Q&A: February 9th, 2022

The Great Leveler Asks
Are there any games you are excited for that came out/come out this year?

It's really hard for me to not hold some excitement over IO Interactive's 007 Game. It's such a match made in heaven on paper, though, we've seen hype for potential before not at all realized, so I'm trying to keep a leash on those thoughts.

...but come on! A NEW BOND GAME!

LETS GOOOOOOOOO!

Nathan Tallent Asks
Do you believe realism really adds beauty? For example: Valheim and Celeste sure as hell ain't realistic, but are probably the most artistically done games that I have ever played.

Almost everything can.

I'm not a fan of motion blur, but it can be used to heighten the experience if done properly. 

What I'll say is Realism is absolutely not a requirement, and one of the things I'm at least glad about modern gaming, is how many popular titles don't follow the sea of brown and grey like we did in the 2010s. However, that does seem to have given the biggest games license to just have no art style post-launch.

But that's a different topic.

OzarkTempses Asks
What is your opinion on the monetization of mods - as in game modifications, not the Discord Server ones - and their eventual release as standalone games?

Seems like we're not repeating the failures of paid mods for Skyrim on Steam, so... bring it on! It's awesome to see games like Insurgency, Black Mesa, Killing Floor, and The Forgotten City become full scale projects later in life.

Kevin O'Donnell Asks
What are your thoughts on Rainbow Six Siege? What's changed/improved since your video in 2017 compared to now, that you like/don't like?

Honestly? Almost nothing from what I can tell.

Upfront, I've only played the game once since making my last video on it. I hadn't played it in over year upon returning, and I was quite shocked to see how little the game has progressed since then at least to someone coming back.

I remember getting a call from Dokk and thinking to myself "Really? This is still here?" The game is still far too gadget based for my liking. Siege since it's earliest updates has had the problem of juggling 1 tap kills with rock, paper, scissors character designs, but it seems to me like all of them still exist.

The temporary game modes is when I dropped SIege, because it seemed clear to me that Ubisoft is focused far more on milking people who will never drop it rather than letting modify the unique sandbox it has.

What's the point of having a golden gun mode for three days?

Justin Wolownik Asks
Do you think that any game has ever integrated a morality system well? On a similar note, how do you feel about games with multiple endings, morality-dependent or not?

Absolutely, Alpha Protocol and at least my memory of SC: Double Agent come to mind. Though to be fair, I'm not sure I'd call those morality systems. When you think about it, good vs evil doesn't really make a whole ton of sense. If you're evil, why would you care about the consequences of being evil? That's the role you've chosen.

Games like Alpha Protocol do a much better job because the game's tough morally regardless of what path you're on, making it far more interesting to playthrough.

I can't say I have too much thought about games with Multiple Endings, only that they don't seem to factor into people talking about a game's number of choices. The most extreme examples I can give is Alpha Protocol and Cyberpunk. The former's praised for its choices, the latter is often critiqued, yet AP's endings are almost identical in terms of plot, whereas Cyberpunks land V in completely different situations.

I think the reason Ending's do factor into a person's experience that much is simply because most people don't replay games. Hell, most people never finish them. So, having multiple endings is cool, just don't use it as an example of a game's choice system, because to most people, the ending is simply the one they get, and the others might as well not exist as far as they're concerned.

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