SHINAN'S PROFILE

I wouldn't mind some White Wolf (preferably Vampire, since I'm most familiar with that. I'm familiar with Masquerade, but honestly, vampires can't change that much can they? And I'd love to try the newer version).

Would this be forum-based? I for one would love to try some playing over Skype some day. Though I'm not really sure there's any interest in that kind of thing.

I don't really like D&D and GURPS feels kinda clunky (Though I've only read 3rd edition). But if it's GURPS it's really all about what setting it'll be (I've got a GURPS Alpha Centauri sourcebook (based on the game) that I'd really love to play some day. Though if I do it'll probably be with some other system)

I'm playing Dwarf Fortress at the moment. I just went online for a bit to look what crops I should grow...

1. Which do you prefer? Do you like to strategize and take your time, or do you like to shoot terrorists in the crotch while things blow up around you? Or do you prefer hybrid systems such as most Final Fantasy games?
I'm a strategy guy. And I like my strategy turn based. But apart from strategy and tactical games... Oh and some puzzlers. I'm much in favour of real-time.
Although I, for one, CAN see an FPS being turn-based. It's an interesting concept. (I'd assume the first step towards it would be Fallout 3's VATS). But turn-based automatically mean a bit more strategy. Of course occasionally the turn-based is completely wasted and doesn't add anything to a previously lackluster system. (RM2k games line up on this side)

Turnbased is great when you have loads of options to consider. And you want that time to consider all these options. If I am to shoot terrorists in the crotch and watch things blow up around me two ways a perfectly acceptable to me. One is taking a turn doing an aimed shot and perhaps let my comrades do some blowing up. Or if I have enough action points left after shooting some terrorist crotch blow up shit myself.
The other is shooting the terrorist in the crotch by aiming my mouse at it after which I change weapons and shoot some rockets into the conveniently placed exploding barrels.


2. Which game has your very favorite implementation of turn-based or action gameplay?
When it comes to turn-based I think the squad based tactical game Silent Storm had most of the things I love about small-scale turn based action. In fact the turn based squad based tactical game is probably one of my favorite genres despite the fact that they just don't show up a whole lot.

For action gameplay I don't really know. I'm a fan of slower action that doesn't have me being overly frantic but still keeping a pace up. On the whole I think that few things can beat a perfectly balanced FPS in terms of action. (Half-Life 2 comes to mind as one of those perfected FPSes that has everything just right. It's insane really.)

But you know. I'm listening to some music here and to be honest. The Guitar Hero gameplay is pretty genious too. Music games overall are pretty genious as long as they pump up the difficulty in small easy steps. In games like Guitar Hero and Elite Beat Agents I've actually felt myself getting better at them... But they're also sort of fun I suppose.

3. Is there a style you hate? Some people get anxious and bored in turn-based games. On the flip side, some people get bored if they don't have time to make strategies.
RTS. I don't like RTS. I played some backinthedays. And the most recent I've played has been Dawn of War/Company of Heroes (same engine so I lump them together). They seem to suffer from... just too much going on. I can't possibly keep up in RTSes. There's no way for me to strategize properly. I send in a unit and have another ready to flank. But the battle is over before I even have time to select the second unit.

I'm not a quick guy. I recently (re)played some Age of Empires (the old ones) and I really love the building aspects of it, just peacefully building it all up. But the second war starts it becomes a dreadfully boring slugfest. It's just sending meat to the grinder. The worst thing is that oftentimes the tutorial or something shows options that would be cool to use, like coversystems and formations and supporting troopers but in the games themselves it just doesn't work. You just use your special power every now and then and run back and forth with your battlelines until you exhaust your enemy.

With all that said. I love Total War. It's because of a couple of things. First: It's slow enough for me. Marching troops around takes a while and you can position your soldiers in the formations you like. The fights too don't end immediately and two units can battle it out for a while while you run your cavalry around the units to take them in the rear. Stuff like that I just love to do. Second: You can pause it. And the game supports it well (There's a hidden pause key in DoW and CoH, but the game doesn't really want to tell you it exists).

So if an RTS is slower I might like it (I also liked Hearts of Iron). If it doesn't have actual battling I won't mind either (Sim City/Sim Anything or Theme Anything or Tycoon Antyhing... Though occasionally if there's AI opponents they are JUST TOO GODDAMN FAST and I suffer the same thing as before.)

4. Which game's implementation of turn-based or action gameplay do you hate?
I don't know. Some RPGs mess it up. It seems they just aren't very good at the stuff. Arcanum had a subpar system when it tried to mix real time and turn based which ended up with both sucking. You could say the same thing about games like Baldur's Gate which had Real Time With Pause that didn't work optimally. RM2k-like systems I don't tend to like much either (Or should I call it Dragon Quest-like. I don't think I've ever played a Dragon Quest but aren't they similar?). Taking turns to do something that is repetitive and samey without much options isn't generally a good idea. The later (Later meaning those I've played. SNES and PS1-era) Final Fantasies did a good job in having a semi-real time system where you did the same thing over and over but had to try to be fairly quick about it. Which took away the boredom a bit by keeping you on your toes.

Action-systems are also usually bad for party-based games. If you are controlling more than one character at once it's a good idea to at least think about turnbasing it. Or make sure you only use one character at a time (see the Final Fantasy example above). It's sort of the same issue I have with RTS. If I'm controlling loads of characters I want to be able to coordinate efforts properly. Occasionally it works with enough presents (Commandos 2 would be my example, but it isn't perfect. Usually I ended up only using one character for everything in the end) like auto-do something (usually killing someone if they get too close)


5. Even in styles you prefer, do you have boundaries? Many people like turn-based games, but don't have the patience for two-hour-long turns in the late stages of Civilization 4. Or, some people like action games but can't keep up with the frantic pace of Wipeout.
Oh yeah. Like I've said. Too frantic just isn't for me. Most of the space shoot 'em up thingies with insane difficulty. I can't do that. I just can't. I know the game expects me to do it over and over with trial and error learning everything by heart to be able to make it. But I don't want to play a game where, if I pressed the wrong button at ONE place I'm forced to redo the whole thing)
My turn-based boundary is... uh... Well it's definitely not long turns. Sometimes long enemy turns can be annoying but it's always because they're doing a lot and I need to be alert... I guess my boundary comes if there's too much micromanagements and not enough turn time. If the turns are timed or similar. You could say the other way around too: If there's not enough options and too much turn time. Then perhaps that sucks.

But my tolerance is high. I play sports management games.

I'm a huge racist. I'm suspicious of any "outsiders". My prejudices helps me through life. I may not always show things like it, but in the back of my head I'm thinking "these gypsies are going to steal something I know it".

I don't really have any of the pure negro fear, other than the slight wonderment of seeing one. ("Is that a real negro?") Being in a country that only recently has been exposed to multiculturalism. (I don't remember any "non-locals" in my first six years of school. Except of course for a couple of guys from out-of-town, who obviously got a bit of shit. Being from out-of-town and all strange and things)

Of course that's all changed recently with all the refugees and whatnot. And the early suspicion and (since it is a small town) the dividing between those "who are nice people" and those "who try to haggle". You can't trust hagglers, they just pollute the culture.

So if I didn't see any of those tensions in the first ten years of my life there was quite a bit of it in the following ten years and now everyone just seem to be getting along.


All of this said. Even more than I'm racist I'm anti-anti-racist. Man I hate those anti-racists. "You can't say anything to anyone". Well fuck that if I want to tell someone's an asshole (because he clearly is) then I should obviously be allowed to do so. Schoolyard bullying is for everyone everywhere, you shouldn't get more punishmen for bullying a kurd than one of those fifteen-generation pure-bred Finland-Swedes. (no Russian nor Finnish heritage, pure Finland-Swede. I wonder how one of those would look. And if there's anyone he/she wouldn't be related to...)


So yeah I'm a racist. And very prejudiced. We all know that *insert neighbouring town here* are a bunch of wacks. But when it comes to *insert neighbouring country here* our neighbour town are our allies. And when it comes to *insert separate country far away, possibly coalition of countries or superpower*, the neighbours stand together. And then when it comes to *different continent* that obviously suck balls all the previous country stand together and point and laugh and so on. And so on.

And then there's anime geeks. The only thing lower I guess is furries who write anime fan fiction. I mean honestly.

author=Feldschlacht IV link=topic=2605.msg48283#msg48283 date=1228162810
Hahaha, slightly off topic (or maybe not), but why is that, Shinan?

I'm one of those old Fallout fanatics that are all over the internet complaining about the buttraping Bethesda has done to Fallout. I was following the development and one after the other every "worst fear" was confirmed, each one more stupid than the next.

So yeah. I'm one of "those".