tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post4729715991734151789..comments2024-03-29T09:18:29.803-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Ultima Underworld II: UUS and DESCRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68175233686550896072023-09-03T11:45:28.496-04:002023-09-03T11:45:28.496-04:00Hahaha, it's the worst to realize that our stu...Hahaha, it's the worst to realize that our students weren't alive in 2001... it's like they keep getting younger each year.Zack Macomberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18077050078436768492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68891168657552492092022-05-22T23:20:18.924-04:002022-05-22T23:20:18.924-04:00I think virtue ethics stands apart from deontology...I think virtue ethics stands apart from deontology, because deontology is about what's universal in ethics ("do only that which you would will all people do"), while virtue is entirely about you as an individual. But it's also not consequentialist, since it's about who you are, not the effects of what you do. The three systems (deontology, consequentialism, and virtue) cover three aspects of ethics: the part that's universal, the part that's situational, and the part that's personal.Lhexahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17964132955838014919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-990922254809573562022-04-27T05:08:09.110-04:002022-04-27T05:08:09.110-04:00Regarding skills once more, gurer ner fcryyf gung ...Regarding skills once more, gurer ner fcryyf gung qb gur fnzr guvat nf gur yber, ercnve, cvpxybpx, naq fjvz fxvyyf, znxvat gurfr cbvagyrff.<br />Fvapr gurer'f fb zhpu zbarl ylvat nebhaq, gur nccenvfr naq punevfzn (v.r. unttyvat) fxvyy ner haarprffnel.<br />Gur frnepu, genpx, naq genc fxvyyf qba'g qb nalguvat hfrshy, naq fgrnygu qbrfa'g jbex fvapr lbh arrq gb pneel n yvtug fbhepr.<br /><br />So that means your assessment of skills is pretty good, rkprcg gung npebong vf npghnyyl qrprag, naq cvpxvat n jrncba fxvyy vf orggre guna gur nggnpx fxvyy. Naq hasbeghangryl guvf zrnaf gung gur fxvyy flfgrz birenyy vf abg irel tbbq, nf gur znwbevgl bs fxvyyf ner haarprffnel.<br />Radianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866535042372152723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74483557551983966032022-04-27T05:06:36.788-04:002022-04-27T05:06:36.788-04:00Regarding skills once more, gurer ner fcryyf gung ...Regarding skills once more, gurer ner fcryyf gung qb gur fnzr guvat nf gur yber, ercnve, cvpxybpx, naq fjvz fxvyyf, znxvat gurfr cbvagyrff.<br />Fvapr gurer'f fb zhpu zbarl ylvat nebhaq, gur nccenvfr naq punevfzn (v.r. unttyvat) fxvyy ner haarprffnel.<br />Gur frnepu, genpx, naq genc fxvyyf qba'g qb nalguvat hfrshy, naq fgrnygu qbrfa'g jbex fvapr lbh arrq gb pneel n yvtug fbhepr.<br /><br />So your assessment of skills is pretty good, rkprcg gung npebong vf npghnyyl qrprag, naq cvpxvat n jrncba fxvyy vf orggre guna gur nggnpx fxvyy. Naq hasbeghangryl guvf zrnaf gung gur fxvyy flfgrz birenyy vf abg irel tbbq, nf gur znwbevgl bs fxvyyf ner haarprffnel.<br />Radianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866535042372152723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-73748301993523214982022-04-25T08:42:39.724-04:002022-04-25T08:42:39.724-04:00Pale Fire can be read on many levels, some of whic...Pale Fire can be read on many levels, some of which might even appeal to you, including as a critique of eccentric academics at a liberal arts university in a rural college town (Nabokov was speaking from experience). Chuck Haberlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09350897949215662198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-89217615908953469072022-04-15T23:16:47.600-04:002022-04-15T23:16:47.600-04:00Unexpectedly profound and true. While I don't ...Unexpectedly profound and true. While I don't think I've literally told anyone to RTFM, I often have trouble regarding displays of ignorance as "teaching moments." The other day, one of my students mentioned that while she's heard references to it all her life, she didn't actually know what happened on 9/11. My reaction . . . did not become a professional educator.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-9187377944233813362022-04-15T18:19:24.150-04:002022-04-15T18:19:24.150-04:00Also, needing the manual to play a game is a stron...Also, needing the manual to play a game is a strong incentive to buy it new, which from a publisher's point of view is a feature, not a bug!<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, most of my Atari 2600 and NES games came secondhand and often without their manuals, but I guess I didn't expect those publishers to accommodate me and ensure their games would be accessible to someone who didn't pay for them (obviously the original buyer can also lose the manual). In the case of NES games a lot of that was obviated by strategy guides and Nintendo Power but, ultimately, if I couldn't make headway in a game for want of its manual, I didn't really see that as the game's fault.<br /><br />(And that's without throwing software piracy into the mix, which really incentivizes requiring the manual or other pack-ins to progress in the game.)PK Thunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14416777230563913195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-16428703962388902522022-04-15T17:40:38.778-04:002022-04-15T17:40:38.778-04:00While I wouldn't go as far as PK Thunder, I do...<i>While I wouldn't go as far as PK Thunder, I do believe gamers nowadays are more reluctant (call it lazy if you want) to read anything before starting to play. Might also depend on the type of game. If you play a complex strategy game</i><br /><br />Well, exactly. To be crystal clear, I have no problem with someone who says they're not <i>personally</i> interested in playing games that require reading the manuals, or genres of games. Everyone has their tastes, after all.<br /><br />But there are people who genuinely, unironically think that the need to read the manual <i>at all, at any time</i> is a sign of an <i>objectively</i> bad game, or a genre or time period of gaming that's <i>objectively</i> valueless and deserving of mockery. Similarly, there are people who take even a slight learning curve as a personal attack. I can't say I haven't noticed some association between those opinions, and the kind of person that expresses them.<br /><br />@CRPG Addict: I know the feeling you describe and I don't enjoy it. But isn't it sort of like the George Carlin joke that everyone who drives faster than you is a maniac and everyone who drives slower is an idiot?<br /><br />A pretty big percentage of humanity thinks if you don't know something they know, you're an ignorant idiot, whereas if you know something they don't, you're either a condescending jerk who wants to use it to make them feel bad about themselves, or a weirdo elitist whose knowledge is irrelevant. (And if you know something they know, it's obvious and any fool knows that. Either way, they're always in the right.)<br /><br />Some days we're the person being told to RTFM and hating it; some days we're the person telling others the equivalent of RTFM, and lamenting their laziness and ignorance. If we're neither, that might be a good day.PK Thunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14416777230563913195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-48772909569394452202022-04-15T15:17:29.522-04:002022-04-15T15:17:29.522-04:00That was a wholesome story, Tristan.
I could have...That was a wholesome story, Tristan.<br /><br />I could have sworn you once got on my case for saying something that you perceived as anti-gay and you said you had been bullied all your life for being gay. I've had that in my mind for years now, and I guess I must have been thinking of some other commenter.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-5827612257025763782022-04-15T15:14:40.063-04:002022-04-15T15:14:40.063-04:00"The reason RTFM is such a common phrase is p..."The reason RTFM is such a common phrase is precisely because most people don't read manuals, ever." I think that it's a common phrase because people who know a piece of software inside and out, whether it's from experience or R-ing the FM multiple times, like to lord it over people who <i>have</i> R'ed the FM but didn't <i>memorize</i> the goddamned thing.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-19215069207136020702022-04-15T14:27:54.925-04:002022-04-15T14:27:54.925-04:00Any other series, I would agree with you, but the ...Any other series, I would agree with you, but the manuals of U3-U6 give such detailed descriptions of the casting process that, yeah, we know there aren't runes involved. Plus, the manual for UU specifically says that magic works different in the underworld, necessitating the runes.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-71630209455722752232022-04-14T15:06:30.498-04:002022-04-14T15:06:30.498-04:00I think you can also just do a minor backfire that...I think you can also just do a minor backfire that wastes mana, so I'd concur Casting is important if you plan to actually cast other in ways you could theoretically save scum around.Torennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-76589700109828571382022-04-13T23:36:26.715-04:002022-04-13T23:36:26.715-04:00Lankhmar is a wonderful setting, some of the licen...Lankhmar is a wonderful setting, some of the licensed AD&D material for it is really well done too.<br /><br />But I want to emphasize that Leiber is very funny, in subtle and non-subtle ways. He's just a fantastic writer.Tillnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-42538023699614747022022-04-13T21:19:41.278-04:002022-04-13T21:19:41.278-04:00I remember seeing someone selling manuals for Swit...I remember seeing someone selling manuals for Switch games, so that you can both have a manual and have something to put in the clips in the caseTwibathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11872080022551062309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-33911569951152254522022-04-13T19:14:27.735-04:002022-04-13T19:14:27.735-04:00In the many months I've read (and overwhelming...In the many months I've read (and overwhelmingly enjoyed) your blog, this is the first time I've wanted to kneecap you, Chester.<br /><br />Do better.BlindedByTheDarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08368753397007718366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-75393306520286718362022-04-13T17:43:24.949-04:002022-04-13T17:43:24.949-04:00I think the manual being a physical object matters...I think the manual being a physical object matters a lot. I like reading manuals, but with the PDFs that come with digital distribution, I almost always prefer ingame help and tutorials.Buckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07270991090065636515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-25652379640899800892022-04-13T14:58:39.170-04:002022-04-13T14:58:39.170-04:00I am so sad that none of my Nintendo Switch games ...I am so sad that none of my Nintendo Switch games come with manuals. The Dukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18021667637255061683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-9180196168509576782022-04-13T14:25:53.356-04:002022-04-13T14:25:53.356-04:00The Avatar looks like Daryl Hannah.The Avatar looks like Daryl Hannah.Lughnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6690395437553962492022-04-13T08:00:14.670-04:002022-04-13T08:00:14.670-04:00My 2 cents on the manual / no manual discussion:
...My 2 cents on the manual / no manual discussion:<br /><br />There was a time (covered by this blog) when game developers could not include in-game tutorials due to lack of memory space or technical reasons (or maybe at some stage were reluctant to put in the extra work to do so). Physical manuals also served as copy protection back when scanners and the internet did not exist as ressources easily available to the average gamer.<br /><br />Once these were no longer the reasons, it's also a difference whether you refer to backstory & lore or the actual "workings" of the game like the interface, basic functions etc. As far as I recall, our host likes manuals for the former, but prefers in-game tutorials or help functions for the latter.<br /><br />As for me, I like manuals, even and especially the physical form, as well as other game-related materials. Call me hopelessly nostalgic, but I don 't see any electronical in-game mechanism actually creating the same feeling as when you physically turn the wheels in POR's code wheel (http://dave-kennedy.github.io/por-code-wheel/) to translate some runes you found scribbled somewhere. And I enjoy reading the fake journal entries in the gold box games, too. Of course that might have to do with me being more familiar with games of that period than modern CRPGs.<br /><br />While I wouldn't go as far as PK Thunder, I do believe gamers nowadays are more reluctant (call it lazy if you want) to read anything before starting to play. Might also depend on the type of game. If you play a complex strategy game, it's more probable you'll need to - but you might also be more willing to - familiarize yourself with some background & mechanics than, say, when firing up some jump'n'run or Tetris.<br /><br />Ideally, both would be contained and optional for you to choose. In the end, it's up to the developers & publishers to consider what the potential buyers of their product will want/prefer.Buscanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-8637091711833852942022-04-12T21:54:21.343-04:002022-04-12T21:54:21.343-04:00While I wouldn't go anywhere near saying requi...While I wouldn't go anywhere near saying requiring a manual makes something bad, I will say you should never need one. I can think of plenty of times I've struggled with something that the manual would have helped with, except at the time I didn't have access to it because it was lost, or it was used and didn't come with one, or it was being emulated, and either no one's scanned the manual or it's not in English.Twibathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11872080022551062309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-56498637066007971752022-04-12T18:44:28.877-04:002022-04-12T18:44:28.877-04:00While AVGN is a character to a certain extent he i...While AVGN is a character to a certain extent he is exaggerating his own distaste of the games he plays. Generally speaking the only time he tends to think things out, even when the game obviously requires it, is when the game is obviously popular. This applies to AVGN as much as the other show he did, where he played games out of character. I specifically remember he trashed one of the Dizzy games despite treating it like any other platformer.<br />(which is of course, a problem with all more entertainment focused reviewers of the video variety, and probably why blogs such as these are better despite being mostly much smaller)MorpheusKitamihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16591271981112642781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-3498457018901033532022-04-12T15:18:51.956-04:002022-04-12T15:18:51.956-04:00I mean, do we really know that the Avatar isn'...I mean, do we really <i>know</i> that the Avatar isn't juggling physical runes in a bag as part of the spellcasting process in the more abstract games? Maybe runestones are just so freely available in most Britannian towns that it doesn't make sense to keep track of them in game unless you're cut off from the normal Britannian economy somehow (i.e., by being trapped in a dungeon, or under a giant dome of blackrock). NLeseulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10470251242004226908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-39030572839386787242022-04-12T15:14:40.046-04:002022-04-12T15:14:40.046-04:00There's a famous quote from a letter by Lovecr...There's a famous quote from a letter by Lovecraft:<br /><br />"There are my 'Poe' pieces & my 'Dunsany' pieces—but alas—where are my Lovecraft pieces?"<br /><br />It took him a while to find his own voice. NLeseulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10470251242004226908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-65500111710281758212022-04-12T15:14:23.514-04:002022-04-12T15:14:23.514-04:00From what I remember, Spoony’s Ultima reviews were...From what I remember, Spoony’s Ultima reviews weren’t that bad in general, but they are taken from the point of view of someone who grew up with them. The thing with Ultima is that the various materials they come with are what sells the world and makes the experience feel bigger than the game can. Especially on the 8bit ones. <br /><br />The big issue is that being an entertainment gaming channel, the reviews are a little shallow, but really they’re as good as can be expected. <br /><br />I agree that the concept of not reading the manual always confused me. Manuals are awesome! Both in letting you know what to do and to give a bigger sense of the game world. It’s really disappointing that they’ve now vanished.Deanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17030651394605861730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-29311897051712090762022-04-12T15:10:00.758-04:002022-04-12T15:10:00.758-04:00I more meant by writing style, as Poe was sometime...I more meant by writing style, as Poe was sometimes want to use some purple prose. The difference was that Poe was able to do this without it sounding pretentious, whilst Lovecraft very much wanted to use archaic language in a slightly elitist way. Of corse, he was also inspired heavily by other weird authors. But from reading his stuff, it’s very obvious to me that he wanted to be a modern Poe. Deanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17030651394605861730noreply@blogger.com