy helping of cliche. RDR spoilers; don't read if you don't want the ending ruined for you: The hero getting gunned down in a hail of gunfire is the classic, almost essential western ending. Jack just walking up and shooting the big bad guy for revenge is also a classic element. Like I said, I love westerns, and RDR's story didn't disappoint me. I can definitely understand how some people would interpret it as badly written though, because bar the really well done newer western movies, most westerns are pretty generic and cliche. That's just how it is.

See, I didn't see RDR as a good western. That was more or less my problem with it. I mean, how often was that an essential western ending. You are really looking at the later generation westerns if you're seeing that as the essential ending. Plus, if you ask me, you're disregarding large chunks of the story just looking at it like that. The whole story was almost going for an Apocalypse Now vibe with Marston's pursuit of Dutch taking the same sort of feel as that hunt for Kurtz. Rockstar was clearly trying to tell a "bigger" story than the average Western given how mundane the actual story events were and how much they tended to bloviate, but every theme Rockstar tried to set up just tended to wobble at best and collapse before you cleared the mission at worst. The villains had no motivation other than the hand-waved cliche of "Campaigning on cleaning up blah blah blah." Marston himself wasn't hardly tragic enough for such an end to work either, even if it wasn't so damn arbitrary. His tragedy was just moping across the wild west with a constant weary sigh across his face.

Rockstar doesn't convince me they are at one with the western genre. In fact, they almost feel like Remedy. A bunch of goofy Swedes copying American tropes. The problem is Remedy does it with an affectionate, self-deprecating grin and where they don't make their villains great in terms of motivation (MP2's Vlad) they do a damn great job giving them pathos, style, and building them up to where you can't wait to kill them. Rockstar wants to think they're writing the next great American epic and I haven't seen it in any of their games.

Thinking of buying FTL: Faster Than Light for the full price I checked steam prices and it hasn't gone on sale thus far, Thoughts? Should I simply wait until the winter sale?

Wait for the winter sale. I didn't even think much of the whole game, to be honest, but it will without a doubt be at least 33% off at Christmas. Wouldn't be surprised if it hit 50%

I am the 18.7%.

Originally Posted by RollingSkull See, I didn't see RDR as a good western. That was more or less my problem with it. I mean, how often was that an essential western ending. You are really looking at the later generation westerns if you're seeing that as the essential ending. Plus, if you ask me, you're disregarding large chunks of the story just looking at it like that. The whole story was almost going for an Apocalypse Now vibe with Marston's pursuit of Dutch taking the same sort of feel as that hunt for Kurtz. Rockstar was clearly trying to tell a "bigger" story than the average Western given how mundane the actual story events were and how much they tended to bloviate, but every theme Rockstar tried to set up just tended to wobble at best and collapse before you cleared the mission at worst. The villains had no motivation other than the hand-waved cliche of "Campaigning on cleaning up blah blah blah." Marston himself wasn't hardly tragic enough for such an end to work either, even if it wasn't so damn arbitrary. His tragedy was just moping across the wild west with a constant weary sigh across his face. Rockstar doesn't convince me they are at one with the western genre. In fact, they almost feel like Remedy. A bunch of goofy Swedes copying American tropes. The problem is Remedy does it with an affectionate, self-deprecating grin and where they don't make their villains great in terms of motivation (MP2's Vlad) they do a damn great job giving them pathos, style, and building them up to where you can't wait to kill them. Rockstar wants to think they're writing the next great American epic and I haven't seen it in any of their games.

I do know what you mean. I don't think it was a fantastic western either, but then again, I didn't come at it expecting a great western story. I came at it thinking it was going to be a western GTA (which it is, even though I think it's better than GTA on every level). What they did do with the story, I followed and enjoyed. I find that older westerns are more cliche than the newer ones, so when they threw in the classic tropes, that was good enough for me.

All in all, good, not great story, and excellent gameplay. It's not my favorite game of all time, but I would still recommend it to anyone.


EDIT: Wait, how did RDR come up? Is it suddenly on the PC on daily sale?

Originally Posted by Mageshadow Thinking of buying FTL: Faster Than Light for the full price I checked steam prices and it hasn't gone on sale thus far, Thoughts? Should I simply wait until the winter sale?

Originally Posted by RollingSkull Wait for the winter sale. I didn't even think much of the whole game, to be honest, but it will without a doubt be at least 33% off at Christmas. Wouldn't be surprised if it hit 50%

I'd wait for the Winter Sale as well. It's not like it's months away.

FTL is ok, but there's some major flaws.

- Mostly, a lot depends on luck of what's generated. You can have bad luck and hit empty areas over and over, or be unable to get what you need to fight the boss.
- It doesn't reward you for exploring, because there's basically a turn limit.
- Once you know the "trick" to the boss, it's easier. If you don't use the "trick", the fight is many times harder.
- You can lose even though you're fighting and beating the boss. Saying more would spoil a bit.
- Boarding is way too advantageous compared to straight out ships fighting.

I think just removing the "maximum" turn limits would have made it a better game.

FTL is modeled after roguelikes. It's punishing, full of random instadeath and not balanced in the players favor. Personally, I think it's fantastic.

If you buy it directly from their webpage you get a DRM free download and a Steam key both. Extra value, but only if you're into that sort of thing.

Originally Posted by Idiotekque EDIT: Wait, how did RDR come up? Is it suddenly on the PC on daily sale?

I wish. I would pre-order in a second :(

Originally Posted by Mageshadow Thinking of buying FTL: Faster Than Light for the full price I checked steam prices and it hasn't gone on sale thus far, Thoughts? Should I simply wait until the winter sale? Really torn, I really want the game but can't justify paying full price

It's a really darn good game, and worth it. That said, it will probably be on sale at some point (maybe winter sale), and 'might' get included in a humble bundle at some point.

In FTL, exploration leads to random encounters which are all literally just 50/50 chances to either win swag or lose crew. You might randomly have the item needed for that encounter to guarantee a win but there is no skill involved on your part that makes that happen.

As a roguelike, it's too simple and boring to sustain any prolonged interest.

Originally Posted by Mageshadow Thinking of buying FTL: Faster Than Light for the full price I checked steam prices and it hasn't gone on sale thus far, Thoughts? Should I simply wait until the winter sale? Really torn, I really want the game but can't justify paying full price

I got it for $8 or whatever the price was on release date and have sunk about 50 hours into it already. I would pay full price for it if I had to buy it again.

Originally Posted by Idiotekque I do know what you mean. I don't think it was a fantastic western either, but then again, I didn't come at it expecting a great western story. I came at it thinking it was going to be a western GTA (which it is, even though I think it's better than GTA on every level). What they did do with the story, I followed and enjoyed. I find that older westerns are more cliche than the newer ones, so when they threw in the classic tropes, that was good enough for me. All in all, good, not great story, and excellent gameplay. It's not my favorite game of all time, but I would still recommend it to anyone. EDIT: Wait, how did RDR come up? Is it suddenly on the PC on daily sale?

All of you have good points. I guess I never stopped to wonder why I enjoyed the story so much in RDR, even with the goofball characters... honestly I think I didn't think the narrative was great until you got to spend a lot of "quality time" with your family near the end. The vibe was completely different from what I expected from sandbox games up til then.

999 was interesting but it had a lot of strange plot devices that I didn't care for, and I had to go to the official website's designer interview to get his feel for how he wanted things to be portrayed (and he didn't like a lot of the plot devices he ended up using either!!) The whole bit about June and Santa having different watches than what it seemed (E and 9) or the last door being q instead of 9 was rather silly. It doesn't even work really since in one of the bad endings Ace is able to leave by getting a prime factor of 9! You also begin to realize that June is a cold and heartless witch with the way she is able to put everyone else's lives at stake just for hers, which the author does admit to (and why he refused to give a happy reunion between June and Junpei).

I also hated how I had to repeat the same puzzles sometimes 4 times, and that it was difficult to intuitively determine just how to get the "true" ending. I thought the sequel was better in most regards (though I didn't care much for the 3d character models). The gameplay was more intuitive, I loved how the "jump" mechanic worked not just for the flowchart aspect but also in the narrative, and I appreciated that all the dialogue was voiced (both in English and Japanese). Of course, just like 999, it ended on a relative cliffhanger...

Thankfully the end to the trilogy has been announced!
http://www.polygon.com/2012/12/3/372...game-in-series

Idiotekque: Please don't tease me with a PC port of RDR... I can't imagine how beautiful that game would look with the proper mods... We were just discussing games that had a good blend of narrative and gameplay.

Originally Posted by Idiotekque Somebody needs to buy this. Somebody like Motoki.

I actually came within an inch of buying it over the Autumn sale but I rationalized not buying it buy the fact that it is by Altitude's developer and that game was in an indie bundle.

*Edit: OTOH it will likely be in Indie Royale like Altitude was which means I won't notice it until the minimum is $5+ and most of the rest of the games will be stuff that I already have or don't want.

Okay I just talked myself back into buy it for $1.25 on the next big sale.

Originally Posted by RollingSkull IndieGameStand's deal of the day is PWYW for Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space And I hate to Desura this up but noted 2012 game of the year Banzai Pecan is down to $8 on Desura. http://www.desura.com/games/banzai-p...-young-century I don't think this is a great game but I liked it and some folks seemed to want to know if there was a sale so... there.

I want it buy man asking a CAG to pay $8 for a single indie/retro game? You might as well be asking them to pay a million dollars.

Someday it will be cheap and it will be mine. I am patient.

So last night I played Saints Row 3 for like 5 hours with a buddy. Wacky fun. I did get the infamous dildo bat, and spent a few minutes cracking up over it ... I'm not normally so juvenile, but that was pretty damn funny.

I've already got my money's worth out of that humble bundle with SR3 alone.

I also finished Mark of the Ninja the other day. That was a great game, so I recommend it highly if you're in the market for another stealth/platformer game.