Atheist Ireland Forum

I was playing world of warcraft for a while. Time seems to fly past while you're playing the game. I think people assume that if time is moving fast that you're necessarily enjoying yourself. Nothing could be further from the truth. The feeling of 'time flying' is something that occurs on retrospective reflection. You think back over the memories of the past x amount of time. If you can think of lots of things you did, it will seem like time went slowly, if you can't, it will seem like time went quickly.

What I found is that because the game was so repetitive and held your interest only because you were looking towards achieving certain goals, despite having to do repetitive and boring things to achieve said goals, it felt like time was very quickly.

It's sort of like watching big brother on tv. Time seems to fly past because you spend the entire time anticipating something interesting happening, but it never does. When nothing interesting happens, you don't build a strong collection of memories against which you can reflect upon in retrospect.

That's my analysis. Playing World of Warcraft is as boring as watching paint dry, but the anticipation of something happening retains your interest and your reflection of what happened tricks you into believing you enjoyed yourself while you were playing.

There are a couple of DOS based games I still return to every couple of years and replay. The saying "they just dont make them like they used to" really applies to some such games. "UFO Enemy Unknown" was the best.

Have to entirely agree on graphics not making a game. some of the funniest moments in games like "Monkey Island" and "Day of the Tentacle" were done with graphics so bad that it really was only context that made you know what the designers were trying to do. However when you are engrossed in the context they can be incredibly funny. I remember, for example, a few times when they broke the "fourth wall" as they say, and the main character turned and looked at the player and moved his eye brows up and down....

... without context you simply would have no idea that that was what the character was meant to be doing, the graphics were that bad, but it was still done so well that you really got the joke. Essentially the skill used to be to see how much you could do using limited graphics. Nowadays I guess they see how little they can do, with as much graphics as possible. They just do not engage the imagination any more, and I think using the users mind to fill in the gaps really works. The writers almost wrote these games like they were thinking their hard ware platform was hard disk, ram, graphics cards and the users brain and they used all that hardware so well. Many current games seem to have forgotten the human brain is part of the hardware the game can run on.

Having said that Tell Tale Games who are now doing Monkey Island, Sam and Max, and have recently done a franchise of games based on Back to the Future... really are managing to mix good graphics with still holding much of the old skills, writing and humour that made the old games what they were. They will never quite match I think, but they are doing a better job than I could have expected.

These days now I am RPG all the way, much like Ygern, though it sounds like I enjoyed Assassains creed and Dragon age more than her, especially the latter which is one of the top games for some time for me. Mass Effect is also up there. In terms of just good voice acting, good story line, good game play and more however the two "knights of the old republic" are the best games in that genre for me so far.

In my teens I did lose a large portion of my life to Lucas Arts Xwing games, of which there were a number.

I couldn't agree more. One of the best games I've played is Super Metroid on, surprise surprise, the Super Nintendo. If you look at its intensely devoted fanbase you'll find amazing players completing awe-inspiring speedruns through the game. That's cool to watch, but the reason I loved the game is because it is a prime example of limitations making a game better. The graphics are still amazing for 16-bit, so it's not so much a 'graphical' limitation. The real limitations come from how simple the whole premise is - it's just you and the planet you're exploring, with a short story sequence at the beginning and a single task to complete. Imagine putting in a game today and being given a single task to accomplish, with no further explanation offered. Imagine never encountering a dialogue spewing NPC, not once! It just doesn't happen, even in Metroid games. The older ones had it right, and Super Metroid was the pinnacle of the series for that reason.




Quite a few RPG players here, and yet I haven't heard much love for the JRPG. I can see why people'd be put off playing Final Fantasy, and the genre as a whole, but I suppose you do need to have the proverbial cherry popped. Final Fantasy X did it for me. Most people my age would probably cite Final Fantasy VII, with the slightly older crowd referring to Final Fantasy VI (also known as III).

...

It's the nerdiness isn't it? Is it the nerdiness?

When i was a kid i owned PSX (since mid 90') and super nintendo before that (but i barely remember it).

On PSX i played all good stuff there was (piracy in eastern Europe )
And i remember these games fondly. NFS3, Resident Evil, Tekken, Duke Nukem 3D, Warcraft 2, Suikoden 2.

But somewhere around 1999 or 2000 i got my first PC and then i discovered one genre that im addicted to until now. RPG! (the real one not that Japanese crap).

Baldurs Gate, Fallout, Arcanum, Torment.

I loved all of these. Unfortunately as time and technology progressed many studios decided to abandon old formulas and started making less old-school, more accessible games. I still like stuff like Mass Effect or Dragon Age (first part) but they are nowhere near as entertaining as Planescape Torment!

The only hope for me is in the Indie developers who can't afford hype graphics so instead they need to focus on story and dialogues.

Recently i played
"Avadon: The black Fortress" http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/avadon/index.html
"Knights of The Chalice" http://www.heroicfantasygames.com/
"Desktop Dungeon" http://www.qcfdesign.com/?cat=20


And i'm waiting for a real treat:
"Age of Decadence" http://www.irontowerstudio.com/

AoD is basically like Fallout set in fictional world based loosely on Roman empire.
So you walk around in a alchemically enhanced Praetorian Armor insted of Power Armor
and you take part in a struggle between noble houses who survived the fall of
Maadoran empire.
Im so excited i even created excel spreadsheet that allows you to create your own character
(Stats, Skills and all that other stuff) exactingly as in the game, so i could plan different builds
before they publish it. http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/in ... 074.0.html

There is a Combat Demo to download on their site (Cool if you like turn based combat)
but it has different skill system than what they will put in finished product.
http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/in ... 259.0.html

I love the old NES and SEGA games and play them so often - Super Mario, Streets of Rage 2, Sonic, Golden Axe are my favourites.

Lately I've been playing Minecraft and Escape Velocity: Nova for the PC. These are quality games.
Minecraft is a sandbox game that is still in development but there are some amazing things you can do in it if you have the will and imagination. There are some insane youtube videos of what people have built, from replicas of the Starship Enterprise, to theme parks, wonders of the world, and even fully functional ALU's (arithmetic logic units, as used by computers).

I've realised I like simple graphics and good gameplay.

I just this week built my first computer from the parts up and have ended up with a Beast of a Machine that blows my old one out of the water.

The first game I have lying around to play on it is Dragon Age 2. I am somewhat wary though. Everything I read sounds like they have sacrificed the good gameplay and good story lines in exchange for simply good graphics.... which is exactly what my post above this one says is BAD about modern games. So I think I might be in for some let down...........

No way! Can you give us a brief outline of the specs? Did you buy the parts off the web?

Yea got them all off websites, full spec is below. Came in around €950 in the end. An equivilant PC on Dell was a lot lot more though. Should deal with just about any game out now, and can slap in a second Graphics Card later if games get much heftier.

PART Description

CPU Intel Core i5-2500K, 4x 3.30GHz
MOBO MSI P67A-GD65, P67 (B3)
CASE Cooler Master HAF912 Plus schwarz
Graphics PowerColor Radeon HD 6870 PCS+
Memory Mach Xtreme Black Diamond 8GB CL7
HDD Samsung Spinpoint F3 1000GB, SATA II
HDD OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD read/write speeds (550/500 MB/s).
PSU XFX Black Edition 850Watts ATX 2.3
CPU Cooling Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Wireless ZyXEL NWD-270N, 150Mbps UB Key
OS Microsoft: Windows 7 Professional 64Bit

Long time gamer, started out on the Atari console, moved to Atari home computers and finally to PCs.
(I leave console games to the kiddies!).
I like strategy games, RPGs, FPS, MMO's but it's been a while since I played any, last one was Warhammer Online.
Atm I'm waiting eagerly for Deus Ex, only @4 weeks to go!
Then there's Diablo III, Battlefield 3, Torchlight 2, maybe Guild Wars 2.
While I'm waiting I've finished Shogun Total War 2, was a bit disappointed in it, the lack of unit diversity was really a big kick in the teeth to replayability.
Atm I'm playing Battlefied Bad Company 2.

So what's everyone else looking forward to?

When you make contact with other lifeforms in the universe on your new computer can you tell them "We think you folk are great!!"
Thats some calculator you have!!

There's a great indie game out called 'VVVVVV'. You can play a free demo or buy it on Steam for a fiver.

It's great for casual gameplay and the music is fantastic.

I recommend at least checking out the demo.