donbot
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I thought 'God Of War' was fantastic fun to play, but yeah, Kratos’s personal journey is tantamount to a long, violent tantrum by a juiced-up shouty bloke. The ending of GOW3 was certainly a pretty big risk to take, though. The scene where you repeatedly strike a half-dead Zeus by pressing the same button over and over again is a trick commonly used over the course of the trilogy, but in this instance it's a neverending sequence in which you're bombarded with gross sound effects, while the screen gradually fills up with blood. It almost starts to feel like the game is trying to manipulate you into delivering violence, and respite comes only when you decide against following the prompts you're given. Some might say that it was too late in the day to start getting 'weighty', and to some extent I agree, but it was still a chilling and gruesome moment that I won’t soon forget.
Please explain! 
I see it as conflicting as the audience can't relate to the hero, yet they have to play as him and win with him. The character becomes an empty vessel and his external settings become further illuminated. Kratos then becomes little more than an excuse to advance a series of causal events.
In certain ways, Kratos reminds me of 'Hellboy' in the comics. Hellboy is surrounded by mythological entities and the supernatural, yet he himself is characteristically out of place- a nonchalant, fearless, amazingly incurious, and simple 'practical/working man' from the 1950s with no spiritual predilections. He is also little more than an excuse to advance a series of random occurrences.
Why is that conflicting though? And why do you think they'd intentionally design a character like that?
From the producer's/seller's perspective, by forcing the player to take the role of the 'third party', they can avoid taking the risk of creating a deeply engrossing character that has only niche appeal.
I thought 'God Of War' was fantastic fun to play, but yeah, Kratos’s personal journey is tantamount to a long, violent tantrum by a juiced-up shouty bloke. The ending of GOW3 was certainly a pretty big risk to take, though. The scene where you repeatedly strike a half-dead Zeus by pressing the same button over and over again is a trick commonly used over the course of the trilogy, but in this instance it's a neverending sequence in which you're bombarded with gross sound effects, while the screen gradually fills up with blood. It almost starts to feel like the game is trying to manipulate you into delivering violence, and respite comes only when you decide against following the prompts you're given. Some might say that it was too late in the day to start getting 'weighty', and to some extent I agree, but it was still a chilling and gruesome moment that I won’t soon forget.
Please explain!
^ 
Dawww, but it's too cute!
How you doing dude....long time no hear....okay yeah thats my fault but still 
Can't complain.. keeping busy :morning:
How's life treating you?
Just came here to ogle at your avatar. 
^ And the ironic part here is now I'm ogling your avatar SS
Sir donbot, you bring me dumbo mouse I bring you the Lunesta duck, enjoy
^Dawww
^ And the ironic part here is now I'm ogling your avatar SS
Well, allow me to ogle Val to complete the circle :brows:
^ And thus the circle of life is complete! Who said The Lion King would never come in handy
Oh, I thought you meant that the conflict was part of the design, not just a product of it.
I agree a little with what you're saying about Kratos. There's just nothing complicated or conflicted about him - pure and simple, he's defined by his rage, which is also the thing that drives the story forward. Honestly though, as I said before I think the main driving force behind the design of the character is letting the player take control of an overpowered badass ragemonster. Same philosophy as the Prototype series. I don't really think he's the 'vessel' type character in the same way that Gordon Freeman/Jack Ryan were.
Have you heard of the Metro series? It's supposed to be based on a popular Russian novel about a post-apocalyptic Moscow. it looks very dark, impoverished, and nightmarish. Well done. It should give a little insight into Russian literary culture. It reminds me of that great film 'Children of Men':
So residents of Moscow now live underground in sewers, subways, and underground bunkers.. The surface is radioactive:
There are even communists underground!
^Just started playing Last Light last night actually 
The first game was excellent - wonderfully atmospheric and immersive (Y)
So the show was not really successful? Or what did happen?
I don't really know what happened - I don't think the ratings were particularly good (although I guess good enough to last 3 seasons). It's one of those shows though, that everyone who likes it generally loves it. But what I said before is perhaps part of the reason - that much of the story, characters and even jokes were really built up over each successive episode. I guess it wasn't all that accessible to people just coming in half way through the season
I see. I guess that many very good TV series end up because of this 
Oh, I see. I only heard of it recently and I watched the 'meat' of it already. I never saw the first one so I plan on watching it later.
Do tell me what you think about it and how it compares to the first one. I'm impressed, but like in Bioshock 2- much of the best creative design work is done intermittently.
I like how the series models what a post-apocalyptic world could look like & how the people live. Before that, I only saw imagined seeing this through film (like Dr. Strangelove and 12 Monkeys).
^Just started playing Last Light last night actually
The first game was excellent - wonderfully atmospheric and immersive (Y)
. It almost starts to feel like the game is trying to manipulate you into delivering violence, and respite comes only when you decide against following the prompts you're given. Some might say that it was too late in the day to start getting 'weighty', and to some extent I agree, but it was still a chilling and gruesome moment that I won’t soon forget.
This loss of 'self' is what I most dislike about film, TV, games, and music so I subject myself to it sparingly/selectively and often at arms length. It's part of the experience but I don't feel at ease at all with the loss of mental control and time.
For instance, like with games, I often prefer to watch bits and pieces of a movie over time rather than watch the whole thing in one shot. I don't finish most of the things I access.
I do the same with TV series- I try to separate the wheat from the chaff. I suspect that media designers know how the manipulate the audiences' perceptions much better than they are aware of.
With music I am the most selective. I don't listen to music in general and when I do, I listen sparingly to one piece (usually classical or opera) I like at a time. I'll listen to the same piece until I tire of it.
I find the emotionally manipulative effects of music to be disturbing. (which I understand is a minority view)
Sir! Do you have time to watch Aliens, Star Wars Episode IV and the Matrix in just 3 minutes? Sounds impossible? Take a look below, they have revolutionized the movie going experience
Aliens:
Star Wars Episode IV:
Matrix:
...and what the hell, since we have a minute to spare enjoy Back to the Future I, too bad the movies will be done before the popcorn
SS,
I bought the 'Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts' (2007) this weekend and tinkered around with the 'Panzer Elite' and 'Commonwealth' factions. Overall, I think they did a much better job with this iteration than the (2006) title. But Panzer Elite- like the Wehrmacht- is so overpowered in its design from what I've seen. I think it's the strongest faction by a significant margin.
Besides the Kettenkrads/scout cars/cheap antitank & assault infantry being advantageous, so is the 'Panther Battle Group'.
They really decided to throw away history with this one. The Panthers have impenetrable front armor (which can be easily rotated so the tank won't get flanked) against all opponents except the 17-pounder, and worse yet, a pair, and then a quad.. can be brought into the field very quickly and without any further expenditure of fuel supplies. So I'm deploying a pair, a quad of Panthers and focus-firing on enemy targets that is are all inferior in durability & often in numbers. After a brief shootout with 1 out of 4 loss, I move towards their base and I win with little in the way of losses. The whole process takes less than thirty minutes.
This is very screwy history, as Panthers were knocked out by US and British tanks fairly readily in the war. The US 76mm M-10/Sherman M-4, could penetrate the Panther's frontal in the ranges displayed in the game yet the developers modeled it as a near invincible plate. Then the rest of the flanks and rear were as vulnerable as the Sherman in all combat ranges.
Historically, most Panther vs. Sherman engagements also involved (often 2 to 1) numerical superiority on the US side, but this is completely not the case in COH.
With the British (interesting but underpowered- designed faction), I found that their 'tank park' was seriously wanting- The essential 17-pounder equipped Firefly- which should be the Allied response to the Panthers & Tigers is expensive and slow to bring onto the field in the numbers that matter. Worse yet, it lacks the super front plate of the Panther so chances are the British player would quickly get their tank force shot up by 1 or 2 Panther Battle groups.
How did the odd design of PE pan out when you played it? did people complain about the built-in unfairness of it?
^
This is one of my favorite paintings of the Panther. It depicts a combat action that occurred during the Ardennes Offensive.
^ And thus the circle of life is complete! Who said The Lion King would never come in handy
I actually watched it again yesterday love that one. The drawings of the animals were one of the best Disney ever did.