RF Generation Collectorcast Episode 21

[Duke.Togo]

2. The Stanley Parable - This game subverts many video game aesthetics and formulas. Player agency is totally mocked and the illusion of choice fuels the game. Imagine Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy style humour in a video game context.

Excellent list there, but I have only played BioShock. As for the above, I am really surprised that Bil hasn't mentioned this game before. I would guess this would be his jam.

Great episode btw.  You guys talked me into getting Far Cry.

You're welcome.

Duke always pumps me up too

[img width=466 height=353]http://www.coachkeats.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/HansFranz.jpg[/img]

Hey Duke I figured you'd get a kick out of this.

Smooth McGroove is awesome. He only became awesomerest with this song.

[Zagnorch]

What rumor? Its no secret that Duke and I have a special relationship.

Special as in... the crash-helmet-wearing, short-bus-riding kind?

[img width=110 height=96]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/StuBill_zpse1d5b745.jpg[/img]

Didn't we just agree that puns are lame?

I couldn't help it. Puns to me are like cheese to mice. But I digress, let's keep things brief.

OK, back to the topic at hand.

Hey, if it weren't for bad puns, my post count would be only half of what it is now. Whether that's a bad thing or not is something I'll let others debate.

Anyhoo, still listening to the latest 'Cast bit by bit. Hope to post a full response to it one of these days.


Nighters.

[NES_Rules]

I really enjoyed the Top 5, the Not-Top 5 and the Disappointing 5. Its refreshing to hear about the best games people are playing in a year instead of the games that came out in the year. Since most of these games are bit older, they're much more affordable now and I'm more likely to actually look into getting them.

And Bil, I have Super Hexagon (gotta love the Humble Bundle) and your challenge got me to give the game another chance. As you said, I died pretty much instantly at first so I just gave up on it, but since you put up a challenge,
[img width=280 height=200]http://25.media.tumblr.com/6528b61f8932a13a9dab81358e4b6fdc/tumblr_mhy99gFYve1rg8ypco1_400.gif[/img]

After a few tries, I doubled my old high score, so now I'm at a cool 8.27 seconds on Hard. A few more weeks and I'll be gunning for your score.

[nupoile]

I have to respond to the Civ V talk as Bil has seen "me" playing that. It's actually my wife. I was lucky enough to get married to a gamer. Neither of us have ever been super gamers, but we've put our time in. My wife played games plenty as a kid on her C64 and later on her PC's. She has spent a bit of time with the silver ball too, we make a point of eating out at places that have pinball, for her. Morrowind and Oblivion have gotten lots of playtime at this house, mostly because of the wife. When I recently picked up Civ V in a Humble Bundle (along with complete collections of Civ III and IV) I found out the wife hadn't ever played a Civ game. How this is even possible from someone who played games on computers from the 80's on up putting in time on the Simcity series, the C&C/Red Alert, various Tycoon games, Farmville and every other remotely similar PC game, I don't know.

Not to worry though! We have fixed that problem! I pointed out that she would like the Civ games and she's been hooked ever since. Really, she was playing it when I came home from work today. She plays it while working. She works from home and her job is, also turn based, I guess. I had told her that people would leave the older Civ games always running in a window on their computers and just take a few turns whenever. The funny thing is, we have two monitors but one is much bigger and nicer than the other, she plays Civ V on the main monitor and work gets shoved off onto the lesser one. Xbox games with gold recently let us download a console version of Civilization, I've read it's a re-skinning of the first Civ game, she now plays that when I'm playing Skyrim.....

Speaking of Skyrim, I'm still playing it like crazy Bil. I'll get to Civ V, I put in more than a few hours into Civ II back in the day, but it has to wait for Skyrim. Can Skyrim take up my 5 places on my list of games from last year? and this year too? Skyrim, Skyrim, Skyrim. Yea! Skyrim!

Bil talked about The Elder Scrolls Online Beta. I caught the last two weekends because of a friend invite, honestly I was wanting to get back to Skyrim the whole time    We had a pretty good time, I have quite a few thoughts on it but will try and hold off. My friend and I are going to try and put together a audio/video-of-screenshots video of our experience. The second weekend was way better than the first, we made a point of leveling up enough to get into Cyrodiil where the pvp was taking place. That changed things a lot for us. Castle sieging is awesome. Don't be too hard on the game, there is plenty of fun to be had. I think the hang up in the first few hours is warranted, especially from a Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim player. The game is kinda "fetch-questy" at the beginning. And there is a big shift going from a series in which you were The hero to ESO where you are a hero. Everyone is a hero, you're not even the best hero. That is kinda weird, I want to be The Hero of my games. I'm starting to ramble here, hopfully we'll get that video up soon, I've had a stuffy nose this week and my voice has been funny, thats why its not done yet. If my voice is going to be funny I want it to be my regular funny voice, not a stuffy head, scratchy throat funny voice.

Back to the wife playing Civ V - Bil was saying how the game is very mouse based, when she's not working she'll actually move the keyboard away and just use the mouse. I came home from work today, wife was playing remember, so I put on the bit of the podcast where you guys were talking about Civ V, wife was pretty interested in what you had to say, I could hear her over there commenting to herself about points you brought up.

I think I have more to say, but I also think I am rambling, probably the stuffy head.

















Skyrim!

[Zagnorch]

You lost me at FarmVille. [img width=90 height=110]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y409/Zagnorch/NupeHappy_zps61e11f80.jpg[/img]

Speaking of Civ Vee: I recall Bil stating that if you don't find such games interesting, you're not gonna like it... or something to that effect.

While it might not have seemed interesting to me at the outset, his description has me curious. My best bud likes to play the Civilization games and similar series-- not to mention *SHUDDER* FarmVille-- so maybe he can hook me up so I can see if that's my kinda jam...

[Duke.Togo]

It seems like Bil struck a nerve with his picks. Lots of good feedback, but I would like to here more of your best/worst of 2013 games you played.

Oh, and I agree that Skyrim is awesome. Unfortunately, that would have had to make my 2012 list.

[bombatomba]

I love that you guys covered games you played during 2013, as opposed to games that were released in 2013.  Makes it more relevant to me (and to most people on this website, I imagine).


(UPDATE: Had to change one. Can't believe that I forgot it. Sorry Just Cause 2!):

(In no particular order)
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery - Music, story, and gameplay puzzles. Great game.
Far Cry 2 - for being the Morrowind of the Far Cry series.
Boku No Natsuyasumi 4 (PSP) - Vacationing on a southern Japanese island set in the mid-80's. And no, I can't explain why I like this so much.
Hotline Miami - A puzzle game hidden within a massive amount of violence.
Avernum: Escape From the Pit - Low-fi CRPG goodness done with a modern sensibility

Biggest surprise - Indie games as a whole.  I'd been sampling indie made games for years (thanks to Spiderweb Software and their amazing low-fi CRPG games), but in 2013 I really dove into indie created games.  For the most part I found the creativity and variation both refreshing and exhilarating.

Biggest disappointment - Elder Scrolls IV.  I don't know why, but I was bored pretty much the entire way through this game.  So much that I avoided pretty much every side quest in the game.  Maybe I expected too much.  Had to be bad timing on my part, so I'll have to revisit this again at some point and see if I like it more.

[GrayGhost81]

Had to go look at the beaten in 2013 thread to remember what I played! Here are my favs:

5. Gravity Rush (Vita)
4. Fragile Dreams (Wii)
3. Tomb Raider (360)
2. Tales of Vesperia (360)
1. Persona 3 (PS2)

Biggest surprise - Halo 4 (360), my favorite Halo since Reach.

Biggest disappointment - This isn't a disappointment with the game itself, but I'm hugely disappointed in myself for getting the bad ending in Atelier Totori after playing the game for more than twenty hours. I've tried to replay it and just wasn't into it, which is a cryin' shame because it is a wonderful game.

Great show guys. I really liked the discussions on every game and the difference of opinion regarding Deus Ex was intriguing. Got that game off PS+ a while back and now I'm really curious to try it out.

[Tynstar]

No small scores

I was about to say all your games to play list was voided by saying Kinect Party, but then you said for kids. So that is ok.

Borderlands 2 was pure shit so are the DLC's. Borderlands 1 was fantastic 2 DLC's are ehh, 1 almost ruined the whole game and 1 DLC was fantastic!

[Izret101]

Kinect Party was a great game. I had a ton of fun playing that with Rowan.

I still need to give it a listen. I'll flap back thru the games i played last year and see if i can pull together a top 5.

[Duke.Togo]

Bomba: I've not played any of the games on your top list, and haven't heard of many. Curious to know which platforms they are for/that you played them on.

GrayGhost: Very interesting list there. I will be playing Tomb Raider on Xbox One soon, and I hear good things. Also, I can understand about the disappointment. I just found the "bad" ending of Bravely Default, but thankfully once you go through it there is an option to pick right back up at the point you make the choice. Square has made Bravely Default the best creation for handling JRPG frustrations ever.

Tynstar: Sorry to disappoint, but if we didn't get this out there it probably would have been another month. Also, so glad to hear I am not alone on Borderlands 2.

Izret: Kinect + young kids = magic. I wish more people would give this one a chance. Microsoft is nuts for not doing Kinect Party 2 for Xbox One yet.

[Izret101]

We should tell Double Fine to get on it Some of the freebie kinect things were pretty good too. I am Super and Mutation Station were two other ones i remember Rowan enjoying but they had much less content.

Kinect Party was the sequel to Double Fine Happy Action Theater.
I believe it was delisted shortly after KP came out and people who owned the original got a free pass for the new one.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Bomba: I've not played any of the games on your top list, and haven't heard of many. Curious to know which platforms they are for/that you played them on.

Steam.

[bombatomba]

Bomba: I've not played any of the games on your top list, and haven't heard of many. Curious to know which platforms they are for/that you played them on.

Steam.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery - Steam, Android, i-devices (I played on Steam)
Far Cry 2 - Steam, Xbox360, PS3, GoG (DRM Free downloads) (I played on Steam)
Boku No Natsuyasumi 4 - PSP and PS3 (I played on PSP)
Hotline Miami - Steam, GoG (DRM Free), Xbox360, PS3, PS4 (soon?), Vita (I played GoG and Steam)
Avernum: Escape From the Pit - Steam, GoG (DRM free), Android, and i-devices (I played GoG)

[Duke.Togo]

I am starting to feel like the old man in town since I don't do Steam. Maybe some day they'll have an affordable console.