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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit Apropos of Nothing - ACKBAR IN CAPITALS - The Lit Forum Social Thread, v2.0.15

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Master_Keralys, Jan 1, 2009.

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  1. Cynical_Ben

    Cynical_Ben Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2013
    I'm probably one of six or seven dedicated gamers on this planet who is in no way interested or has ever been interested in the GTA series. So, as my work friend and I leave work at 11 tonight after close and he goes to wait for the midnight release, I'm like, "Have fun, I'm going home and getting some sleep."
     
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  2. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    I'm a sucker for sandbox games. GTA Vice City and San Andreas were the high notes. GTA IV was a huge letdown, although the DLCs captured some of the old magic. Once SR3 came out, though, I jumped tracks. Watch Dogs looks cool, though.

    I love midnight releases on PC. It's called "Steam". [face_laugh]
     
  3. Cynical_Ben

    Cynical_Ben Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2013
    See, I'm not a fan of sandbox games. I'm a game completionist, I like to play games to as close to 100% as I can manage. But most sandbox games I've played basically thumb their noses at people like me. "Hey, you want to get 100%? Here's a whole list of repetitive side-missions, chump! See you in twenty hours!" I don't like the Elder Scrolls games or pretty much any MMO RPG for the same reason. What's the point of having so much to do if there's no way, short of abandoning the entirety my life outside the game, that I can do everything? I'd probably enjoy some of these sorts of games more if I had a multiplayer community, like co-oping Saints Row, but I don't.

    Paradoxically, however, I don't like super-linear games, either. Games like Call of Duty, where you only have the illusion of free will and are forced onto a linear path in-game with no options or ways to change the game up on a second playthrough, make me very angry to try and play. I'm okay with a game wanting to keep you pointed toward the objectives, but if I can finish your game in the time it takes me to watch a decent movie, don't expect me to pay $60 for it. And you can forget the multiplayer, I don't want to have twelve-year-olds tell me how promiscuous my mom is while my virtual soldier is repeatedly headshot from across the map. Screw that noise.

    My two favorite games of this generation are Batman: Arkham City and Dishonored. Both of them are semi-open world, but not sandbox, with set objectives that still provide you with the flexibility to approach them in a variety of ways limited only by your imagination and skill. They're the perfect balance, IMO. It helps that both of them are also very well-written and have great voice casts.

    Steam is awesome. No more boxed copies, no more install waiting, provided you have decent internet speed. Pair it with the nVidia Experience to fine-tune the graphical settings to my hardware, and I far prefer my PC to a console: better graphics, smoother frames per second, and I can actually play shooters with something approaching precision. I'm not interested in either PS4 or Xbox One because of that very reason. I wait to buy pretty much any game until it goes on sale on Steam, and if my computer can play all of the next-gen games that aren't exclusive, it'll take a pretty awesome exclusive to make me drop $400+ just to play it.
     
  4. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    "I don't like Elder Scrolls games."

    Dead to me.
     
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  5. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

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    Oct 29, 2005
    MMOs aside (not a fan, mostly), I like having a game that I can spend 200 hours playing if I wish - that's what I call getting my money worth. And I mean actually going through new material, not just playing the same things over and over. I just finished playing Skyrim from beginning to end with all the DLCs over a period of months and still found material I hadn't seen before.
    I have my own rules for "completion" - any missions, any story elements, any locations, I do. Doing things like "Chain this specific combo" or "Hit all these special jumps" doesn't interest me.
    Looking forward to seeing the "complete" Gotham City in Arkham Origins.
     
  6. Cynical_Ben

    Cynical_Ben Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2013
    Yeah, Origins looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. A younger Batman, focus on some of the more B-list members of the Rogues Gallery like Black Mask and Deathstroke (the Boba Fett of the DC universe and my favorite non-Batman villain in all comics), and seeing pre-Venom Bane in a more DKR inspired outfit have all got me pretty excited. I've debated pre-ordering it, but I'm too cheap. I'll just get it when it's on sale on Steam a few months down the line. :p
     
  7. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    I'll be honest: I was pretty excited for GTAV until I saw yoga and golf. I now know exactly how far I'm willing to go down the mini-game rabbit hole.
     
  8. Cynical_Ben

    Cynical_Ben Force Ghost star 4

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    Aug 12, 2013
    =(( I'm crushed.
     
  9. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    Today is a day I have waited three years for. Today, is a good day.
     
  10. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    //checks google news

    Costa Concordia has righted itself and the Italian maritime industry has partially washed off its grime?

    Brazil has cancelled a state visit to the U.S., thereby increasing the chances of a Franco-Portugeuse renaissance in the new world?

    Second private spacecraft launching for space, with you potentially onboard?

    Briton jailed for 27 years in U.S. cannibal case, freeing you from fear of being eaten by your colonial masters?

    Jersey Shore Boardwalk fire ruled to be accidental, allowing you to enjoy trashy TV in peace?

    .....also in unrelated news there's a story about whether parents should give their kids an iPhone or an android phone. What. Kids should not have smartphones -- or cell phones of any kind -- until they're at least in high school. What is this.
     
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  11. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    You'd have to find a bit more local news, but a good try, regardless.
     
  12. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    Nice ambiguity Mr. Erikson. Something tells me you have indeed told us what you're referring to, but it was several hundred pages ago :p
     
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  13. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Today is a good day to play?
     
  14. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009

    Several hundred pages? Pfft. Try three or four books ago. The ending to House of Chains was set up in a throwaway descriptive line in the first few chapters of Deadhouse Gates.
     
  15. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    I have even less of an idea what you people are talking about than I usually do.
     
  16. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    We managed to transition to Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
     
  17. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    So I've just done the only thing worse than debating politics on facebook -- debating religion. This will end well...
     
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  18. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    Make sure to tell us how it ends.
     
  19. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Well, it's with a friend so it can either end in tears/regret or just end in us agreeing not to discuss it further.
     
  20. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    It's religion. Betting on the former.
     
  21. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Unless he's debating religion with Constable Dorfl, no, it won't end well.
     
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  22. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    Damn. Would it be telling too much to say what? If I had to guess, I'd say perhaps the Otaral mines, but I wouldn't quite quality those as throwaway description.

    I much prefer debating religion, because it's actually amusing. Both topics inevitably devolve into knee jerk reactions about long held beliefs that have precisely 0 chance of being swayed or even budged by mere words, but with politics all you're reminded of is how much reality sucks, where with religion at least it's like debating your favorite magic power.
     
  23. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Dec 2, 2009
    @instantdeath-

    Nope, it has nothing to do with the otataral mines and everything to do with Raraku.
     
  24. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Nov 28, 2000
    That's not really my experience -- at least not fully. Politics can involve a civil exchange of views between people as long as they're educated and open-minded -- whereas religion is so personal that even reasonable people will easily take offense. You can have a detached discussion about politics -- but religion will almost invariably get heated if it's people with opposing viewpoints.
     
  25. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jul 22, 2010
    Hmm. Raraku was a fairly big part of Deadhouse Gates, so I imagine you're referring not to the desert as a whole but something in it... perhaps something to do with Fener?

    Although I really prefer the GOTM characters and am reluctant to leave them for House of Chains, I am interested in what Kalam and Coltaine are up to.

    While on the topic of Malazan: have you had a chance to read the novellas? Are all of them about Broach and Bauchelain? I've heard mixed reactions. I'll probably read them, but probably before book 5, since I've heard that one starts with a new cast of characters.

    I was more referring to political debates with people not over the internet, but in person, and if you consider where I'm from... yeah, not pretty. People tend to be very traditional and very, very protective about their views here (hell, my uncle won't even speak to me for hating Rush Limbaugh [face_worried]) It's the main reason I don't tend bother to open my mouth about politics.

    With religion, it's the same result, but at least there's something inherently satisfying about it, since most of them just don't even know how to begin to respond. They're used to those bleeding heart liberals (not that it takes much to be considered a liberal here), but not so much dem' Atheists.
     
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