The mother of all gaming blisses

[Deeth Irteen]

I figured I'd start a topic about things we like about video games to supplement the "gaming sins" thread. For me, the best part of video games is when I discovered I didn't need ammo to shoot guns in the Devil May Cry series. this gave me hours on entertainment.

[Stormy]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

- Saving without save points. Awesome.
- Continual updates by the developer. Companies like Blizzard and Stardock are great for this. Blizzard is still updating WarCraft III (no cd patch a few months ago). Stardock is still updating the base GalCiv2, even after putting out 2 expansions.

[Kire]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

Awesome things that happen during gameplay, making you feel like you're part of the game rather then cutting to a cutscene. Thank you Half Life 2.

[Tintenfisch]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

Saving all the mudokens.

[Perversion]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

- Saving without save points. Awesome.

Not awesome. If you mean save anywhere, then yeah. If you mean autosaving, then no. It might autosave something you don't have a backup save for, and you might find out soon after that you got screwed by an autosave.

- Continual updates by the developer.

Again, not awesome. If by updates you mean free DLC or reasonably-priced DLC, then yeah. If you mean bug fixes/balancing issues/etc, maybe not so much. Game Informer just had an editor's column in the current issue about how software updates are almost commonplace now with high speed internet readily available, it MIGHT allow developers to ship half-finished games if they're in a deadline crunch, and worry about bug fixes and balancing issues later. In this reality, the gamer who paid full price for a title is basically a beta/alpha tester, but instead of being a "I got to play it early" reward, it's a "I paid full price to help the devs fix the game" scenario. Meh.



As for the question at hand, level 6 of flower. :3

[Denmo]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

- Finding a group of players in FFXI who know what they're doing, are enjoyable to be with, and generally get the job done. I will remember those parties forever. And they usually lead to...

- ...Gaining 3-4 levels in FFXI in under one hour post level 20. It happens, and it got me pumped fo sho.

- Defeating the secret ultra-hard boss in an RPG.

- Armored Core, doing arena fights with headphones on, playing hardcore techno/rush music.

- Rock Band, when you and your 3 friends are actually playing well on a song you like and you really feel like a cohesive unit.

- Katamari Damacy ... ... ... All of it. Most especially obtaining the Cowbear.

[salamander]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

Gaming bliss occurs for me when my gaming life and normal life become intertwined. I'll explain:

-When playing FF12, I always keep the camera at about six feet above the ground, and I do this in conjuction with wearing surround sound-type headphones, so it feels like I'm right there, running alongside Fran and Ashe.

-When playing Oblivion, I go for super realism because three times an oblivion day, I go to pubs or inns and set some food down on the table, sit down, and eat it. When going to a bed in an inn, i take off my armor and clothes and set them in the dresser. I always carry some furry clothes in my inventory, in case cold or rainy weather comes along, and I never fast travel anywhere.

-When playing the blitzball matches in FF10, I'll regularly get an urge to go outside and hose myself down, or take a shower with clothes on...I've even been known to bring a soccer ball into a friend's chlorine pool a few times

-When any game has some kind of food in it, I'll find examples of it in real life and eat it while playing. I did this with Odin Sphere, and the recipes you got. I ate pizza when playing Devil May Cry, ect. Not just games, but movies too. I made a rootbeer float and pretended it was butterbeer (i think that's the name) when watching Harry Potter.

-When driving in my car, I'll roll down the window all the way and pretend I'm on Epona or Agro, or some other fantastic game horse.

-A few of my favorite books in Morrowind, I actually either found online and printed out, or typed up myself and printed out, along with a custom cardboard cover and, voila, I could read some morrowind literature at my bedside if I so wished.

These are just a few examples of my insanity; I'm sure there's much more that I can't recall atm. Feel free to replicate any of them.

[Denmo]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

I wouldn't say that's bliss as much as I'd call it OCD. But to each his own.

[John Mora]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

Gaming bliss occurs for me when my gaming life and normal life become intertwined. I'll explain:

-When playing FF12, I always keep the camera at about six feet above the ground, and I do this in conjuction with wearing surround sound-type headphones, so it feels like I'm right there, running alongside Fran and Ashe.

-When playing Oblivion, I go for super realism because three times an oblivion day, I go to pubs or inns and set some food down on the table, sit down, and eat it. When going to a bed in an inn, i take off my armor and clothes and set them in the dresser. I always carry some furry clothes in my inventory, in case cold or rainy weather comes along, and I never fast travel anywhere.

-When playing the blitzball matches in FF10, I'll regularly get an urge to go outside and hose myself down, or take a shower with clothes on...I've even been known to bring a soccer ball into a friend's chlorine pool a few times

-When any game has some kind of food in it, I'll find examples of it in real life and eat it while playing. I did this with Odin Sphere, and the recipes you got. I ate pizza when playing Devil May Cry, ect. Not just games, but movies too. I made a rootbeer float and pretended it was butterbeer (i think that's the name) when watching Harry Potter.

-When driving in my car, I'll roll down the window all the way and pretend I'm on Epona or Agro, or some other fantastic game horse.

-A few of my favorite books in Morrowind, I actually either found online and printed out, or typed up myself and printed out, along with a custom cardboard cover and, voila, I could read some morrowind literature at my bedside if I so wished.

These are just a few examples of my insanity; I'm sure there's much more that I can't recall atm. Feel free to replicate any of them.

[salamander]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

As people of this board would say, that would be an appropriate response.

[IRC]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

The mother of all gaming blisses is the double jump. Game over, lock topic, end of discussion.

[Stormy]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

Not awesome. If you mean save anywhere, then yeah. If you mean autosaving, then no. It might autosave something you don't have a backup save for, and you might find out soon after that you got screwed by an autosave.

Save anywhere. Auto-save is crazy annoying, except in conjunction with save anywhere. Then it rules. 'Cause it means you can go back to a save before you made a critical mistake even if you forgot to manually save.

Again, not awesome. If by updates you mean free DLC or reasonably-priced DLC, then yeah. If you mean bug fixes/balancing issues/etc, maybe not so much. Game Informer just had an editor's column in the current issue about how software updates are almost commonplace now with high speed internet readily available, it MIGHT allow developers to ship half-finished games if they're in a deadline crunch, and worry about bug fixes and balancing issues later. In this reality, the gamer who paid full price for a title is basically a beta/alpha tester, but instead of being a "I got to play it early" reward, it's a "I paid full price to help the devs fix the game" scenario. Meh.

I disagree. Obviously the release of an unfinished product is bad, but the two concepts don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. You can find one without the other. WarCraft III updates often come with new maps, and in the case of Frozen Throne portions of a bonus campaign as well.

With GalCiv2 updates included more efficient code and new methods of storing/applying textures that reduced the memory requirements.

Anything that can be seen as a bliss can be turned into a sin if not done correctly or abused.

[Perversion]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

The mother of all gaming blisses is the double jump. Game over, lock topic, end of discussion.

Geez...not THIS topic again.

[John Mora]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

No, IRC's right.

[Toaster]

Re: The mother of all gaming blisses

No, IRC is wrong. Sometimes the double jump can do more harm than it's good intentions would otherwise indicate. See: Castlevania. It tends to make platforming, and combat a lot looser than it ought to be. It also makes it so you can jump over your enemies and avoid combat altogether in some instances.

It all depends on the developer, really, I just wanted to point out that the double jump sometimes doesn't need to be there.