The Bridge

pixel

3:00 PM

@badp Abusive Jerk...

user15026

@AnnaLear The worst is that I own a few of the games already on my 3DS.

badp

@pixel Memania has it wrong. That's another achievement.

pixel

read further down to BlackPhoenix969 whose answer I'm stealing

cough rewording and citing correctly

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Did you get the new Harvest Moon?

badp

and I can't try BlackPhoenix969's answer

(but that's certainly not what I did to get my achievement)

user15026

3:03 PM

@fbueckert Nope. So far I have resisted that.

Martin Sojka

@badp "Mystery/SF visual novel game by Christine Love." would work for a start, I think.

pixel

@badp good, because I don't like that answer

badp

@MartinSojka gaming.stackexchange.com/tags/analogue-a-hate-story/info

Anna Lear

Kirby (character)

is the main protagonist of Nintendo's Kirby video game series created by Masahiro Sakurai at HAL Laboratory. The Kirby series is one of Nintendo's many well-known game franchises, spanning nearly twenty games since 1992. His first appearance took place in the 1992 video game Kirby's Dream Land, where he was portrayed by a two-dimensional sprite; since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards for the Nintendo 64, he has made several appearances in 3-D. He has been featured in other video games from Nintendo, on Nintendo's merchandising, on comic books, and even on a . Kirby also appears in the Super...

> To defeat his foes, he uses his signature ability of inhaling large objects and spitting them out with great force. From Kirby's Adventure onward, Kirby was able to gain the abilities of the enemies he swallowed, better known as his Copy Abilities.

The jokes practically write themselves at that point.

user15026

There are so many webcomics about that, you have no idea.

pixel

3:06 PM

oh dear

Martin Sojka

@badp I didn't play it, but it's more likely a visual novel (if you have choices) or kinetic novel (if there is only one linear path), not a CYOA (which has no character graphics, sounds, ...).

badp

@MartinSojka I dunno, it's like text-only.

There's very little "visual"

pixel

@badp I will try the demo at least, since you recommended it and all

you do know that today is WoW 5.0.4 release day though, right?

badp

It looks like BlackPhoenix969 probably has it right

well that's a new ending for me! :P

opens SAM to revoke that achievement from his account

pixel

come to think of it

as a not so graphically intensive game I could probably play it over RDP while at work

badp

3:14 PM

eh. It didn't work. I got "abusive jerk" back as soon as I reopened the game

fbueckert

Free flags

badp

weee

fbueckert

Quick, flag it before @badp gets it!

badp

@fbueckert too late!

pixel

abuse of mod powers imo

badp

3:16 PM

@pixel I just destroyed jesus, yo.

(That's the name of the user who had posted that.)

/via Anna Lear

hahaha http://coding.fm

Tweeted by igorsoarez on August 29, 2012 at 12:30 PM

<3 the "Angry dev coding" channel.

Martin Sojka

@badp It only needs to have pictures to illustrate situation, mood, posture and so on instead of this being in text form to qualify as VN/KN. The line is usually drawn at "Would I understand the scenes if the graphics weren't there? Yes - CYOA, No - VN/KN"

Anna Lear

@badp It's missing some swearing, though.

badp

@AnnaLear That is true, but it makes it multi-cultural.

Anna Lear

haha true

badp

It makes up for it by featuring angry mouse scrolling

pixel

3:19 PM

@badp I can't comment on this, as doing so will likely provoke a discussion on said subject

badp

@MartinSojka so CYOA

fbueckert

And with that, I'm one more flag closer to Marshal.

badp

98% of meaning is delivered by text.

pixel

@fbueckert I'm getting awfully close to 80 flags for the silver badge

badp

Sure, there's like 200 speaker poses in the game, but still.

fbueckert

3:20 PM

@pixel It's a slog from there.

Martin Sojka

It's not just the meaning, though.

fbueckert

Marshal needs 500.

pixel

yeah I can imagine

badp

@StrixVaria makeitnextweekswhatifxkcdmakeitnextweekswhatifxkcdmakeitnextweekswhatifxkcd

pixel

if I didn't have the mentality that 'not an answer' means 'not an answer' rather than spam/comment I would flag a lot more probably, I stopped flagging so frequently unless it's 100% clear cut by my definitions

Martin Sojka

3:22 PM

Example: There is a scene in "Kana - Little Sister" where the protagonist looks down hist sister's shirt and freaks out about his arousal. The scene wouldn't have the same impact on the player if we didn't also get to see what he sees, and only get the scene described (optionally with a neutral PoV graphic to illustrate). Thus, the graphics form an integral part of the game experience and the game is a VN.

pixel

seven minutes until freedom

badp

Martin Sojka

Anyway, grabbing the trial to check.

badp

this is 40% of the game - a person mildly gesturing and a textbox next to it

the other 50% is text-only

Martin Sojka

That's 50%-95% of a typical VN. ;)

pixel

3:27 PM

@badp what about the final 10%?

badp

There's only one instance of two people in the same screenful and they don't interact except in speech

@pixel A pseudo-console. Text only.

pixel

but you said that was 50%

so do you mean that 60% is text only?

badp

40+50+10 = 100

pixel

now now, you're trying to point out the obvious while missing the obvious

badp

@pixel It's 98% text only.

pixel

3:28 PM

NINETY EIGHT PER CENT?

wow

badp

Sure, at some point you can SPOILER ALERT! get her to cosplay a little.

fbueckert

Anyone remember those old adventure games from the TRS-80 days?

badp

And that changes things by roughly 1%.

pixel

@fbueckert that sounds like it predates me

freedom \o/

fbueckert

@pixel It mostly predates me. :P

Martin Sojka

3:33 PM

@badp You're describing pretty much every VN ever. The question isn't "is it a background, character silhouettes/portraits and a text box?", since nearly all of them will have it. The question is rather "Do those characters have discernible emotions which give clues to the player about how to proceed next, and are those relied to the player via text descriptions (CYOA) or posture (VN)?"

badp

@MartinSojka looks like the bar for 'VN' is much lower than I thought then

you win

StrixVaria

What does VN stand for?

Martin Sojka

Basically, for a CYOA, you write a bunch of novels, then cut them up. For a VN, you then remove most of the parts which describe the people and environments and replace them with pictures (.. and sounds in some cases). The line is fuzzy on those parts which don't impact the plot, like any landscape description Tolkien wrote, ever.

Visual Novel.

fbueckert

@StrixVaria Visual Novel

StrixVaria

Speaking of unnecessary descriptions, I can't bring myself to read A Song of Ice and Fire any more.

You don't need to spend three pages talking about all the food available at the feast.

fbueckert

3:39 PM

@StrixVaria You haven't read Wheel of Time, have you?

StrixVaria

@fbueckert I'm in the second book right now.

It's not nearly as bad.

I hear it gets that bad around the 4th book, though...

We'll see how it goes.

fbueckert

@StrixVaria The people and situation descriptions tend to get a bit long.

badp

@MartinSojka The problem is that the environment is that of "cyberspace" and the pictures are of "computer programs" and the plot isn't one of cyberspace and computer programs

StrixVaria

That's not my only complaint with GRRM, though.

badp

(and getting more specific than this would be spoilers)

fbueckert

3:42 PM

But I really enjoy the series anyways. It was one of my first introductions to shades of grey.

StrixVaria

He seems to have forgotten that he's writing a story.

I want to try to actually finish the whole Wheel of Time series.

fbueckert

@StrixVaria Note: The last book isn't out yet.

badp

In other news it appears that you can now get Bastion for iPad 2+ as soon as midnight strikes theverge.com/gaming/2012/8/29/3276821/…

Martin Sojka

@badp You're investigating what happened, the AI(s) of the ship have developed their own personalities and have their own opinions, and you need to keep them happy to get a "good" ending or something, right? Just guessing from the first minute or two.

fbueckert

If you really enjoy world building, though, you should try Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. I sat down with the first book on a lark (due to his finishing of Wheel of Time), and within five pages couldn't put it down.

badp

3:44 PM

@MartinSojka yyyes-ish.

StrixVaria

@fbueckert By the time I get there, it will be.

@fbueckert I've read his Way of Kings.

It was awesome even though nothing happened for the first 1000 pages.

I own the Mistborn books but I haven't read them yet.

fbueckert

@StrixVaria Read them. I don't know how he does it, but it's absolutely fantastic.

StrixVaria

I have so many books to read :(

fbueckert

@StrixVaria Welcome to my world. I tear through books at a prodigious pace, though.

I think the word voracious was coined specifically for me.

StrixVaria

I read relatively slowly, unfortunately.

user15026

3:48 PM

I read ridiculously fast and I read a lot. Right now the fact that my ereader is broken and I have to stuff multiple paperbacks into my bag is irritating me and making me not want to read.

StrixVaria

Whenever I try to read fast I wind up missing important details.

user15026

I remember all the details, sometimes with irritating precision.

fbueckert

I troll the local Chapters bookstore on a weekly basis.

And usually pick up three or four books.

user15026

This is why I use the library and my ereader - library makes it cheap to read, ereader is instant gratification.

user15026

In a year I read roughly 250 books. I tracked it once.

StrixVaria

3:51 PM

@AshleyNunn How long are the books on average, though?

I mean that's ridiculous even if they're short...

user15026

@StrixVaria It ranges from like a quick-read romance novel, to like ASOIAF length stuff.

user15026

Something GoT length takes me maybe 4 days to tear through

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn I think you mean ASOFAI. :P

StrixVaria

@AshleyNunn How many hours are dedicated to reading?

I could probably read ASOIAF books in 4 days if I read for 12 hours a day...

user15026

@StrixVaria Whenever I feel like it - bus trips, random bits of time....2-4 hours a day, maybe?

user15026

3:53 PM

more when I dont have classwork or something to suck my brain away

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Sounds about what I do.

If a book is really good, I'll forgo gaming to keep reading it.

user15026

@fbueckert I tend to read voraciously for days, and then I get book burnout, so I play video games with teh same fervor until I get video game burnout, and switch back. Mind you, bus rides (of which there are at least 2 a day) are always reading time.

StrixVaria

If I read on a moving vehicle it takes me about 10 seconds to start feeling nauseous.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Bus rides, and lunch are my main reading times. Roughly an hour/hour and a half.

Some time before bed, if I'm not in a particularly gaming mood.

Of course, if the book is really good, it turns into a 1/2 AM deal before I have to tear myself away from the book so I'm coherent the next day.

user15026

@fbueckert This happens to me a lot.

StrixVaria

3:56 PM

I can't read when I'm tired. My eyes start watering and I can't keep them open.

I'm such a reading failure.

fbueckert

That's what happened with the Mistborn series. I think I devoured the entire trilogy in the space of a week or so.

Made a special trip to Chapters just to pick up the rest of the series.

StrixVaria

@fbueckert Have you read The Name of the Wind or the Night Angel trilogy?

user15026

@StrixVaria I love love love the Night Angel trilogy.

StrixVaria

@AshleyNunn It's so good. I read it so fast I think I need to read it again because I forgot too much of it.

fbueckert

@StrixVaria Can't say I've heard of that one.

user15026

3:58 PM

@StrixVaria I have it in a nice one volume deal. I have read it 3 times now, and every time I pick up different details

badp

@StrixVaria I know your pain. Halfway through, the Lord of The Rings suddenly was a book about wait who is this guy... where is this... wtf is even going on!

user15026

The Night Angel Trilogy

The Night Angel Trilogy is a fantasy series written by Brent Weeks. The story follows the life of Azoth (later Kylar Stern) as he struggles as a guild rat to become the ultimate wetboy (an assassin with magical talent, such as the ability to muffle sound or to block an attack), but then tries to leave it all behind and finally becomes the avatar of retribution: the Night Angel. Plot summary For a detailed synopsis of the novels, see the relevant article for each book. Series # The Way of Shadows # Shadow's Edge # Beyond the Shadows Characters in the series Setting The story is set o...

StrixVaria

@fbueckert What about The Name of the Wind?

badp

I had to backtrack a couple hundred pages before things resumed making a little sense

fbueckert

@StrixVaria Nope

StrixVaria

3:59 PM

It's pretty much the best book ever written.

I haven't read enough books, but I never expect anything I read to even compare to that book.

I tend to be pretty detached as a reader. I like a good story and that's about it. The Name of the Wind is the only book that ever actually drew me in for real.

fbueckert

@StrixVaria Mercedes Lackey writes some really good fantasy.

user15026

@fbueckert This. I own all of her stuff.

fbueckert

I love her alternate takes on old stories.

I picked up one of her Five Hundred Kingdom books on a recommendation from here.

user15026

I like most of her stuff, but some of the Valdemar books I didnt like so much

fbueckert

I now own the vast majority of them, if not most of them.

@AshleyNunn I love her entire Valdemar series.

user15026

4:02 PM

@fbueckert They're so much fun.

StrixVaria

I'm getting a Kindle for my birthday in October, so I really need to get on the ball and finish reading all the physical books I own, and then I'll probably ask @fbueckert or @AshleyNunn for recommendations on what else to pick up.

fbueckert

Valdemar is a world that hangs together very well. I like the fact that there are trilogies set in different points around the timeline.

user15026

@fbueckert I found some of the mage storms ones a bit harder to like. I like them, but not as much as, say, the Arrows books, or some of the standalones (Lavan's story, Kerowyn's)

user15026

@fbueckert yeah, that is pretty fun.

user15026

@StrixVaria Oh man, I love recommending books, once I know what people like.

user15026

4:04 PM

@fbueckert have you read any Dragonriders of Pern stuff? I love those. So much.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn I like that there's both magic, and psi-type powers. The focus on character development above that of overpowered abilities is great. Makes the characters human.

user15026

Especially the first ones that explain all the worldbuilding and the like.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Yes, yes, and YES.

user15026

@fbueckert yeah. Like how you get characters like Talia, who have all this stuff going on in terms of power, yet are still so human.

fbueckert

Don't forget her Rowan series.

user15026

4:05 PM

@fbueckert Those are good too

user15026

Have you read her Acorna books?

user15026

Those are pretty good too.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Yeah; didn't like them as much, but they're not bad.

user15026

@fbueckert They aren't as good as Pern, but they're decent.

user15026

All this talk about books makes me realize just how damn much I read XD

fbueckert

4:06 PM

Man, I need a girlfriend that can keep up with me.

user15026

@fbueckert O.o that was random

fbueckert

I can't find one that can keep up with me in one area, let alone all my areas of interest.

@AshleyNunn Remember my train wreck of a brain? :P

user15026

@fbueckert grins fair.

user15026

I want a partner (either gender) that can keep up when talking about books and video games, and who actually wants to get out of the house and do things and be active and such

StrixVaria

Have either of you read The Warded Man?

user15026

4:08 PM

@StrixVaria no, but it sounds pretty awesome

fbueckert

The logic train is, "Man, it's fun to compare notes on good books. But nobody around me can keep up with me at all. I need a girlfriend that can keep up with me."

StrixVaria

It's not as awesome as it sounds.

user15026

@fbueckert That's pretty simple logic. :D

user15026

@StrixVaria sigh thats disappointing

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn This time. The problem solving didn't kick in for that bit.

user15026

4:10 PM

@fbueckert grins Aww, I was curious to see what it would come up with.

StrixVaria

I think possibly the worst book I've ever had the mispleasure of finishing is The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie.

It was so bad it made me think I didn't like reading.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn I'll see if I can jot down the logic train next time the brain spits out a crazy idea.

StrixVaria

I started on the second book in the series and was trudging along when I thought, "If I'm not enjoying this, why am I reading it?"

I started reading something else and it was awesome.

user15026

@fbueckert Please do. I am super curious.

StrixVaria

I threw the 3 Joe Abercrombie books I owned into the trash.

I didn't even want to taint a library with them.

user15026

4:11 PM

@StrixVaria I've done that.

fbueckert

It should be mentioned: if either of you like Science Fiction, read David Weber.

Specifically, his Honor Harrington series.

user15026

Has anyone read any Jim Hines (specifically, Libriomancer, but any of his stuff is good)?

user15026

@fbueckert I am just starting to get into more SF. So recommendations are always awesome.

fbueckert

He does space opera in a manner I've never seen.

StrixVaria

The only SF I really ever read was Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.

fbueckert

4:12 PM

My girlfriend at the time got me the first few books as a birthday present.

That's one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten.

user15026

@fbueckert What sort of story?

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Mostly military tactics and politics.

I'd recommend grabbing the first book and seeing if you like it.

user15026

@fbueckert Ooh, a bunch of his stuff is in the Baen Free Library.

user15026

I love that thing.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn You're looking for 'On Basilisk Station'.

At worst, you've wasted a day or two reading it. But probably not, because his writing style is fantastic.

user15026

4:18 PM

Sweet, that one is in the Free Library, so I can pick it up and not be sad if I hate it. :)

user15026

Now if only my ereader wasn't broken.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Your local library should have it, too.

I prefer physical books to an e-reader; I'm already so wired, that I don't need yet another device.

user15026

@fbueckert Nope, no luck there.

user15026

@fbueckert I like both for different reasons.

pixel

some of these changes in WoW

StrixVaria

4:27 PM

The Secret World had a great look and a nice premise, but deep down it was just another unambitious modern MMO. That's why it failed.

Tweeted by JimSterling on August 29, 2012 at 4:12 PM

James

@StrixVaria wait wait wait.. Its failed?

StrixVaria

That's why I brought it up.

As far as I knew it was still going pretty strong.

This guy usually makes a lot of sense, though, so I don't know.

pixel

@LessPop_MoreFizz said it was deserted since GW2 came out

sjohnston

Not sure you can really conclusively call any MMO "going strong" when it's only two months in.

pixel

true story

WoW set the precedent

StrixVaria

4:32 PM

@sjohnston That's probably true. I'm an MMO noob so I don't know anything about how it works really.

pixel

sure there are mmos going longer but none as strong

sjohnston

I really wanted to love the secret world. It's all conspiracy theories and cthulu. All stuff I like. But I played the beta quite a bit, and the gameplay just didn't feel at all compelling.

pixel

all recent mmos make the same problem

amazing story until level cap

and then falls apart

badp

---------------------------
Application Crash
---------------------------
Application Crash: std::exception
shattered_horizon.exe build: 54

main_vsh failed: An undetermined error occurred (E_FAIL):
unknown error


Shattered Horizon encountered a fatal error and will be terminated.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

pixel

amazing in terms of delivery and how immersive they can be

badp

4:34 PM

...okay

sjohnston

@pixel It's a difficult challenge to keep people busy with interesting things when the hardcore players are putting 10 or 15 hours a day into the game. Even a large team has a hard time building (interesting) content that fast.

pixel

yeah certainly

plus the longer running games have the legacy of multiple expansions worth of content

sjohnston

I think it's largely an unsolved problem. WoW has the big advantage of many years and huge sums of money to build up endgame content. It certainly wasn't amazing initially

@pixel exactly

bwarner

The problem is that just creating the infrastructure for an MMO is ridiculously time intensive. Trying to create 1,000 hours of content on top of that would require so much money up front, that it just doesn't make sense. Instead, you want to get people interested, and then have a good enough engine in place that you can continue to add content on a fairly regular basis.

Rilgon Arcsinh

Rift seems to accomplish it just fine, but everyone always forgets Rift.

sjohnston

4:39 PM

@bwarner But people will generally play through it faster than you can build it.

Publishers and developers really need to realize that you can't out-WoW WoW. It's got a decade head-start at being what it is and a huge player base. You can't make something similar-yet-better, even with hundreds of millions of dollars, and even if you did, it wouldn't succeed. You need to make something radically different, yet equally appealing.

fbueckert

@sjohnston Those are not the people you cater to.

It doesn't matter how fast you make content; those people will ALWAYS play through it faster than you can make it.

Rilgon Arcsinh

"You can't make something similar-yet-better, even with hundreds of millions of dollars" - Rift did so, with less, but everyone always forgets Rift.

bwarner

@sjohnston Some people will. But you have no hope of keeping up with those people, so you focus on people a little bit further down the curve, that play regularly, but not to such an extreme.

sjohnston

But all the executives see WoW over there, printing money, and they think "someone did this, so we can do it too". And they try to remake wow and throw a shit-ton of money into the toilet when it closes after 3 months.

fbueckert

@sjohnston Because there's no real innovation going on; they basically go, "WoW is popular, let's make WoW."

Without figuring out WHY WoW is popular.

pixel

4:42 PM

@RilgonArcsinh Rift is neither here nor there

@RilgonArcsinh Rift is this generation of MMO's EVE

fbueckert

@RilgonArcsinh I tried Rift. Didn't grab me at all.

sjohnston

@RilgonArcsinh I played Rift. It did improve on some things while being wow-like. But it didn't hold my interest. I honestly think SWTOR did a better job of improving on the wow formula. But that's just my opinion.

pixel

If Blizzard proportionally added as much of what they make from WoW back into the game like with Rift, in terms of content added, WoW would be dangerous

fbueckert

@sjohnston Bleh, no.

sjohnston

@pixel Eve is this generation's Eve...

bwarner

4:43 PM

@fbueckert Most games try to innovate in some way. But nobody has yet found the sweet spot where it is innovative enough that it pulls people in, while maintaining enough of what people like about WoW to keep them

fbueckert

SWTOR was WoW in space, down to global cooldowns and skill descriptions.

pixel

eve is old

Rilgon Arcsinh

@sjohnston TOR was a regression to circa-2005 WoW, so no, not really.

pixel

SWTOR was really well told story with no endgame, just like TSW

fbueckert

@bwarner There needs to be much less focus on building a WoW clone; if people want to play something like WoW, they'll play WoW.

sjohnston

4:44 PM

@pixel And yet it is one of the few MMOs that pretty much grows its subscriber base constantly. Granted, it's not a huge base, but that's still quite impressive.

pixel

@sjohnston So... kind of like Rift, yeah? :p

Rilgon Arcsinh

@pixel Excuse me, Rift has no spreadsheets, no rock mining for hours, and a fraction of the assholes of EVE, get it right. :P

sjohnston

pixel

@sjohnston unfair comparison considering a lot of people from WoW went to Rift initially

Rilgon Arcsinh

I always love when people make graphs like that and when cornered for sources, they always evade the question and beat whatever drum they're trying to beat at the time.

bwarner

4:47 PM

@sjohnston Second Life still has 800,000 active accounts? What are they doing?

sjohnston

@RilgonArcsinh That site actually does a pretty good job of citing its sources

pixel

I'm not questioning the validity of it at all

sjohnston

@bwarner Selling virtual furniture and causing virtual genitalia to rain from the virtual heavens

pixel

the important question is whether "Titan" will be this generation's WoW or nexts

sjohnston

@pixel So you're of the opinion that Titan is guaranteed to be as successful as its predecessor?

bwarner

4:51 PM

@pixel In order to make a game that could become the new WoW, you'd need a company with a giant source of steady income that they could keep using while they spent a decade creating a new game. Now, if only we knew of a company like that...

pixel

I'm of the opinion that if anybody can do it, it's more likely to be the developer in control of the current biggest MMO

Blem

@sjohnston no lineage?

or it peaked over 1m i guess

nm, it is on page one users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png

sjohnston

@pixel A couple years ago, I would have agreed 100%. But I'm starting to feel like the ActivisionBlizzard behemoth is losing its touch.

Then again, my personal feelings may not reflect the general populace.

pixel

no I can agree with you on that

it's not for certain anyway

sjohnston

What will be really interesting is to see when and how they release Titan, and what sort of WoW cannibalization occurs.

bwarner

4:58 PM

In some sense, WoW's growth was aided by the fact that there was minimal competition during its early stage, so users were less likely to ditch it for some other game. This allowed them the time to build up additional content and eventually get over the hurdle where people felt like there was enough to do.

I don't know that you'll ever have that sort of situation again.

fbueckert

@bwarner Arqade needs to fund a group of developers. :P

James

@sjohnston I was hoping that game would be like borderlands, but I am starting to lose faith in Blizzard.

fbueckert

@James After being bought out by Activision, the whole "Make more money" mentality of Kotick's is starting to bleed through.

Blizzard is no longer about making awesome games, and gamers buying them.

It's about creating good games, and relying on their dedicated fanbase to throw their money at them.

James

@fbueckert Blizzard was owned by Vivendi before Vivendi bought LackOVision man, that had nothing to do with it.. They are just finding out they can do wrong and they are getting good at doing it wrong

sjohnston

It is very very difficult for a company to make that much money and not start to focus on it.

bwarner

5:05 PM

Ah, its time for the daily flogging of Diablo 3. Guess that's my signal to get back to work

James

Meh

sjohnston

@bwarner I believe you're actually the first to mention it in this conversation

James

Only thing Diablo 3 did was confirm that Starcraft 2 wasnt a fluke.. as does that panda game.. I mean WoW :)

fbueckert

@bwarner That was in no way meant as a criticism of D3.

I still like Blizzard's games; they're just making bad choices in certain aspects, due to the focus on maximising profit rather than making a great game.

James

@fbueckert Yeah, I liked D3, but I am done with it until an expansion or what not.. The gear grind is just not fun.. I am not looking forward to finding an item like I am in other games.

I am looking forward to TL2.. and BL2.. and Maybe even that Marvel heroes game thingy if its going to be a dungeon crawl like D3/TL2

fbueckert

5:21 PM

@James I remember why I liked BL so much: It was Diablo. With guns.

And crazy off-the-wall humor.

James

@fbueckert Dude, I have been watching more videos on it in the last few days

release day can NOT get here fast enough :D

I liked it though because it felt MMOish to me with out having to deal with everyone

There were quests everywhere and the entire world seemed to have purpose

The prospect of finding a new bigger gun all the time helps too ;)

fbueckert

@James I'm still not going to pick it up on release date.

James

@fbueckert I got it on Steam

(I also have one of those LE/CE from Amazon, hehe)

fbueckert

@James I'm going to wait until it drops to half price or less.

Or until my roommate picks it up, whichever happens first.

James

Ah, hehe ;)

I actually already bought 4 copies on steam so the people I played 1 with will have it on release day as well so we can just rush to it

fbueckert

5:24 PM

@James Games are not meant to be rushed through. They are meant to be enjoyed, savoured, and played the hell out of.

James

:)

fbueckert

Hence why I'm still playing D3.

I've put almost 250 hours into my Monk.

And I finally completed all my long-term goals last weekend.

James

@fbueckert What were those?

fbueckert

@James There were two:

Find a legendary item. ANY legendary item. Got that one a couple weeks ago.

James

I am slightly considering getting -a- character to/through inferno.. I just do not think I have the time/drive to really do it.. I see me stopping to play some where after Nightmare and into Hell difficulty

fbueckert

5:30 PM

The last one was to kill Diablo on Inferno difficulty. Essentially, beating the game.

I picked the hardest class to actually get THROUGH Inferno, due to requiring specialized gear to do so.

...And Defender's Quest went Gold today. I think I have my evening gaming.

fbueckert

5:49 PM

Which is another recommendation; if anyone enjoys tower defense and RPGs, play Defender's Quest. It's by an indie dev, and it's quite good.

Jonny

@fbueckert I was just about to ask if that was a T defense game! Is it free?

fbueckert

@Jonny There's quite an extensive demo that you can try.

And if you like it, your save game from the demo carries over.

Jonny

XBLA?

fbueckert

@Jonny PC

www.defendersquest.com

Jonny

@fbueckert Sweet. Thanks for the heads up. How is comparable to Dungeon Defenders?

fbueckert

5:51 PM

@Jonny It's not

They're entirely two separate paradigms.

Jonny

2D? Instead of 3D?

fbueckert

Defender's Quest focuses on story telling and tactics, while Dungeon Defenders is all about the pretty and being overpowered.

Jonny

@fbueckert I would look at the site now, but Im at work (blocked). 0o0 I do love good story telling! I'll check it out when I get home. RPG is my favorite genre!

fbueckert

@Jonny It's not your typical tower defense; your "towers" are people you summon into position, and they level up and get skill points you can use to customize them.

And with the Gold version coming out today, there's even a new game+, with added features.

Jonny

@fbueckert hm... just like that one flash T defense with levels and upgradeable heros... How does a T defense game produce a good story?

fbueckert

5:54 PM

@Jonny Mostly before and after the actual tower defense bits.

Jonny

In regards to the characters primarily?

fbueckert

Is your internet at work whitelisted? Or just certain sites blocked?

The dev's blog about the game can be found at: fortressofdoors.com

Jonny

all games site blocked haha

ill try that out, one sec

@fbueckert Looks like blog sites work fine =)

fbueckert

@Jonny Check the second entry; it details what upgrades there are to the gold version.

I especially like the equipment upgrades; you get unique equipment as rewards for flawlessly completing some levels.

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