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[personal profile] egypturnash
As a side note, since some people seem to want to convince me that Bioshock is actually a really good game - an opinion you're welcome to have; it's clearly a finely-crafted instance of an experience I simply don't care to have - I would like to note that so far, the only FPS I've actually enjoyed as a game is Thief, which I've been playing on and off the past week via Rik's machine. I had fun with System Shock 2 a couple years back but by the end, I was sick and tired of the basic game mechanics and just wanted to find out what happened to SHODAN. I really don't like FPSs.

As I've gotten older, I've slowly learnt how to see people as, well, people. I'm not very good at it; I never was. As video-game technology marches on, the creatures the games pit you against have gotten more like people. When I play some games made in the last decade or so, I can feel them training me to see people as just things. I'm still working out what factors make this happen; it's only a handful of games that do this so far.

I really think that the increasing drive for 'realism' in video games means that the game industry has a big moral quandry coming up. The forty-year-long focus on the hurt button as the core mechanic becomes creepier as the things you hurt become more and more like people. What happens when the project lead on a game focused on killing and blood plays his game and feels that weird sense that it's gnawing away at something in his soul? What happens when this is a regular occurrence?

A few major choice-points over, there's another me who went into video games. Is she (or he; I might never have transitioned in that life-path) getting ever more uncomfortable with these themes, or has it been completely burnt out of her by this point?

Date: 2007-09-04 09:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] momentrabbit.livejournal.com
Thief is awesome. Thief III is profoundly awesome. But Thief II is made of utmost awesome, dipped in awesome, with awesome chips baked into the awesome frosting.

I sorta keep coming back to Thief II, you see. :) It hits the balance point between graphic complexity and gameplay that makes me go "oooOH!" Skulking around, confusing guards, being sneaky. And I'm fond of the way that increasing the difficulty reduces the number of knockouts or kills you're allowed - I like a mindset that equates 'professionalism' with 'no injuries, no killings'. A gentleman thief. No trace left behind.

That said, I occasionally load up I and III again. The story arc helps draw me back.

Now, if they worked the lockpicking mechanism of T:III into the gameplay of T:II, I'd be a happy rabbit. |D

Date: 2007-09-04 09:42 pm (UTC)
ext_646: (Default)
From: [identity profile] shatterstripes.livejournal.com
Yeah, I feel bad that my methodology in it is mostly 'sneak up and knock people out' so far - when I can manage to do something without even knocking a guard out, I feel a lot better! I am, however, playing it on expert, because, well, I'd be doing my best to not kill anyone anyway.

I dunno how it went over with FPS fans, but it's one of the few first-person games I've actually enjoyed playing. And I think it's the only one where I'm actually enjoying the gameplay instead of just suffering through it for the story or the technical awesomeness.

Date: 2007-09-04 09:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] turbinerocks.livejournal.com
Oh, Thief 2 is definitely the strongest of all the Thief games. The bad guys are REALLY GREAT and hair-raisngly weird and freaky, and the level design is stronger. In particular, the design of Masks and the bank are unreal crazy good.

Thief 3 does have the single scariest level in a game I have ever played ever EVER EVER EVER EVER. EVER. And I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about.

Date: 2007-09-06 05:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] trikotomy.livejournal.com
Oh god. I crept around that one area so incredibly carefully, saving with every other step and every turned corner, where there weren't even enemies. It just felt like doom was imminent.

Btw, all the Thief cutscenes are on Youtube. :D

Date: 2007-09-06 07:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] turbinerocks.livejournal.com
How great! This is the best one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-AAzkPkiImo

But they're all awesome. ^_^

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Margaret Trauth

October 2020

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