Page 541 of 567

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 5:37 pm
by Henry Spencer
John Carpenter actually noted Kojima's obvious influence once and stated that he was "flattered" since he is also a fan of Kojima's (Carpenter plays a lot of video games IRL).

The thing what I like about Kojima is the fact that he's going through so many different influences and mixes them together in a concoction with his own flavouring. It's really not all about how original a story is, it is the way in which a story is told that makes the difference and I loved Kojima's storytelling style in his earlier work. It really felt like it was his passion and straight from the heart and mind of a movie maniac. I love that and hope that's what we get out of him making something original again.

There's very few games that were more immersive for me other than Snatcher, MGS1 and MGS2. The original Metal Gear Solid honestly felt so fresh at the time of its release, people may not appreciate it nowadays since there's been sooooo many cinematic games since, but back then, what an amazing experience that was. It changed how I viewed games forever.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:01 pm
by Thief
Henry Spencer wrote: John Carpenter actually noted Kojima's obvious influence once and stated that he was "flattered" since he is also a fan of Kojima's (Carpenter plays a lot of video games IRL).


Knowing John Carpenter, I'm sure he doesn't give a fuck :lol:

Anyway, Metal Gear is a franchise that's very important to me, and I do very much like the first Metal Gear Solid, but these issues are just a little to extreme for me to get over completely. I do realize that there is a lot of original content in Metal Gear Solid -- but honestly, Kojima skirts a little to close to the "unacceptable line" when it comes to paying "homage".

I am with Mittenz though. I have thought much less of Kojima's writing over the years. As I got older I was able to understand how terrible he is as a storyteller (revisiting the games) -- although I think he's done some brilliant and innovative things for the stealth genre (especially in the early years) as far as gameplay is concerned.

I think the plots in Metal Gear games are a lot like some Star Trek -- wonderful ideas, horrible execution.

OL wrote:Yeah, that's all the "basic setup" stuff I was talking about.


Those basic setup things aren't so basic though. It's the plot of the movie. It's like saying I'm going to make a game about men who lose their job, but then start up a ghost catching business and then eventually open a gateway to another dimension and have evil come and flood the city -- now they're catching ghosts for real! Totally not Ghostbusters though, it's my own original thing.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:09 pm
by Henry Spencer
I think you'll be hard pressed to find a better presented short form storyline as found in MGS1 from back then. You may have your overlong JRPGs aplenty back then, you may have your short-long adventure games format on PC, but a short 6 hour video game on the original PlayStation? I don't think so. No other game really came close.

Anyway, I think it's best that we don't over analyse these things and just enjoy them for what they are.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:12 pm
by Thief
I'm not arguing that MGS1 isn't good fun, just that it's a retold version of Escape From New York. Because all the major plot points are the same, the difference is only in the details.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:27 pm
by OL
Thief wrote:Those basic setup things aren't so basic though. It's the plot of the movie.


Not to just counter over and over to the contrary, but it's only the basic setup. It's the first few minutes.
A plot isn't just the description you can stick on the press blurb; it's the sequence of events that cover the entire span of a story, beginning to end.
And when it comes to writing, it's the plot that generally presents the most difficulty. Concepts are easy; implementation is hard.
You might say it's "only" the details that are different, but it's in the details that a writer shows what they can do. A concept is just a shell, but the details are what determine appeal and entertainment. And if a writer is effective in their use of those details... I just find it hard to call them out as being particularly bad, just because their concepts stem from elsewhere.
Not that Kojima is necessarily amazing or anything, I just find that boiling his work down to being a series of ripoffs is a little harsh, when its his handling of the details that make them memorable to begin with.

But hey, I'll leave it there.
Most civil debate I've had in a while. :lol:

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:45 pm
by Thief
Yeah, I understand where you're coming from, but some of those things that you consider to be nitpicks, I would consider to be important story-beats. It really doesn't bother me all that much though, and I still like MGS1 for a lot of reasons, I just think Kojima could have been a little more creative about it. Some of the things just make me go, "really Kojima? c'mon man... I know you like these movies and all... but... c'mon" :lol:

But yeah, maybe the word rip-off is a bit harsh, but it just doesn't sit well with me. Anyway, heck, if I'm willing to give episode vii of star wars a break, then might as well just let MGS1, and its similarities to Escape from New York, alone. As Henry said, just enjoy it for what it is -- which I'm happy to do. But I still notice those things :P

EDIT:
To be honest though, I'm a HUGE John Carpenter fan (seen all of his flicks), but I've never really cared much for Escape From New York. As far as I'm concerned MGS1 is way more entertaining than that movie... lol

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:50 pm
by Jokatech19
Just beat Crisis Core and Assassin's Creed 3. Wow. Both epic and amazing.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 11:07 pm
by shredingskin
Grabbing again technobabylon. I quite like the cyberpunk style to it, and the story seems gripping so far.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 7:28 am
by MiTT3NZ
Last night I suffered my heaviest ever defeat on Football Manager... 5-2. Still in shock. Fined every fucker on the pitch.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 5:14 pm
by Kenny
After bitching and crying like a child, I'm speeding through the rest of the Side Ops missions in MGS5 pretty easily now that I have Stealth Camo, Quiet, and some of the best weaponry around. Finally, I'm having fun.

Apparently I haven't unlocked the final Missions, so one of them popped up recently. I'm thinking of just finishing all the Side Ops and get enough resources to finish building Mother Base before progressing on to building my other bases.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 11:32 am
by Rakim
I played that Emily is Away game you guys mentioned a few pages back.
I got the same ending as Riku so I played it a couple more times trying to get it to have some kind of good ending but it always ends up basically the same. Is it even possible to get a "good" ending or are they trying to teach us some dumbass "lesson"?
I'm a bit underwhelmed.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 7:09 pm
by AnimeGamer183
Kenny wrote: After bitching and crying like a child, I'm speeding through the rest of the Side Ops missions in MGS5 pretty easily now that I have Stealth Camo, Quiet, and some of the best weaponry around. Finally, I'm having fun.

Apparently I haven't unlocked the final Missions, so one of them popped up recently. I'm thinking of just finishing all the Side Ops and get enough resources to finish building Mother Base before progressing on to building my other bases.


Sounds like you have to be some kind of glutton for punishment to even get a chance to enjoy that game.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 7:33 pm
by ShenGCH
AnimeGamer183 wrote:
Kenny wrote: After bitching and crying like a child, I'm speeding through the rest of the Side Ops missions in MGS5 pretty easily now that I have Stealth Camo, Quiet, and some of the best weaponry around. Finally, I'm having fun.

Apparently I haven't unlocked the final Missions, so one of them popped up recently. I'm thinking of just finishing all the Side Ops and get enough resources to finish building Mother Base before progressing on to building my other bases.


Sounds like you have to be some kind of glutton for punishment to even get a chance to enjoy that game.

The game requires you to really be on your toes in the early stages - mostly because your starting equipment is extremely basic and scarce - but once you've managed to figure out the mechanics and upgrade your equipment, things become much easier; and, paired with your new-found skill, everything that once seemed daunting as fuck becomes second nature.

Kungenga Mine, for example, was really intimidating the first time I infiltrated it during the "Blood Runs Deep" mission, but now I can clear the whole place in about one minute without a single hitch.

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 5:41 pm
by GYO6161
shadow of the colossus.... man.. im sucking hard... cant even beat the first colossus.... ](*,)

Re: What are you currently playing?

PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:01 pm
by FlagshipFighter
Playing Beyond: Two Souls as got it for super cheap. It's... interesting, from what I've played so far it nowhere near as great as heavy rain or even fahrenheit (the dev's other games) but it still has that aspect of David Cage that I kinda like.

I know he's hit and miss for certain things but I've always enjoyed the details and level immersion in his games. Plus the length is always great, never too long or too short.