iirc, story was written after the fact to connect all the levels together.

Puzzle solving and exploration? Get yourself to the Talos Principle, which is blowing my mind right now. Can't wait to buy a copy for myself (I played the Public Test they had going on).

Um... counterintuitive? It works precisely because it's in first-person. It wouldn't be nearly as meaningful in third. Lots of stuff like momentum and the immersion works well because of that.

What would you know, Arnheim, thinker of partial illusions?!

Normally, sure, but I was focusing on one specific level, and those weren't, y'know, in the level. And yes, I can skip the guards, but I felt it was important to actually talk about them, so the analysis required I detail a playthrough where I didn't run past them.

One thing I love about Mirror's Edge is how easy it is to take great shots. Brilliant level designers.

I think I played with some of your raid crew the other day. They were pretty good! Got through part of Crota's end but someone got a new Xbox and eventually they had to leave. Was fun as heck.

A tweet I saw about this said "meanwhile, I still play WoW raids from 2009 for fun and loot."

This, for me, is why I'm not that into reviews for games right away. Games take time to play—they're not films. I've been put off by plenty of games that I settled into later and found I really enjoyed. When they get the right room to breathe... mmmmm. You get Sunset Overdrive.

Not really, no. You don't define yourself in FIFA (for one, there's no narrative) or Call of Duty (how you shoot has no impact on the world or narrative around you). They're as RPG as JRPGs are. A real RPG would be a game that empowers players to, well, roleplay. Call of Duty lets you play a soldier's role. It doesn't…

My initial post was something of a joke. I like to rib people about it on occasion—ultimately, it stems from a misunderstanding way back in the 1980s. Yuji Horii created a new genre, even if it was inspired by Ultima and Wizardry. Those were the RPGs. His thing utilized their battle systems, but not much else. It…

A bunch of acting history stuff. I work for a theatre department and study film for my major.

You can take a premade character and still define them, like in The Witcher, where you take Geralt and make him one who is neutral, or sides with the humans, or whatever. So yeah, that is still roleplaying. Bit different than what JRPGs tend to do, which is define your protagonist and tell a story at you while copying…

Playing a role and roleplaying are two different things, the way that "butterflies in my stomach" do not refer to literal butterflies. Roleplay originated as a sort of improv, a way for actors to embody and define roles themselves. :)

Cool.

iirc, VoG was 10 hours of play time, 20 hours from launch to complete.

It does, however, necessitate players being able to define their characters' personality and approach to the world around them.

Okay, I'll play it, but only if you admit that JRPGs are their own genre that eschew the 'role-play' aspect of RPGs and deserve to be recognized as such. It does a disservice to them to lump them in to a genre with standards they can't live up to, just because of a translation error a long time ago.

Exactly. I was really surprised to hear a ton of little noises when running around the cosmodrome with a headset. Completely missing with normal surround. Couldn't get the treble where I liked it, though.

Immediately before, I did say "performance." I worded it wrong, but in my defense, I'm going through some irl shit right now.