Posts by Jetsetlemming

Quote from Rick_D

well, maybe the guy had been changing his nickname repeatedly to more and more obscene or borderline offensive/racist names and this was the last straw. perhaps he was reported ingame using that name to be offensive.you can't get the whole story from one email a guy on SA (lol SA is still going wtf give up already) posted.

Similar things have been reported on on RPS. Either way, it's some super serious shit getting your EA Online account banned, since that not only removes access to, say, BF3 online, but BF3 altogether, and any game you've bought on Origin, and any game that requires logging into an EA account, like Dragon Age or Mass Effect. For Valve to ban a steam account, you have to some serious shit, like chargeback a payment for a game, or use your account to phish others and steal their info. A VAC ban, which is for people found to be using external cheat tools, only prevents players from joining VAC protected servers. VAC-less servers and all single player content is completely uneffected. Contrast to EA taking away all the games you've paid for entirely, over mediocre trolling at worst.

Quote from Rick_D

just so you guys know i had very little to do with bf3, i just turned up drank coffee and jerked off in the toilets.you should really blame barsky or evert far more than me. even insta.

Obviously that you did very little is why everything's so terrible, including EA's community policies and PunkBuster being as broken as it's ever been since the very first game that used it (whatever that was fuck the piece of shit's been around longer than I've been a pc gamer)

Saw this on SA:

Quote

Greetings,Your Electronic Arts Online account has been permanently terminated from the Electronic Arts Online service for violating the Terms of Service. The account will no longer be accessible in any way, and all property, items, and characters associated currently are or will soon be deleted.

Violation: Inappropriate Screen/Persona Name

The EA Online naming policy is a derivative of the Terms of Service, and is designed to prevent any inappropriate conduct or vulgarity via a character name. This policy covers character names, group/clan titles, group/clan names, and any other user-generated content.

Screen Name:jihadswag

As the decision in this matter is final, please know that it is possible that no further correspondence regarding this account will be acknowledged. We regret having to take this final step, but it is entirely necessary on behalf of protecting the Electronic Arts Online community.

We respectfully ask that you please do not phone or email Electronic Arts regarding this matter from this point forward. We also ask that you understand and respect all statutes within the Terms of Service, as they still contractually apply to you as per the original agreement, especially the sections regarding terminated members of the service.

Sincerely,

Customer Support

Electronic Arts, Inc.

EA.com Customer Relations

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There is something seriously fucking wrong with EA guys, seriously

edit: restarting shook it out, I think, it's downloading an update now

Quote from Campaignjunkie

Sentura: Honestly I don't care to watch the video either. Can you tell me the point, briefly?

He makes a very detailed and reasoned breakdown of Megaman 1 and X, to show how they teach the player without explicitly telling the player anything, and how X sets up the theme and goal of the game by having an unwinnable boss fight ended by Zero saving you at the end of the first level.

Kane and Lynch 3: Lynch In Da Hood?

Quote from Skjalg

Sounds like you need to stop purchasing pc games and buy a console or something

It's not PC's fault that Rick broke everything personally with his implementation of PunkBuster and poor management of the servers and game updates.

lmao why can't other game companies put GOOD bugs like this in their games. DICE could learn a lot from Bethesda.

e: Apparently this is a result of running the game without vsync and over 60 fps, lol, glad to know I'll never run into it

At least a complete reinstall of all 11 gigs of the game fixed the kicking stuff

Now I'm going to go play an actually good videogame

I ran another game through Steam and Origin helpfully detected I was playing something and decided to pause the download without prompting. Fuck yooouuuuuuuuu

Never paying $60 for a game ever again. Eat shit EA/PunkBuster/Whomever's responsible (Rick probably)

Goddamn bullshit. The game STILL isn't working in multiplayer, and after trying a "repair install" in Origin it's instead rendered my game completely unlaunchable. It tries to install, says "Installing" for a few minutes, then ends silently back on "Ready To Install". Deleted the entire game directory and now it's reloading. If I didn't have the kind of internet that makes shrugging off 11 gigs possible I'd be shooting people from the rooftops right now.

Quote from arhurt

Jetsetlemming, open the console with ' and type tm (toggle menu) to get UI-free screens. Just use the up arrow and enter to bring back the menus after I love the little hidden details that are simply rewards for exploration. Like this dude here, all he had by his side was a skillbook if I remember. Still, awesome.

[Blocked Image: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/594702591118853099/5C36B4A318D78B1129D6731357A99A50B57C4250/]

Ah, I was wondering how to do that. I used to know those commands with Morrowind and Oblivion, but a long stretch of Unreal/Source games since then spoiled my knowledge. I tried "hud 0" in the console, and when that failed, just strugged and took the screenshot with the compass visible

Also great shot.

Quote from arhurt

I have never played (and likely won't play) Pathologic, but I'm sure that the gameplay in there is at least some fun.

It may not be the main appeal of the game for you, and that's ok. But the core question is: is Pathologic a videogame? Does it have gameplay? In order to unravel the mysteries of the plot, do you need to level up, defeat any kind of monster with a set of weapons/abilities? Do you need to solve puzzles? Do these challenges feel rewarding to master? And mind you the reward doesn't need to be bigger weapons: it may as well be simply access to more of the backstory and setting. Maybe Pathologic doesn't have greatly balanced gameplay and the physics are glitchy and quests are buggy, that makes it a bad game. Can you still have enjoyment from a bad game? Surely. Does that make it a good game? No. Do you need to feel bad for liking a bad game? No! But you might as well admit that it is a bad game =P even if it has the most intriguing setting and engaging story.

Now try to imagine if Pathologic had great gameplay. So great that it feels so natural to play it after learning the basics that you can enjoy everything else the game has to offer and still come out the other end with that happy feeling of accomplishment that mastering a game lets you have.

Pathologic's gameplay base is sound. It's basically a first person shooter, except that there are almost no enemies, and certainly nothing you ever need to kill. If you do decide to scrape together what meager resources you have, trade in your food and medicine, and buy a military rifle, you can have fun intentionally going out in the middle of the night to find some burglars and fight them. You don't need to. You progress in the game by talking to people, essentially. Going about on chores for the various important figures of the town, working to help prepare the town for the disease that's ravaging it, finding medicines, sending messages, helping refugees, investigating possible sources of infection, etc. You have personal stats to manage: Hunger, tiredness, infection, immune system strength, reputation, etc. But there are no skills to level up, no significant amount of loot. The gameplay is not the focus, it's a medium that enables the true purpose of the game, which is the story, and participation within it, and the mood, which is incredibly dark and damp. What you "play" in Pathologic is there to immerse you in what you "feel".

Also the game's not buggy or glitchy. The collision on some surfaces can be weird, to the point where if you try you can jump climb up nearly vertical sections and get on rooftops.

The game's got outdated graphics, and does not bother itself with trying to give you fun, and for that a lot of people will not play it, but if you've got the patience to play, say, a Sierra adventure game, or Phoenix Wright, you should be able to handle the burden.

If you want to try something newer, and on a smaller scale, by the same developers, get The Void on Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/app/37000/ Also a fantastic game, but (imo) way harder, due to even more desperate resource management.

The voice over guy they chose for that video made me feel like I was at work watching a training video on how to use a forklift or something

Quote from Campaignjunkie

I sort of agree, but here are two questions addressed to anyone here:

(a) Assuming you agree with what arhurt said before, can you explain how Pathologic meets your definition of "fun"? Or if it doesn't, why is it better than something similarly confusing and complicated and unorthodox, e.g. The Path.

(b) Is it bad if the apex of an art form is totally inscrutable and takes 20 hours to play and multiple playthroughs? Take James Joyce's Ulysses. It's very important, but at the same time, I'm pretty sure only a handful of people in the world might read it and genuinely like it. If it were a game, we would say that's bad game design because it's too confusing.

I actually don't agree with the premise that fun is necessary for a good game. I feel like that claim is too hung up on the "game" part of videogames. Pathologic is NOT fun, unless you brute force it to be fun by breaking the rules and making your doctor go hunt down burglars at night, or exploit physics to parkour on rooftops. It's a very dreary, oppressive game, and it is not about entertaining you. But when I play it, I feel an immersion no other game has remotely come close to matching, and I mentally take on the role and responsibility of my character. The closest things to positive feelings the game inspires are "duty" and "intrigue", and I love it for that, and have beaten it with two of the three characters.

Before I really got into games as a teenager, I was a super hardcore reader. Two or three novels a day, all my free time spent in a book. Maybe that's why I have a different perspective on what a game NEEDS to be. I don't need to be shooting terrorists and watching awesome cutscenes and getting mad points. What I do need is a mental engagement.

e: oh lord you got me to make a serious post. I wasn't planning on that

Every time I try to play tonight I get disconnected after a few seconds of joining the server. Looking at the forums, apparently this is very common, and tends to happen whenever there's a busy time. Good job EA, way to fail at everything I guess.

What is the point of artsy dick waving if not for contest? Russia's art dick is way bigger than Japan's tiny little tentacle art dick.

Quote from Rick_D

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Now that's what I'm talking about

None of these examples can beat Pathologic, just saying. Ice Pick Studios games in general are on a god-tier class far above anything cited here.