6th June 2011, 11:57 AM
6th June 2011, 2:14 PM
Oh wow I just realized these people aren't talking to me any more. They're talking to the new 17-something crowd, and we're just on the periphery. I should have figured that out sooner. The biggest hint is the modern "cool lingo", awkwardly phrased explanations littered with "awesome" and "epic".
6th June 2011, 3:25 PM
The game looks amazing, regardless of the PR being used to hype it.
6th June 2011, 4:32 PM
Really the only game I'm looking forward to right now.
As for the video, what do you expect? They're trying to be accessible.
The thing that bugs me about game trailers is the overused phrase "You can do whatever you want". No you can't. It's not currently possible to design a game with such freedom. Can I cut down those trees? Can I pick up any rock and throw it? Can I dig a hole in the ground? Can I tear down a city, or build a new settlement? Can I yank one of the tusks from those mammoths and start beating other mammoths with it? Of course not. I can't do everything. The choices of what I can do with the game are highly varied but by no means can I do "whatever I want".
As for the video, what do you expect? They're trying to be accessible.
The thing that bugs me about game trailers is the overused phrase "You can do whatever you want". No you can't. It's not currently possible to design a game with such freedom. Can I cut down those trees? Can I pick up any rock and throw it? Can I dig a hole in the ground? Can I tear down a city, or build a new settlement? Can I yank one of the tusks from those mammoths and start beating other mammoths with it? Of course not. I can't do everything. The choices of what I can do with the game are highly varied but by no means can I do "whatever I want".
6th June 2011, 6:45 PM
Technically not even reality lets you do whatever you want. I can't chop kick a jet out of the sky, not least because the term "chop kick" is undefined.
I am starting to wonder if the current generation of kids would find Woody Allen the coolest dude ever, if only they knew about him. He's like the king of awkward phrasing.
I am looking forward to this game, but it's true that if we're ever going to get to the level of EM's imagination (and my own for that matter), we'll need to invent some sort of "procedurally generated gameplay" coding. Something that can, using some basic rules, determine how to handle any unusual interaction you might come up with. For example, imagine a Zelda game where you fight some skeleton and hitting from the wrong angle can actually send your sword flying into the ground, not because it was a pre-programmed part of the fight, but because that's how the game interpreted the deflection. At that point, it will use the same rules to determine how Link will fight bare handed. Imagine the skeleton running away, you calling Epona to give chase, firing the hook shot into it, which gets caught on it, which makes it run another direction pulling you off Epona. The chain will be handled with physics, and it just so happens to have fallen around the sword in the ground, and when Link braces himself against a rock or tree and "retracts" the hook shot, the skeleton is pulled along the ground into the blade.
We are not there yet.
"Accessible" is code for "pretending to speak a way you don't". Kids aren't fooled by it, and more to the point, what is so inaccessible about just speaking like a normal adult?
I am starting to wonder if the current generation of kids would find Woody Allen the coolest dude ever, if only they knew about him. He's like the king of awkward phrasing.
I am looking forward to this game, but it's true that if we're ever going to get to the level of EM's imagination (and my own for that matter), we'll need to invent some sort of "procedurally generated gameplay" coding. Something that can, using some basic rules, determine how to handle any unusual interaction you might come up with. For example, imagine a Zelda game where you fight some skeleton and hitting from the wrong angle can actually send your sword flying into the ground, not because it was a pre-programmed part of the fight, but because that's how the game interpreted the deflection. At that point, it will use the same rules to determine how Link will fight bare handed. Imagine the skeleton running away, you calling Epona to give chase, firing the hook shot into it, which gets caught on it, which makes it run another direction pulling you off Epona. The chain will be handled with physics, and it just so happens to have fallen around the sword in the ground, and when Link braces himself against a rock or tree and "retracts" the hook shot, the skeleton is pulled along the ground into the blade.
We are not there yet.
"Accessible" is code for "pretending to speak a way you don't". Kids aren't fooled by it, and more to the point, what is so inaccessible about just speaking like a normal adult?
6th June 2011, 7:00 PM
Only on TC would a thread about an awesome game devolve into people dissecting PR-speak and probing it for logic.
10th June 2011, 9:47 AM
Don't get me wrong, GR, I'm more excited for this game than any other in the foreseeable future. I just hate hearing the phrase "you can do anything you want" when describing sandbox/open-world games.
11th June 2011, 4:11 PM
Awesome? TES games aren't awesome. :)
Yeah, for sure. One of my big criticisms about TES has always been that 'you can do whatever you want" is both limiting and, in some ways, actually reduces your options, in some gameplay ways -- the main story and events long the way aren't as good as in more linear games because the focus is on the large world, not the main story. I do find the scale of TES games impressive, but I've just always preferred something with a better, if more linear, design...
And yeah, that you can't do everything is a factor too. I mean, no computer RPG can match what you can do in a tabletop game. It's just not possible. There you can do almost anything you want... in a game like this you can't. What TES games do accomplish is noteworthy, but it's a middle ground between more linear RPGs and tabletop games that isn't as good as either.
Like, you can do anything in a GTA game! ... As long as by "anything" you mean something involving driving vehicles and/or shooting people. Yeah, it's a deceptive phrase for sure.
EdenMaster Wrote:The thing that bugs me about game trailers is the overused phrase "You can do whatever you want". No you can't. It's not currently possible to design a game with such freedom. Can I cut down those trees? Can I pick up any rock and throw it? Can I dig a hole in the ground? Can I tear down a city, or build a new settlement? Can I yank one of the tusks from those mammoths and start beating other mammoths with it? Of course not. I can't do everything. The choices of what I can do with the game are highly varied but by no means can I do "whatever I want".
Yeah, for sure. One of my big criticisms about TES has always been that 'you can do whatever you want" is both limiting and, in some ways, actually reduces your options, in some gameplay ways -- the main story and events long the way aren't as good as in more linear games because the focus is on the large world, not the main story. I do find the scale of TES games impressive, but I've just always preferred something with a better, if more linear, design...
And yeah, that you can't do everything is a factor too. I mean, no computer RPG can match what you can do in a tabletop game. It's just not possible. There you can do almost anything you want... in a game like this you can't. What TES games do accomplish is noteworthy, but it's a middle ground between more linear RPGs and tabletop games that isn't as good as either.
Quote:Don't get me wrong, GR, I'm more excited for this game than any other in the foreseeable future. I just hate hearing the phrase "you can do anything you want" when describing sandbox/open-world games.
Like, you can do anything in a GTA game! ... As long as by "anything" you mean something involving driving vehicles and/or shooting people. Yeah, it's a deceptive phrase for sure.
11th June 2011, 4:23 PM
Quote:Like, you can do anything in a GTA game! ... As long as by "anything" you mean something involving driving vehicles and/or shooting people. Yeah, it's a deceptive phrase for sure.
That was true for GTAIV, but less so for San Andreas.