On Computer Games Monthly is back w/ the 2nd issue of the #fediverse’s only free unofficial gaming-slash-creative-writing magazine.

Inside you will find articles written by some of Mastodon's wackiest residents; nostalgic ramblings, societal critiques, personal stories, and fictional tales using #videogames as the delivery mechanism.

Issue #2 covers games released in and around December 2000 and features the following titles:

Dark Cloud

Pokemon Crystal

The Bouncer

Rollercoaster Tycoon

Guilty Gear X

Phantasy Star Online

Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo

----BONUS CHAO MINIGAME---- There is a small minigame in this issue; 16 bonus chao (yes, chao from the Sonic series) have been placed throughout the magazine. If you find them all: send me an email/message and I'll place you on the illustrious BONUS CHAO CHAMPION list on the archive!

https://archive.org/details/on-computer-games-monthly-december-2000-magazine

hot off the on computer games presses: a four chapter rant about capitalism with some personal stories mixed in

TLDR: which games do WEAPON BREAKING without making you want to tear your hair out?

i'm playing through Dark Cloud and had forgotten how tedious the weapon system is. weapons function as "leveling up" instead of using a traditional experience-based system. weapons need to be upgraded, fused, and repaired throughout the game. and a durability system dictates that once your weapon hits 0 durability, it breaks. broken weapons can cost you hours of gameplay if you're not careful. there's even the possibility of breaking all your weapons and starting from square one near the end of the game if you're not vigilant with repairs.

for Dark Cloud, this weapon system is a unique leveling system that differentiates itself from its action-rpg peers. it introduces a level of risk that keeps you alert while making weapons you've upgraded-and-maintained feel like valuable treasure. however, this system is also tedious to keep up with as weapon durability decreases quickly and repairs are time consuming.

after hours of playtime, i think i've isolated the reason why the weapon system is so annoying: menus. the entire system is menu-based. i often find myself pulling up the menu mid-battle to repair my weapon. there are automated repairs, but these require some setup. if Dark Cloud somehow incorporated more interactive ways (outside of a pause menu) to repair weapons or made weapon durability decrease at half the rate or made a broken weapon repairable (instead of gone for good), this would have gone a long way to reduce tedium.

games like Breath of the Wild are often criticised for similar weapon-breaking systems, and it got me thinking about the fact that i have NEVER seen a weapon-breaking system praised or even vaguely complimented.

are there any games that do weapon breaking especially well, and why?

a short story / black comedy about gaming addiction and the value of digital treasures

I saw a video essay where the author argued that games have a unique way of making the player feel the same way as the character they're controlling. Here's a link https://youtu.be/mf9XVWt1D4Y?si=YFp-xpMpTIfjQpyN but I'll try to summarize it. Basically, there is empathy, where you feel "with" a character as you see what they experience. Then there's sympathy where you feel "for" a character (as in the character feels distress and you feel pity). But the video argues that in games, you can feel "as" the player character, too, and illustrates this with the final moments of Super Metroid, which I won't go into detail here but it's more or less about being confused and scared at the same time that Samus would be confused and scared. (It's explained a lot better in the video lol)

I find this an interesting idea, and I always like story telling concepts that are unique to computer games, to set them apart from other media. I'm also having trouble coming up with other examples of the player feeling "as" their character, so I thought I'd make a thread about it.

I guess whenever the player feels any sort of emotion and the character is a mute stand-in for the player, you could theoretically attribute the same emotion to the character, right? But then you might as well say "you feel the same triumph as Mario, as he defeats Bowser", or the tension of the spaceship pilot in Asteroids, when you narrowly fly between two boulders. After all, Super Mario kind of tells a story, and Asteroids...? Hmm. At least with games, there's always the chance of an emergent story, something that the player makes up in their head, independent of whatever narrative the game might have. I feel like the point of the video is to say that video games can make the player feel as their character, even when there's some more narrative going on. So yes, does anything in particular come to your mind here?

This is mainly about sword & sorcery type of fantasy games. By generic setting, I mean anything that copies D&D Forgotten Realms 1:1. You know, elves are nimble, long lived and good with bows, wizards have long white beards, orcs are evil or at the very least aggressive and violent.

Original settings are more like a Brandon Sanderson novel, where there might be magic but maybe not, we don't know how it works, or what the society is like. It could be fun to read about in a book, but it requires too much explanation (or exploration) in a computer game.

In games especially, it's useful to have stereotypes to fall back on. That way the game doesn't need to spend so much time explaining things, and can go to the more interesting things straight away: Tactical combat (gameplay) or character interaction (story). When you see an orc, or elf, you know what to expect, they're like shorthand. After all, most of the time in games, a fantasy setting is only an excuse as to why people fight in melee, why there's mana and spells, in short why there are game mechanics. So there's really no point in trying to "be creative" by changing up established tropes. (If you want to make an allegory about society, use a sci-fi setting!!)

(feel free to disagree and discuss)

ANYONE PLAY ON THIS SERVER? i started a character a few weeks ago, named "Buru." i typically play on the Fodra Ship1 from 9pm - 1am et. i am in the midst of several projects and my attention span is less-than-stellar, but if you see me on, say: "HELLO IT IS [BLANK] FROM LEMMY - WOULD YOU CARE TO EXPLORE RAGOL WITH ME?"

WHAT IS EPHINEA?

From the about page: "Ephinea is a PSOBB server that aims to replicate the official SEGA experience, while also adding quality of life changes alongside extra features to spice up PSO and give it more of a modern feel. This means:

• Experience rates are default.
• Drop rates are default.
• Rare enemy rates are default.
• Class parameters are default.
• Item parameters are default, with some minor exceptions.
• There is no custom equipment.

The drop tables are changed from the original SEGA drop tables, mainly in Ultimate with some minor changes in other difficulties, due to balance concerns. “Iconic” drops, such as Sealed J-Sword and Handgun: Guld are still where you’d expect them, however. There are no plans to change the fundamentals of the game, as we wish to offer a server that players can always come back to and experience PSO as they remember it."

RESOURCES!

• Play on Linux through LUTRIS!
• Create an account
• Drop Charts
• Forum
• FAQ
• Wiki

min-maxing in online games promotes an environment of elitism that forces anyone who plays with the min-maxer to conform to a very narrow play-style; this by-default limits gameplay options for other players, and often leads to ridicule and negative experiences when the non-min-maxer does not have the "perfect build for tanking Odin" or whatever.

min-maxers are boa constrictors wrapped around innocent little field mice. the mice just want some cheese but the snakes are eating them alive and i am the mongoose

stop min-maxing. start max-mining.

discuss.

what do you drink while playing games?

personally, i drink water but i am concerned about microbes having sex in said water. i also drink coffee and, twilight: wine.

On Computer Games Monthly #1

https://archive.org/details/OCGM-1-Nov-2000

I have been working on a passion project for the last two months; a retro games magazine, and it's finally completed! This #zine is a digital celebration of nostalgia; a collective of writers from the federated internet that strives to capture the subjective quality of gaming with stories about life-and-stuff told through the lens of video games. Issue#1 covers November2000 and features: Breath of Fire IV, Counter Strike, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, love letters to the Dreamcast and PlayStation consoles, and much more.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11845835

i run a gaming blog that is more like a creative writing blog. i just published this essay. the essay's main theme is nostalgia and living-in-the-past told personal stories.

if you read it, let me know what you think. thanks.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11296473

6784-word essay inspired by Morrowind. First chapter reviews the game; the rest uses the Tribunal, Dagoth Ur, and Soul Sickness to analyze social media's impact on society by using personal stories and some fiction to drive the points.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9692286

created this video essay thing based on an essay i wrote for my website.

https://youtu.be/OBFZtIQYiiI?si=LDxjp-lfoh5cJ47s

if you happen to watch, let me know what you think

could post this in the SaGa forum as well but figured this would be a better spot.

covers some of the following:

0:00 (Introduction & Justification)

2:26 (CHAPTER I: History of Final Fantasy Legend II or: Richard Dean Anderson's Haircut in Season 6 of MacGyver)

5:11 (CHAPTER II: Presentation, Setting & Plot or: Smoke Dope, Go Bananas)

7:57 (CHAPTER III: Music or: Is this Emerson, Lake & Palmer?)

11:34 (INTERLUDE or: Artistic Gentrification)

13:15 (CHAPTER IV: Gameplay or: Nintendo Power Nominee for Hardest Game Boy Game of 1990)

20:58 (CONCLUSION or: SAVE THE WORLD or: If Richard Dean Anderson is the Peak 90s Action Celebrity ...)

a 'video essay' on Phantasy Star 1, a brief history of JRPGs, and the perils of BEING COOL

what's he doin' with his hands?

copied from Mastodon:

#essay inspired by #LegendOfTheRiverKing; its thesis: "God probably doesn't exist but if He does: He's Pure Evil"

the first chapter is a #CreativeWriting #ShortStory that (i swear) is actually relevant to the rest of the essay this time. subsequent chapters tackle 'the problem of evil' and various arguments for the existence of #God(s) from #IntelligentDesign to 'arguments from morality/personal experience/causality/etc'

i like Stardew Valley but get bored after 5 hours or so because TOO BORING and NOT ENOUGH VIOLENCE. i am looking for mods that make the game more like Rune Factory (or something); see mod requirements below, are there any mods that fulfil even some of these?

MOD REQUIREMENTS

• RPG ELEMENTS (levels, stats, skills)
• ARMOR and WEAPON expansion (more, varied types, etc)
• More and varied MONSTERS
• Expanded EXPLORATION (more maps with monsters, etc.)
• Expanded CAVES and DUNGEONS

which games have the best fishing mini-games, etc? the game CANNOT solely be about fishing.

~by "best," i mean "fishing mechanics enjoyed subjectively"~

MY LIST:

• Final Fantasy XI (both pre and post fishing mechanics changes)
• Breath of Fire VI
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

DAGGERFALL

or: how do i get good and STOP DYING? or: questions, screenshots, general help, etc. etc. etc.

HOW TO PLAY? (UNITY PORT)

WIKI (UESP)

NEW PLAYER FAQ

UNITY MODS

~BURU RECOMMENDED VANILLA ESSENCE MODS~

• Roleplay/Realism (adds a bunch of little realism elements)
• Roleplay/Realism Items (adds new weapons and armor)
• Quest Pack (adds new random quests)
• Distant Terrain (to see a little further)
• Enhanced Sky (purty skies)

~UNTIY PRO TIPS~

• do not play with controller (well, you can, but there are a large amount of drawbacks such as: sticks for the cursor, can't type, can't bring up the esc. menu, etc.)
• check "small dungeons" before starting a new game
• use classic attack style, otherwise: good luck attacking in the direction you want

post only the scariest screenshots from only the scariest Halloween essence computer games first up: HERETIC, Raven Software, 1994

any games you can't play around your loved ones? i've got one, it's pictured. i've been playing this as a "project" (lol) and the dissonance of "is someone going to walk in on me while something NOT-GOOD is on the screen?" is it's own game unto itself; like, "the wife is busy making dinner, i know she won't walk in for the next hour or so" and then there's the risk-taking of "yeah they could walk in at any minute"; this game defaults to windowed mode with a VERY OBVIOUS minimize button for a reason.

experimental absurdist essay inspired by Armored Core VI containing 4 sub essays on:

1. Gunpla/Giant robots
2. drugs, alcohol, addiction
3. political systems; anarcho-capitalism (a critique on libertarianism)
4. succumbing to dark thoughts & the Berserk manga/anime

a major goal of this essay was to be FUN to read; jumping from topic to topic in a very hyperactive manner while exploring some heavy existential themes; i don't expect anyone to read this but if you do, please let me know what you think.

needless to say but this contains spoilers for every aspect of Armored Core VI

https://youtu.be/TWrXwO_gq1c?si=aVED6aD3Yki6IT5V

In this video, Louis Theroux goes to South Africa to film a documentary bordering on exploitation of the poor and suffering; what do the BBC and Louis Theroux gain from this other than wealth, fame, and Nielsen Ratings -- or whatever the equivalent is in the UK? During this exploit, Louis Theroux comes across a violent criminal named Maleven just recently released from prison for "TWO GUYS DEAD"; Maleven says he "LIKES CRIME" and will "SHOW YOU WITH YOUR FIRST BORN, I PUT HIM IN THE OVEN" with the hand motions and all. Maleven does this "FOR MONEY."

Louis Theroux is clearly disturbed by this; he is, at first, unable to believe it, stating "I can't tell when that guy is joking," only to be reminded by his wise-to-the-ways-of-South-Africa guide that "these are CRUEL people" and, most importantly, they are REAL people. Theroux is so unable to process the insanity that he thinks: "IT MUST BE A JOKE," anything else would suck the light from his eyes.

Anyway, which COMPUTER GAME character is most like MALEVEN?

As a child, I loved my Nintendo DS. I was a child of a single mom and she had to take me with her on all her errands. All those activities--applying for Food Stamps, going grocery shopping, waiting at the doctors--seemed to drag on for multiple infinities. It felt like loitering.

So, thank God and Jesus that I had my Nintendo DS to entertain me during those trying times. MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE LOITER JOINT THO:

Church. Granny took me to church every Sunday. I was a smarter-than-average-try-hard so the preacher let me sit in the back and work the AV equipment. This was especially awesome because I didn't have to sit with my grandmother and sing (although I loved her with all my heart, RIP granny)--I could play Super Mario 64 DS in between queues of "How Great Thou Art" and "Our God Is An Awesome God").

So, lemmy, what are YOUR favorite Loiter Joints TM?