Various video game stuff not deserving its own thread

[rusty_shackleford]

You might not like it. You might even disagree. But storytards consider this to be the apex of RPG design:

[Klerik]

Problem - Door

Action talk - open door

Combat yes or no

Alignment up or down

Close branch yes or no

Reward action?

Copy pasta put in purple hair weeb lgbtq+ chatgpt

mix and stir.

[maidenhaver]

What's rong with it?

[Klerik]

It's not alternative universe Fallout 2 designed by acid addled Polish and Belgian goth punk anarchists. The failure of this timeline lead to Depeche Mode being played in a ****** game like Last of Us instead of alternative universe Fallout 2.

[Lich]

I like Depeche Mode but they are THE ****** band.

[wndrbr]

What's rong with it?

visible skillchecks.

They also kinda look like "win buttons" - pick a skillcheck and get rewarded, pick a non-skillcheck and initiate combat.

[rusty_shackleford]

God bless America.

[Segata]

Visible skillchecks bad
Hidden skillchecks good

[rusty_shackleford]

Visible skillchecks bad
Hidden skillchecks good

The only time a game should tell you about a skillcheck is after you've succeeded at it, or the character has knowledge of the situation.

Argument against before:
The only way to know how difficult a skill check is like in the OP is through ESP, which... fine. Except for the part where it deals in raw numbers.
Judging how difficult it is to jump over a gap is expertise: the knowledge of your abilities. Someone who is unathletic would judge their own ability poorly, and probably judge how difficult it is poorly. Again, raw numbers are terrible for this, humans don't use raw numbers when trying to decide if they'll make it over a ravine if they jump across.
Therefore:

• Low athletics: Jump across ravine.
• High athletics, small ravine: Jump across ravine. [You think you'll probably make it across.]
• High athletics, large ravine: Jump across ravine. [You know the gap is too wide and you'll fall.]

You, in this context, is the gestalt. The player and the character need to become one, therefore the game must tell the player anything the character should know while restricting the player from abusing information the character wouldn't be privy to.

Argument against after+failure:
If you fail it either should be obvious and therefore not required, or non-obvious and therefore you shouldn't know.

Devs need to stop giving the player meta-information.

[rusty_shackleford]

Related:
https://gurps.fandom.com/wiki/Common_Sense <-- also has some decent discussion links within on the topic
https://gurps.fandom.com/wiki/Intuition
https://livingmythrpg.wordpress.com/201 ... ation-gap/

The advisory check is asking the GM, (and possibly the other players depending on the dynamics at your table) for a brainstorm. Remember the Player is just some guy, the person they are playing is an expert at something. So, the player says “What are some of the ways I can break into this mansion?”. A roll is made, and based on that roll the GM lays down things that the Player should probably consider. So the GM might say “The front door is probably guarded. There are windows, but since a Mage lives here there’s the possibility of ensorcellment that would alert someone. There is a cellar entrance, but that will mean more distance to cover. Servants come in and out every morning and evening. Finally, you know this person socializes a lot, so there’s a good chance they are throwing a party soon.”

Notice, the GM didn’t give the player straight advice or tell the player what to do, the GM just stated facts that a thief would probably consider (and that the GM has probably already considered) in terms of breaking into a house. The advisory check is not a way to Deus Ex Machina a solution, it is to provide the player with the sort of strategic advice she needs to make good decisions.

This check should also be reflexive. It’s a ‘common sense’ check for domain specific things. The thief says “I try to climb through the window” and the GM knows that’s an immersion breaking and unrealistic choice for this PC. He has the character make a check and says “Okay, but you’re pretty sure those will have alarm spells cast on them” if the roll succeeds.

Of note, the Advisory check to a certain extent is a resolution to the issue of “Challenge” vs “Action” resolution that you read about in RPG theory. It is a mechanism by which a player can anchor a “Challenge” (what they want to accomplish) in a set of “Actions” (things that they can actually do).

The second kind of Player information is about getting specific, or tactical facts, instead of getting strategic information. Here the player says “Is the glass cutter I have likely to cut through this glass?”, or “Are the servants loyal enough that they’ll be resistant to bribes”. Also, “how hard is it likely to be to pick the lock on the cellar”. These are specific questions about the state of the world that the Player Character would likely have access to, but the Player doesn’t. A thief knows the tools of the trade, a wizard knows what sorts of spells are going around, and a fighter understands the effects of terrain and weather on a combat situation.

Players should be encouraged to ask specific meaningful questions about in-game facts that would be relevant. How hard is this check? It depends on how esoteric the question is. A fighter asking “Who’s the best blacksmith in town” should be pretty **** easy, the Mage asking “What library has information of the Elder God Xool” is much more difficult. What social class is this person could be trivial or very hard depending on how much that person is trying to hide their social class.

These are purely meta mechanics that are in actuality anti-metagaming because they help the player understand their own character. The player should always be able to access any information or knowledge that is available to their character in order to form the gestalt.


The picture in the OP is a result of degeneration, ouroboros. Video games are eating their own feces. This is a problem in nearly every entertainment medium now, because kids who grew up on those mediums went on to work in that industry. If you want an example of this in the tabletop world, look at garbage like GNS theory, which is the result of mutual masturbation.

[wndrbr]

More crpgs should gate visible skillchecks behind perks. Like Fallout's "Empathy".

[Segata]

Devs need to stop giving the player meta-information.

But you see, Iron Tower Studios always offers the option to hide the skillchecks in the game settings. Rusty [glow=red]EXPOSED[/glow] as casual and probably picks the easiest difficulty as well. How will he ever recover?

[rusty_shackleford]

But you see, Iron Tower Studios always offers the option to hide the skillchecks in the game settings.

Devs do enjoy having the cheats enabled by default and designing around it while pretending it isn't, makes it less likely people will leave bad reviews.
If it wasn't designed around it, it would have player/character integration like what @wndrbr mentioned.

[WhiteShark]

If you want an example of this in the tabletop world, look at garbage like GNS theory, which is the result of mutual masturbation.

GNS is garbage because only the S corresponds to roleplaying games. G is boardgames and N is playacting.

[KnightoftheWind]

I made a post on the "Total War: Pharoah" forums on Steam with only a title that says: "Egyptians Aren't Black". And it got removed only a few hours later.

[wndrbr]

tbh that pharaoh looks more like a heavily tanned copt than your typical nig. Which is fine by me.

[WhiteShark]

tbh that pharaoh looks more like a heavily tanned copt than your typical nig. Which is fine by me.

He's still rather wide-nosed and big-lipped. I think they tried to create an amalgam in the hopes of pissing off no one and thereby ****** off everyone.

[rusty_shackleford]

The lizardman "quest" in UU is underrated.

Negociate.jpg

[rusty_shackleford]

The concept art for the canceled Ultima Reborn game is ... interesting.

Druidrb.jpg

[Tweed]

The lizardman "quest" in UU is underrated.

Negociate.jpg

Ssssspicey zekk-a-ball.

[rusty_shackleford]

iokfbm99xeq71.jpg

[Segata]

[General Reign]

Sorry I did not realize a woman was narrating until I posted but she seemed to know fighting lingo. *sidesteps*

I like Mortal Kombat. It's the one fighting game series with fun (the fans had some input) lore that I give a **** about. I heard with modern setups you can play with 300 ping and compete so I might buy this.

[rusty_shackleford]

20m2bjv6rm7b1.jpg

[General Reign]

I do not care about your business. I am a poor white trash man trying to survive the dystopia.

[rusty_shackleford]

I do not care about your business. I am a poor white trash man trying to survive the dystopia.

Well, they explicitly recommended piracy over key resellers.

[rusty_shackleford]

new vegas had the most mature, high quality writing in video games

hehehe ghouls go on rocket to moon

[General Reign]

New Vegas just had good C&C compared to ****** Beth RPG's.

[rusty_shackleford]

gamedevs should be whipped for each gigabyte past 30 a game is in size

[KnightoftheWind]

gamedevs should be whipped for each gigabyte past 30 a game is in size

File sizes are absolutely ridiculous these days, and it's only getting worse. Modern Warfare 2019 wasn't just a meme, it's a sign of things to come. Despite advancements in storage sizes and hardware performance, soydevs ensure that software only gets more bloated and unusable.

I had to do a double take when Shadow of War + it's expansions were over 100GB in size. And that isn't even the end of it!.