Weekly Question(s): Vidya Edition - Week 7.

[Nano]

Do you take reviews and scores of games seriously?
Sort of yes sort of no. I take reviews seriously from actual users and other people, but I take big game people like gamespot and IGN not so much.

Your favourite reviewers? (Sites, people etc.)
Metacritic, and usually only the user reviews. Side by side user and big company reviews really help in telling if a game is good or not.

Any games you love that reviewers called terrible or bad?
Off the top my head naw, but I do believe there was a moment like this a long time ago. Can't remember what in the world it was though.

By the same logic, any reviewers love games that you hate?
League of Legends B)

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

The last time I took reviews seriously was back when Nintendo Power was around and using a 10-point system where 9.0+ was absolutely stellar and 10 was impossible. Honestly, I find most mainstream reviewers tend to give out perfect scores too easily.

[retrolinkx]

I've been playing a PS1 game recently that is sort of the granddad to 3D beat-em-ups and holy hell, the controls are pretty bad but I'm still going through it, and it's making me want to talk about old games, so lets go there.

Question 5 26/05/15 - 02/06/15

When I say "Old game" how far do you think back? 80's, 90's, early 00's, or just last gen in general?
Do you play a lot of old games, or have you just sort of played the essential ones here and there?
Do you think kids of today can appreciate old games for what they are, or will they just dismiss them as old, and crappy?
Any old games you'd recommend?

[Xeno]

When I say "Old game" how far do you think back? 80's, 90's, early 00's, or just last gen in general?

It's all relative, but the 8-bit and 16-bit era of gaming comes to mind, which would span from 1983 to 1997 before the shift to 3D.

Do you play a lot of old games, or have you just sort of played the essential ones here and there?

Not as much as I used to. I've been dabbling into some newer games more recently, but I do get the itch to play the classics from time to time.

Do you think kids of today can appreciate old games for what they are, or will they just dismiss them as old, and crappy?

I think so, with enough exposure at a young age and a Video Game History 101 lesson. I can say from my experience that I learned to appreciate old games because of my exposure with them as a child, and not being aware of games of higher quality.

Any old games you'd recommend?

Sonic CD, EarthBound, Super Aleste, and Metroid are my top favorites for the epoch.

[Ivogoji]

When I say "Old game" how far do you think back? 80's, 90's, early 00's, or just last gen in general?
Anything before 2005 is old to me.
Do you play a lot of old games, or have you just sort of played the essential ones here and there?
Whatever I can get my hands on.
Do you think kids of today can appreciate old games for what they are, or will they just dismiss them as old, and crappy?
In most cases, I don't think so. What makes for a good video game remains pretty constant, even if the package is always changing.
Any old games you'd recommend?
Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda Classic, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby Super Star, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Wario Land, Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Shantae, Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons, Pokemon Crystal, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic CD, Tails Adventure, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Kirby 64, NiGHTS into Dreams, Gex the Gecko, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

When you say old, I think NES, Snes, Genesis, Monochrome Gameboy, Arcade Classics, and Text-based Adventures under DOS.

If not for vision loss, I'd have complete rom sets for every 8- and 16-bit Sega and Nintendo system on my Pandora and be rocking some serious handheld emulation. Also wish I could get some of the oldschool text-adventures running from the command line on a modern Linux system.

Yeah, I think kids can appreciate old games, though it'll probably be an uphill battle for children of non-Gamers.

In no particular order:
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, the Orcle Duology, the Original if you find all of those too easy an want a real challenge.
Mario: Super Mario All-Stars Plus. Yoshi's Island,
Donkey Kong: the Country Trilogy and the Lnd Trilogy, especially game 3 of each.
Kirby: Superstar, Adventure
The original StarFox.
Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3K
Tails's Adventures
Tetris(Greatest of Russia's exports)
The Zork Trilogy(at the top of my list of Text-based Adventures I'd like to play again).
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: the Game, but only if you want a challenge. Seriously, the few times I've played it, I nevermanaged to get off Earth.
Shadowgate: Fun little point-and-click Adventure for the NES.

[ShadriaFan]

When I say "Old game" how far do you think back? 80's, 90's, early 00's, or just last gen in general?
Any game that isn't available within a normal store, including Gamestop. Last gen may very well still be there, so late 2000's down.
Do you play a lot of old games, or have you just sort of played the essential ones here and there? I have more older games than modern games. I just bought Pokemon DX: Gales of Darkness yesterday, as well as obtaining Spyro 3 and Kirby Canvas Curse last month. Newest game I have right now is Pokemon Rumble World..which is a free to download game.
Do you think kids of today can appreciate old games for what they are, or will they just dismiss them as old, and crappy? If they can get past the graphics (I still rage when I remember how someone from my own graduating class stated that he cared more about graphics than story and gameplay!) then I'm a bit confident that they can come to enjoy the story/gameplay/quirks of the game if they go beyond the first level..
Any old games you'd recommend? EarthBound, Spyro 1-3, Pokemon Red-Emerald, Pokemon Colosseum/Gales of Darkness, Kirby 64, Crash Bandicoot 1-3, and NiGHTS into Dreams, as well as Sonic 2, SADX, and SA2B

[retrolinkx]

So, I finished Spec Ops: The Line last week, and with the release of Hatred and all the butthurt it's bringing, let's talk about morality in games.

Question 6 02/06/15 - 09/06/15

Do you care about the things you do in video games?
In a game where you can be good or bad, what do you usually choose?
Do you have any rules you follow in a game? (Such as no killing civilians, or a no kill route if possible)
Do you think we should not have morals in games, and people should just put whatever they want in games and that's that?

[Ivogoji]

Do you care about the things you do in video games?
I tend to be needlessly emotionally attached to characters in video games and subsequently care how my actions effect them. Erasing everyone from existence at the end of Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was hard...
In a game where you can be good or bad, what do you usually choose?
I generally exploit Video Game Caring Potential instead of Video Game Cruelty Potential. In games with a karma meter or similar feature, I always do the dark/bad guy run last. Or just look up the bad guy ending on the internet.
Do you have any rules you follow in a game? (Such as no killing civilians, or a no kill route if possible)
Most of the games I've played don't have an option for attacking anyone besides mooks and/or don't have any reward for avoiding killing mooks. I'd only do a pacifist run as a challenge. For a game like, say, Sid Meier's Pirates! a non-violent play through is possible but is also the least rewarding route in the game.
Do you think we should not have morals in games, and people should just put whatever they want in games and that's that?
I'd be kinda concerned about video games that allow players to act out fantasies of socially unacceptable behavior that doesn't already have some kind of precedent in mainstream gaming. But in general I think video game designers have a right to create the kind of games they want to create.

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

Do you care about the things you do in video games?

There are things I would do for fun in a game that would disgust me to do in real life.

In a game where you can be good or bad, what do you usually choose?

Generally depends on the game. For example, in Megaman Battle Network 4, I only used Dark Chips when the plot demands it as the permanent loss of HP and eventually becoming a 1 Hit Point Wonder seemed like a steep price to pay for the offensive power Dark Chips grant On the other hand, I generally took both Heroic and Villainous routes through the Disgaea games on account of it affecting the ending(Among the many statistics the games track is the number of times you've killed an Ally unit, and in the first game, you need a no ally kill run to get the good ending(while both the first and third games have endings that require 100 ally kills before a certain point in the sotry).

Do you have any rules you follow in a game? (Such as no killing civilians, or a no kill route if possible)

My general rule for the first play through of most games is whatever progresses me. If there are rewards for playing in a certain way, I'll wait until New Game+ to decide which I want to exploit.

Do you think we should not have morals in games, and people should just put whatever they want in games and that's that?

I subscribe to the theory that games that allow players to do morally questionable things generally serve as a safe outlet for people to let off their, for lack of a better wording, darker impulses. While I have no objection to games trying to teach a moral lesson as long as the game is fun to play and isn't too preachy, I don't see an overly violent game or one with depictions of reprehensible sexual acts causing any psychologically healthy individual to suddenly go on a killing spree in real-life or go out an rape a bunch of women.

[retrolinkx]

Since Fallout 4 has been announced and a few other games this year that I'm thinking of getting let's talk about upcoming vidya in general this year.

Question 7 09/06/15 - 16/06/15

Anything you excited for this year or next year?
Your dream game to see at E3 this year, or just in general?
Anything you're not that excited for, but will still get?

[Ivogoji]

Anything you excited for this year or next year?
Nope. I can't afford to buy new games anymore. If I had money I would get a PS4 and probably nab Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Godzilla: The Game- but I don't have any money and if I did I have bills to pay, school costs to cover, vehicle repairs to make, etc. I have absolutely zero expectations for purchasing new games in the forseeable future.
Your dream game to see at E3 this year, or just in general?
Don't care about E3, never have.
Anything you're not that excited for, but will still get?
Cheap games for the DS, Wii, and older systems that I can actually buy. I'm making a minor project out of tracking down old games I've always wanted to play at thrift stores and on Amazon.

[Nano]

Anything you excited for this year or next year?
Payday 2 for PS4 is getting released soon, very excited about that. Rainbow Six Siege is also getting a release soon, can't wait for that. Other than that? Nah.

Your dream game to see at E3 this year, or just in general?
Lemme see here... Sonic Generations 2 (or just a decent sonic game), I'm really hoping to hear about DLC for GTA5 or something (I know that's not a "game" but the way GTA has handled expansions in the past make me believe that every DLC they release is basically another game), and I also want to hear more about Fallout 4 and if it'll be any good.

Anything you're not that excited for, but will still get?
Not really, I've been kinda out of the know for a while now and can't really say what's good or bad right now.

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

Vision loss has put a serious damper on my enthusiasm for new games, and most of the games I wish I could play are already out.

Anyways, Upcoming titles I'm interested in:
The new Dangan Rompa(the pre-existing games being on my list of games I wish I could play).
Yuka-Laylee
The Castlevania Spiritual successor(If SOTN is any indication, I wish I had played more Metroidvanias while I had the chance).

Realistic things I'd like to hear announced:
Disgaea D2 Vita port.
Ys 8 or Ys 5 remake for the Vita with Xseed confirmed to be bringing it to the US.

Pipedream things I'd like to hear announced:
A good developer expressing serious intent to make their future games accessible to low-vision and blind players.
Diddy Kong Racing 2
3DS ports of Banjo-Kazooie/Banjo-Tooie.
Non-lazy(as in, fixing glitches, giving the graphics a face-lift, introducing official online for multiplayer, etc.) Vita Ports of Sonic Adventure 1/2.
Valkyria Chronicles Trilogy or Valkyria Chronicles 4 for the Vita with US release confirmed.
Retro Engine version of Sonic 3 and Knuckles.
Retro Engine versions of the GameGear Sonic platformers.
Vita ports of the Retro Engine Sonic games with physical release.
Megaman Battle Network Collection for 3DS(with 3-6 having their multi-versions merged)