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Unkillable Cat's Gaming Magazine Nostalgia Thread

Sceptic

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Divinity: Original Sin
I looked up Scorpia online, in fact. Interesting review from a few years ago that's relevant today: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ArinnDembo/20100812/87847/Gamazon_Seven_Questions_for_Scorpia.php. Then again, it's Gamasutra so be prepared for idiocy.
Thanks, I'd never read this one before.
See, I've never really thought of myself as a "female gamer", but simply as "A gamer". Gender hasn't been much of an issue for me most of the time.
Scorpia! :love:

This reminds me of the letter that CGW once got, with some female gamer complaining about this or that, and Scorpira's answer basically amounted to, "I'm a woman to, whatever."

The "remake" I want and will never receive is a bug-free version of QfG IV that runs flawlessly with no timing errors or sped-up animations on today's computers
Blaine nothing can be done about the voice tracks, but for everything else, use Newrisingsun's patch in DOSBox. As far as I can tell all script bugs are fixed. I run the game ~15k cycles and don't have any problems at all.
 

Drax

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I looked up Scorpia online, in fact. Interesting review from a few years ago that's relevant today: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ArinnDembo/20100812/87847/Gamazon_Seven_Questions_for_Scorpia.php. Then again, it's Gamasutra so be prepared for idiocy.
Thanks, I'd never read this one before.
See, I've never really thought of myself as a "female gamer", but simply as "A gamer". Gender hasn't been much of an issue for me most of the time.


:martini::brodex:

I love how the moronic interviewer kept trying to make her "denounce da patriarchy" :lol:
 

Sceptic

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One thing I've always liked about KQV is that the protagonist is on the wrong side of middle age. It's true that this is never really dramatized in terms of him having any physical limitations on his questing abilities. But a grown-up going on a quest to find his family felt different from the usual "youth looking for his wife" kind of story.
I loved this about KQ5 too, it's one of very few games that establish this. It's true that it doesn't affect the gameplay much, but it does set the tone for the entire game; while KQ has always been about nonviolent solutions to solving problems (even in KQ1-2, where violent solutions existed, they gave you fewer points) I thought KQ5 also had this touch of "I'm too old for this" when it came to Graham's unwillingness to get violent. What other games specifically use an older protagonist? PST arguably. FF8 arguably. Anachronox, Legend of Kyrandia 3, KQ5 and KQ7 (for Valanice), Leisure Suit Larry, Tex Murphy (played to great effect in Tesla Effect), The Dig, I have no mouth and I must scream, Sin, Gemini Rue... that's it I think.
 

felipepepe

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So THIS is why she's never mentioned in those "woman in gaming" restrospectives... she does't fit the narrative. Same thing with Roberta Willians. Such great respect these people show to their betters...
 

Melan

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They aren't good hero worship material, because as people with actual careers and accomplishments, their work is full of impurities and problematic elements. They might voice unwanted opinions, like Danielle Bunten, who was transsexual but ended up deeply unhappy after undergoing sex change. It is far easier to put some blue-haired Twitter wonder on the pedestal. If they haven't done anything noteworthy, it must have been due to the Patriarchy, PLZ contribute to her Patreon and signal boost.
 

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They aren't good hero worship material, because as people with actual careers and accomplishments, their work is full of impurities and problematic elements. They might voice unwanted opinions, like Danielle Bunten, who was transsexual but ended up deeply unhappy after undergoing sex change. It is far easier to put some blue-haired Twitter wonder on the pedestal. If they haven't done anything noteworthy, it must have been due to the Patriarchy, PLZ contribute to her Patreon and signal boost.

Don't forget Roberta's "elitist" remarks about how the gaming audience has changed over the years.
 

Crooked Bee

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What other games specifically use an older protagonist? PST arguably. FF8 arguably. Anachronox, Legend of Kyrandia 3, KQ5 and KQ7 (for Valanice), Leisure Suit Larry, Tex Murphy (played to great effect in Tesla Effect), The Dig, I have no mouth and I must scream, Sin, Gemini Rue... that's it I think.

Discworld Noir. (And the protagonist is pretty great, too.)
 

tuluse

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What other games specifically use an older protagonist? PST arguably. FF8 arguably. Anachronox, Legend of Kyrandia 3, KQ5 and KQ7 (for Valanice), Leisure Suit Larry, Tex Murphy (played to great effect in Tesla Effect), The Dig, I have no mouth and I must scream, Sin, Gemini Rue... that's it I think.

Discworld Noir. (And the protagonist is pretty great, too.)
Full Throttle, Grim Fandango (Manny acts middle aged).

I'm not sure how FF8 is on the list at all. Squall is late teens/early 20s. Unless I'm confusing my FF8s.
 

Sceptic

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Discworld Noir. (And the protagonist is pretty great, too.)
Good catch. I think Rincewind is supposed to be in his 30s or even 40s, so the first 2 games also apply.

I'm not sure how FF8 is on the list at all. Squall is late teens/early 20s. Unless I'm confusing my FF8s.
I was thinking of Laguna, hence the "presumably", since he's in the secondary party.
 

Jick Magger

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Basch from FFXII's in his late thirties, and was supposed to be the protagonist until the higher ups at Square Enix threw a bitch-fit. Other than that there's Father Nier, Harry Mason and James Sunderland (though neither's ages are specifically given, they seem to be in their early-to-mid thirties), Solid Snake (Who's at least in his mid thirties by MGS1) and Big Boss post MGS3.
 

Unkillable Cat

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What other games specifically use an older protagonist? PST arguably. FF8 arguably. Anachronox, Legend of Kyrandia 3, KQ5 and KQ7 (for Valanice), Leisure Suit Larry, Tex Murphy (played to great effect in Tesla Effect), The Dig, I have no mouth and I must scream, Sin, Gemini Rue... that's it I think.

You're smoking some serious shit if you think FF8 has "older" protagonists. Read the manual, the oldest of them is 18.

On the subject of 'older protagonists' - it's not a case of whether the protagonist is old or not, but whether his age is actually portrayed in-game. My KQ5-Fu is hazy, but IIRC King Graham is written to behave like a middle-aged "I'm too old for this" kinda guy. Some of the examples given don't portray that same image. Older protagonists, sure, but do they act their age? THAT'S the question.
 

Sceptic

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You're smoking some serious shit if you think FF8 has "older" protagonists. Read the manual, the oldest of them is 18.
Just read the manual, Laguna, who I was thinking of when I made that post (see my post after that...) is 27. I actually thought he was 35, so it may not apply as much as I had thought.

On the subject of 'older protagonists' - it's not a case of whether the protagonist is old or not, but whether his age is actually portrayed in-game. My KQ5-Fu is hazy, but IIRC King Graham is written to behave like a middle-aged "I'm too old for this" kinda guy. Some of the examples given don't portray that same image. Older protagonists, sure, but do they act their age? THAT'S the question.
I think it does in all those listed, and it's what I was thinking of when I listed them (if specific ones bother you point them out and we can discuss them, that'd be fun actually). It's also why a lot of CRPGs and FPSs are excluded - you can pretty much assign the age as whatever you like in many of them, but it doesn't really make any difference because your protagonist has no personality to speak of.
 

Unkillable Cat

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Reading the latest issue of Retro Gamer. They never fail to disappoint in delivering minor bits of drama/internet rage.

In the latest issue they're covering Lemmings! - the original game, they barely touch on the franchise in general. Very good coverage, where they go into the design process, the almost innumerable conversions, dodging copyright infringements and having trouble selling the game to publishers (they all loved it, but found it too risky to publish - Psygnosis only took it on the second go).

There were two things noteworthy about this article:

# A minor quibble this one, but despite billing themselves as Lemmings "fans", they seem somewhat ignorant of its mechanics. As everyone knows, Lemmings are assigned roles from a list of 8 possible roles, each one bearing a different name. However, if you give the same Lemming the "Floater" and "Climber" roles, his role name becomes "Athlete", effectively becoming the ninth role. I've seen guides and walkthrough that use this term, yet RG lazily just call them "floaty climbers". :roll:

# It all but confirms a theory that I first put forth in 2000 or so: That Lemmings is the last game where its game mechanics are based on an original idea. I have not seen or heard from ANYONE in 15 years who can point to a game older than Lemmings that can be considered an inspiration, and I have not seen any game since 1991 that can be considered "original" in this same regard.

There's also a nice article on Strategic Simulations Inc (SSI) which I'm gonna delve into now.
 

pakoito

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I see Archon being thrown around every now and then but not by journos.
 

Unkillable Cat

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I have not seen or heard from ANYONE in 15 years who can point to a game older than Lemmings that can be considered an inspiration

Uh, and before that?

Uh, the same? I put forth the theory in 2000, 15 years ago. Since then, no one has refuted it. It's kinda hard to refute a theory that doesn't exist.

The thought of it didn't really occur to me until 1998 or so, but I kept it to myself for a couple of years.

Back to RG, they consider FEZ to be "a future classic". :|
 

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Well, in English, when you say "I haven't seen X in N years", the implication is almost always that X did happen N years ago or before.

But carry on
 

Unkillable Cat

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Ah, sorry. Bad phrasing on my half. Happens sometimes.

By this point I'm just skimming the mag, but there's an 6-page interview with Warren Spector about Deus Ex, and finally a good article at the end about video game documentaries, particularly the British-focused one "From Bedrooms to Billions" and the upcoming follow-up "From Bedrooms to Billions: The Amiga Years".
 

Dexter

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I have not seen any game since 1991 that can be considered "original" in this same regard.
Dungeon Keeper, Worms, Theme Park/Hospital, Creatures, Black & White, Sim Tower, The Sims etc.? What exactly do you regard in Lemmings being so "unique" and "original" that no Bullfrog, Maxis or similar comes near?

I miss creative new gaming concepts too, since the 90s and early 00s they have nearly died but DMA Design was by far not the only company at that time that dared to try some new things. I'm still kinda frustrated that stuff like Lemmings or Discworld 1+2 is probably freezing away in a closet of SONY's IP library since they bought Psygnosis, not aware what they are sitting on. A re-release or remake of Lemmings would be great, they could even make a tablet version of it
 
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pakoito

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I have not seen any game since 1991 that can be considered "original" in this same regard.
Dungeon Keeper, Worms, Theme Park/Hospital, Creatures, Black & White, Sim Tower, The Sims etc.? What exactly do you regard in Lemmings being so "unique" and "original" that no Bullfrog, Maxis or similar comes near?
What he means is that nobody mentions any games from before 1991 as influential. They make it look like videogames appeared magically after NES.
 

Unkillable Cat

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Dungeon Keeper, Worms, Theme Park/Hospital, Creatures, Black & White, Sim Tower, The Sims etc.? What exactly do you regard in Lemmings being so "unique" and "original" that no Bullfrog, Maxis or similar comes near?

Because for every title you named, for example, I can name a title that it (or part of it) is based on, at least from a game mechanics perspective.

Dungeon Keeper - RTS games in general. You build a base, harvest resources and build hostile units to protect the base from attackers.
Worms - Scorched Earth. You have a unit, a variety of weapons, destrucible scenery, your goal is to be the last player standing in a turn-based multiplayer game. (Scorched Earth itself is based on at least one other older title featuring the same game mechanics, but I forget its name at the moment.)
Creatures - I'm not 100% which Creatures game you are referring to, but I'm guessing you mean the GBA title. I haven't played it, but from what I'm reading of I can immediately spot elements from SimAnt and Starlord, for example.
Theme Park/Hospital, Black & White, Sim Tower, The Sims - Various management simulators that can all trace their roots to either SimCity or Populous.

pakoito said:
What he means is that nobody mentions any games from before 1991 as influential. They make it look like videogames appeared magically after NES.

Uhh...no. You're reading my words wrong. In the case of Lemmings, no one has found a game released before 1991 that can be said to be an influence upon its game mechanics. That means journos, game enthusiasts, internet know-it-alls, etc.

EDIT: Typo.
 
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Hobo Elf

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Because for every title you named, for example, I can name a title that it (or part of it) is based on, at least from a game mechanics perspective.

That's because people look at those games and think they can improve upon them in some way. With Lemmings, there is no improving what is already perfection :smug:
 

Hobo Elf

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That's because people look at those games and think they can improve upon them in some way. With Lemmings, there is no improving what is already perfection :smug:

Explain the sequels then.

Or the Humans games.

They didn't alter the gameplay significantly with the sequels. They were for more levels, that's it. Never heard of Humans. Does it improve on the formula or not?
 

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