What Video Games Have You Been Playing #12: Rage Quit - ain't my thing

[AmazonQueen]

I have decided I need to recant on this. Because thinking of NMS as a game, I think, is a fundamental error. A game has an object; victory conditions or some such. NMS is basically a toybox. Base building is like...LEGOs. It is definitely one of my favorite toys in the toybox, but as long as I avoid thinking it is a game there are plenty of toys that are fun to play with.

This morning I was playing with my asteroid blaster. This is sort of like the old asteroids game running in demo mode, but with better graphics. Demo mode, since if you fly into an asteroid you don't get hurt. If you are thinking "this is a game and I need shiny stuff that comes from asteroids" it's really more like drudgery than fun, and from a practical standpoint there are more efficient ways to gather that shiny stuff anyway. But, I played a lot of asteroids as a kid, and let's face it blowing up rocks is always fun. I don't play with this toy all the time, but it is fun when I do.

I also played some 3D mazes. In NMS these are called "frigates" and I currently control a fleet of three of them. Ideally, they are for playing 'space commander' and I send them off on missions where they bring back shiny stuff. Again though, from the practical stand point of "playing the game" there are more efficient ways to get shiny stuff. This is especially true since my fleet of frigates is pretty lame and most of their trips to collect shiny stuff wind up with them recalled for repairs. Hence 3D mazes; where I fly over and land on them one at a time and have to find my way to the various damaged components.

After all of that I played some safari. If NMS was a game and the object was to accumulate units (NMS currency) running around discovering new minerals, plants, and especially animals would be a fairly efficient way to go about it. Especially since my toybox includes a supercharged safari visor that puts a huge multiplier on the rewards. But there really isn't a whole lot of point to a big stack of units so I play safari just for the fun of it.

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Up in the sky there is a giant flying tadpole thing. I had seen them before on this planet, but they are still interesting to watch fly around, in a "holy cow there really is no physics here" sort of way if nothing else. Lower left is an elusive little herd beast. The closest one is a young one. You can see the rest of the herd if you look close, though they are sort of obscured against the underbrush. Yes, the mature ones have wings, which don't seem to be of much use. I say they are elusive because they were the final undiscovered creatures on this planet and I got a big reward, paid mostly in the aforementioned units, for finding them.

Then there are those red crystals on the hillside over there. I went and collected those, even though I didn't particularly need them. I just wanted to play "shoot some cops." The orange flying robot thing is a sentinel...robot environmentalist enforcers run amok. They get mad about everything. They even get mad if you shoot a predatory animal that is trying to eat you. I bagged about half the crystals before I got the "Warning, Sentinels investigating" message. I bagged the rest and that little punk opened fire so I felt perfectly within my rights to switch my shovel over to blaze javelin mode and snuff him like a spent match. Much like any other "shoot the cops" toy, sentinels arrive in ever increasing waves until you get overwhelmed or run away, so I didn't play with that toy very long...but it's always fun.

But after a while with NMS its why am I playing this. Its a RPG without any roleplay in which you play a character who has no character.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

But after a while with NMS its why am I playing this. Its a RPG without any roleplay in which you play a character who has no character.

See, that's what thinking of it as a game will do for you.

 

[cardgame]

Mental framing and anchorwork is very important

 

[tjs282]

That's sad to read the 3DS Mario Kart was lame.

I'd never played any of the other MarioKarts, or any of the franchises that it references, but MarioKart 7 on (my younger son's) 3DS seemed pretty good to me. Between the 3 of us (my sons and I), we all liked it/played it often enough that his 3DS now has 3-star ratings recorded for most of the 150cc circuits.

It did get kind of repetitive/tiresome for me after awhile, but that's mostly because I prefer exploration/puzzle games to racing games; he got Luigi's Mansion 2 later on, and I like that one better.

Similarly, Zelda: ALBW seems like a lot of fun, but we rented that one from the library, so I haven't had (and won't get) much time to explore it.

 

[Takhisis]

I'd hazard a guess at Freespace 2.

Sir, please do not joke like this or I'll have the moderators escort you to the door.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Similarly, Zelda: ALBW seems like a lot of fun, but we rented that one from the library, so I haven't had (and won't get) much time to explore it.

Wait wut


Libraries rent video games?!

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Wait wut


Libraries rent video games?!

Yes, if you call "loan out for free for a period of time" the same thing as "rent." Are you in LA county or Orange county? The LA library system allows you to have any item in the system transferred to your local branch so you can check it out, and the LA county library system is pretty much huge so you can get most anything.

 

[Zkribbler]

...the LA county library system is pretty much huge so you can get most anything.

True dat.

I've been play Regency Solitaire And have four games in my Steam cart:Titan Quest, Grim Legend: the Forsaken Bride, Two Worlds: Epic Edition; Talisman: Digital Edition. Alas, Visa has spotted some suspicious activity and has deactivated my card. I'm trying to get it reactivated before the Steam sale ends. Total cost as of now: P410.93 ~ US $8.

Edit: Just tried to purchase. Failed. My card is still deactivated, and everyone's gone home for the weekend. BTW: Thanks for the silver print on gray background credit card.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I added a gun deck so I could shoot at passing sentinels.

Spoiler :

It's also a good place to watch these guys, although the upper deck windows are good for that too and it's out of the cold.

Spoiler :

This is Bob.

Spoiler :

He's a poop factory. I needed some for an agricultural experiment so I fed him, and now he just hangs around. I tried to build a kennel around him, but he is too wily.

 

[tjs282]

Wait wut

Libraries rent video games?!

Well, yeah, ours does.

But we're in Niedersachsen (N. Germany), so -- even if you are in Cali -- our Landkreis (local government division) may still be marginally more enlightened regarding library-funding and stock-purchase (etc.) than yours is... That said, we do also pay a (fairly) nominal annual membership fee to use the local library (about 20 Euro, IIRC; not sure if that's per family or per card).

I should have written 'borrow' rather than 'rent', though.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yes, if you call "loan out for free for a period of time" the same thing as "rent." Are you in LA county or Orange county? The LA library system allows you to have any item in the system transferred to your local branch so you can check it out, and the LA county library system is pretty much huge so you can get most anything.

I'm in OC but I am pretty sure I still have an active library card from Torrance.
If things go according to plan, next week I'll be getting an apartment in Anaheim, so back to LA county.
Derpa derp, Anaheim is still in OC. Huh, also, part of my congressional district is in Anaheim so I might even be able to keep my favorite congresscritter which would be dope af.


I have been playing a lot of Harvest Moon: A New Beginning and I am really enjoying the more minimalist approach to running my farm. I've played several HM games and it never occurred to me until this play through that I don't have to utilize every square meter of my farm for planting or raising animals. Not feeling absolutely rushed to water every square meter and to take care of a bazillion animals every day is really refreshing and has allowed me to enjoy the other aspects of the game like taking time to plan out the town I'm building bit by bit.

 

[MaryKB]

Are any of you on Roblox? I play games on there with my nieces ... I think pretty much everything is player created, and while some of the thousands of games are absolutely weird and boring, many of them are really quite fun.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I might have a pet problem.

 

[MaryKB]

I don't see how, you seem to have plenty (the only "pet problem" I'm are of is not having enough?)

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

At least my parrots aren't making zombie noises anymore. They're constantly barking now.

 

[tjs282]

You should probably try to get your cat to give up smoking, as well -- especially in your library (have you already flameproofed your books?)

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Smoking? I think that's the hamster ball my hamster is in.

 

[MaryKB]

It does look like smoke!

I've had pet problems in the Sims, where my Sim wouldn't take a shower with her cat in the bathroom, who would keep wandering in. I didn't even realize this was happening, and I was struggling to figure out why I couldn't get her hygiene above zero.

 

[tjs282]

Smoking? I think that's the hamster ball my hamster is in.

Ah-hah! I see it now, the amazing levitating hamster!

(I thought it was the cat's bib )

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I've had pet problems in the Sims, where my Sim wouldn't take a shower with her cat in the bathroom, who would keep wandering in. I didn't even realize this was happening, and I was struggling to figure out why I couldn't get her hygiene above zero.

I've had that problem in the Sims 2. I eventually end up putting Pescado's bathroomusesyou into most bathrooms. It also prevents things like this from happening:

 

[Broken_Erika]

Installing Fallout 4 mods, a few at a time so that if it goes crashhappy i can figure out which mod is crashing more easily.
Started with Immersive Scrapping, Simple Intersection, Homemaker and 3x power lines.