Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2015-01-05 07:03 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2015-01-05 07:03 pm
[ SECRET POST #2924 ]
⌈ Secret Post #2924 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 055 secrets from Secret Submission Post #418.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - take it to comments ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
I'm always behind when it comes to games, because...I'm really cheap. There are times when I'll buy a game upon release (the last time, for me, was Skyrim), but otherwise, it's gonna be months or even years before I lay my money down. Right now, I'm finally getting around to Mass Effect 2 (I'm committed to getting up to speed now that Mass Effect 4 is incoming) and The Last of Us.
As far as The Last of Us goes, I just got to the capitol building earlier tonight, and...oh gods. I just sat there and cried for what was probably an unreasonable amount of time. It's going to kill me, that game. I just know it.
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
The thing about The Last of Us is that it is cliche central, but imo it does everything so well that it doesn't even matter. I loved the storytelling in this game. And some of the transitions were absolutely brilliant. I hope you enjoy it!
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
Also, I have to admit...now I'm kinda scared, haha. I went into this expecting a lot of emotional upheaval, but reading that the capitol building is nothing is making me all like "...oh crap." I guess I'm in for it. :)
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
I only mention it because some people point out it isn't anything new as if that's a negative. To some people it is, but I didn't matter to me. It is predictable, but that didn't stop me from being moved or caught up in the story and acting. The VA's in this game are fantastic and the settings and music are hauntingly beautiful.
Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that... But hey, you said you expected emotional upheaval, so what's a little more? (You should totes PM me when you finish; I'd be interested in your thoughts!)
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
Gah, saying all of that makes me feel really arrogant.
In any case...I think "predictability" is both an easy criticism and a really poor measure of a story's effect and power. I was spoiled for what happens in the capitol building. I didn't know when it would happen, but I knew that it was going to happen. It still punched me in the gut and had me sobbing. That's more important to me than whether or not I saw it or was told that it was coming.
Buuuut anyway! I don't know what what you said means, so I'd say it hasn't really effected anything, lol. Also I will totally PM you when I'm done! That might take a while, because I'm all over the place, but...it'll happen!
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
Granted, people are allowed to think the game isn't good, I will just disagree with them. :p
And that's okay, take your time! (I'm just eager to hear what you think of it because I haven't had a chance to talk in depth yet. No one I know has played it.)
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
I'd never even heard of the Civ series until V came out, and I got it on the winter sale. One of the best purchases I've made...soo good. <3
I hear ya about new games. I don't think I've ever bought a new release outside of Nintendo. There are only a few things I would buy immediately now besides Pokemon games, one being ME4 when it does happen, and another being if Bethesda ever did a sci-fi RPG. I wouldn't feel pressured to finish the trilogy on account of 4 because it's not going to be a direct sequel (thank gog). But I'm still tempted to push you to finish it anyway because GHHH MASS EFFECT. (If you want to gush or rant or discuss anything in ME2 I am all ears. Seriously I love this series)
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
I'd heard that about ME4. There's no Shepard, for one, so that's...well, it's a thing. But I really love the series so far, and I'm sad that I didn't pick it up until recently. Full disclosure: I didn't even play the first one until a couple of months ago. I am so filled with geek shame, you do not even know.
My impression so far is that it is absolutely fantastic SF. Intricate worldbuilding, halfway-plausible science, near-Lovecraftian cosmology... It's got it all, and it's got the added bonus of being playable. I feel sometimes as if SF/F was meant to be experienced and internalized through gaming, and it seems like Bioware shares my feelings, lol.
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
Don't get me wrong. I love Shepard. A lot. And I love his/her story, a lot. And this isn't just typical "the ending to ME3 sucks" (it does suck, but if you see it coming, it's easy to redeem it with headcanon, lol) - it's that it's so...well...I don't want to spoil anything, but it does not set itself up for a sequel, at all. I mean it would be a terrible idea. I also just kind of want to see them try something new and go in a different direction. When ME4 was announced I was really skeptical, but now that I know that it's not a sequel and that it's very exploration-based, I'm actually getting pretty excited about it. (Not that I minded the plot-driven aspect of 2 and 3, but I like the idea of changing it up and just exploring the galaxy - and the worldbuilding in the ME universe is just phenomenal. <3)
Don't be ashamed! I didn't play any of them until a couple years ago which is still pretty late to the party. And like you pointed out I'd never heard of Civilization until a few months ago! Really, there are just so many things out there in the world of geekdom, and even just in the world of gaming, nobody can be expected to do all of it at once. (I didn't even get into gaming as a major hobby until...three-ish years ago? so there's that too)
I like your reaction to ME1 and I think you'll like the other two even more. 1 was good, but 2 and 3 make some great improvements on the gameplay and, of course, expand the universe even more, including introducing you to a few more minor alien species as well as some awesome new places. And the story is still very good throughout imo. Who are your favorite characters so far, if I may ask? :3
I feel sometimes as if SF/F was meant to be experienced and internalized through gaming
Never heard anyone say this, but I kinda like it. The genre as a whole (multiple genres? I get why people combine them but imaginative fiction can be done in so many ways, and beyond just sci-fi and medieval fantasy there are still tons of sub-genres) just has so much potential for exploration and discovery, in a different way from things that are based only in reality (not that I mind games like that either, I'd just play them for different reasons).
long comment is long
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
I've been a bit spoiled on the ending to the third game, because I was kind of on the periphery of people freaking out about it, and because...I guess I'm really bad at not being spoiled for things, lol. It intrigues and upsets me at the same time. But, from the little that I know, I can see what you mean about it not lending itself to a sequel. I just had the impression that the DLC amended the ending, but it seems like that might not be the case.
The gameplay is definitely improved in the second game! The targeting is better, the controls are better (certainly less convoluted), the "hacking" is better, and I really like that special ammo types are expressed as abilities rather than as individual weapon attachments. I also like that upgrades cover every squad member, and that there's relatively few of them. One of the things that annoyed me about the first game was the endless barrage of upgrades/attachments, most of which were useless.
Favorite characters: of course you can ask! :D So far, Tali, Garrus, and Jack. I'm soooo upset that I can't romance Jack as FemShep. I think I'm gonna have to replay as MaleShep just for that. On the plus side, I get to romance Garrus, so yay! I was so happy that Archangel turned out to be him, you have no idea.
The thing about SF and speculative fiction is that part of it is about challenging the things that we take for granted. It's often profoundly sociological in its approach to storytelling, but the problem is that it can be really hard to get people to question things through text alone. When someone's playing a game, s/he's putting her/himself into the main character, and into the narrative, in a way that s/he isn't when reading a book or watching a movie. And that makes her/him just a little bit more receptive to critical takes on certain issues. Not that it always works out that way; gods know there's a lot of really jerky gamers out there. But I think the potential is there, and is greater and perhaps more transformative than it is when it comes to traditional media.
Re: Games - what have you been playing?
The Archangel reveal was awesome, but my favorite cool reveal of ME2 was with Wrex. He is my faaaavorite, though I was never interested in romancing him, I just adore him. But I also like pretty much everybody? Garrus, Tali, and Jack are all super rad. I also have a soft spot for Joker, and I love Mordin and EDI and also the last squadmate you get in 2, not sure if you are there yet or not. Jack's reveal as a woman was so awesome, I assumed she was male, with the name "Jack", and my friends were really careful not to use pronouns with me in reference to her because they didn't want to spoil that reveal to me. I was immediately like "LOOK AT HER. SHE IS SO BADASS". The Archangel thing was cool too, though I did already know Garrus was going to be a squadmate (and I'd already planned on romancing him) but I didn't realize he was Archangel, though I totally should have...
I actually liked the item-finding and the RPG system in ME1 but I think people are kinda all over the place on that. Since the combat was better in 2 and the game felt a lot more expansive I still thought 2 was a better game, and definitely the system in 1 was a bit more disorganized and could have been refined, but I kinda wish they hadn't completely overhauled it. A nice balance would have been good...oh well.