Selfsurprise

Nighttime Poet Daytime Dead by Alpinist

Having had a nice long conversation about the pros and cons of the Resident Evil franchise with an acquaintance today, I do like the particular "real world" setting-niche it occupies. The series isn't exactly above standard 90's corniness in regards to the cast and narrative, but there is something immeasurably cool about an alternative world where biological warfare has advanced to a state that the world's corporate power groups have nefarious paradigm-shifting agendas and the capacity to engineer horrific and unnatural monsters as weaponry.

 

Not to mention having BOWs gives more enemy variety then just different types of zombies all the time.

Exactly! I know other zombie games will provide the occasional alternative zombie but by now they are all rather standardized, i,e. "the fat zombie" (and the explosive acidic sub-variety), "the fast zombie", "the dog zombie", etc. Resident Evil might be equally guilty of this, but I might argue that Resi was doing it first. I also love those terrifying macroviral zombies whose heads pop off to reveal an enormous centipede-like appendage, there's something undeniably awesome about a man-sized/bigger-than-a-man parasitic monster in which the human host is totally secondary and/or negligent in regards to the creature's survival. Or those zombies from RE5 whose upper bodies would tear open to reveal a disgustingly huge maw where half a person used to be. Those things were glorious.

Some small and not entirely fleshed out ideas I've had recently.

• I
  
• Have you ever read the novel Greybeard by Brian Aldiss? It's a great story that hovers uneasily between being an elegy of mankind in it's current incarnation and a somewhat fretful optimistic account of what it might become. It's essentially a post-apocalyptic tale in which the overwhelming majority of the human race was accidently sterilised after atmospheric nuclear bomb tests. Told mainly through the perspective of the titular character Greybeard (real name Algernon Timberlane) and his wife Martha, the plot shifts between the past in which the disaster unfolded and the many social and political ramifications of it are detailed, and the future "present" in which the planets aged population live in anarchic and eccentric communities, rife with rumours of strange fairy-like creatures glimpsed in the wilderness, and a tiny number of mildly deformed children that are treated as venerated prisoners by those in possession of them. I think a post-apocalyptic setting filled with mutant children and an aging and dwindling population of "true humans" would make for an interesting premise, you could really play on the moral greyness of the hostility and tension between the new generation of youthful abhumans and their homo sapien forebears, especially if the game had a strong emphasis on survival and dialogue instead of high-octane action and combat.
  
• II
  
• This is a bit of a weird idea, so I hope you'll indulge me. Have you ever seen those wildlife documentaries with a particular emphasis on insects, arachnids and other invertebrates. Spiders and scorpions have elaborate courting and mating rituals, things that would defy your imagination unless you actually saw them. As if often the case with invertebrates, the males are often smaller and often cannibalistically predated by the larger females, and so male spiders have to choose their potential partners carefully and conduct strange gestural movements and signals in order to even approach females. I don't know if I'm being perverted or not, but some sort of game that included mechanics in the vein of spider/scorpion courting dances would be very interesting, it could be fantasy/sci fi orientated and actually needn't be sexual in nature - it may simply be the manner in which you defeat enemies or acquire allies. I guess the genre would be "stealth mate em' up"...
  
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• Yet another niche first-spooky "omg2spookeh" survival horror idea, I'm sorry I keep veering towards these themes. Have you ever heard of a Japanese yokai spirit called the Nuribotoke? The name roughly translates into "coated Buddha" or "black-skinned monk" and refers to its hideous appearance; resembling a black-fleshed bloated corpse with dangling eyeballs, a psychotic grin and occasionally a catfish's tail. According to legend they are said manifest in family shrines that are neglected or otherwise abandoned, one interpretation citing that the Nuribotoke is a grotesque and spiteful corruption of a previously benevolent household spirit. I think some sort of investigation game set in modern times which involves the player entering into Nuribotoke-haunted premises and appeasing the creatures would be awesome.

I like to make small spelling mistakes in my sentences.

If it's to annoy overzealous grammar-pedants, then your cause is a noble one.

:3

He knows too well that reality is full of shit.

Looking back on my post I can't help but notice that I'm basically acknowledging my own hypocrisy here. As someone who's genuinely lied to himself about who he is I can sort of relate to where those people come from if only to a basic degree. It's a self-perpetuating cycle of denial where your actual self is in conflict with your ideal self. You know that you're not who you say you are so you effectively turn it into a competition within your mind in order to exhibit your most idealized trait of yourself. If you have a massive ego problem like I do then you can't bear the thought that you didn't know exactly who you are at all times.

 

For a long time I've had this idealized version of myself where I was effectively Sherlock Holmes. The very definition of an independent man who was dedicated solely to his work and wasn't held back by some women/partner. As I found out that I wasn't actually Asexual like Sherlock Holmes and in fact had a preference for women to the point of considering the possibility of being in a relationship with a women. It was so crushing that I refused to acknowledge the notion and went out of my way saying just how Asexual I was. I'm still having issues accepting the idea that wanting a partner is okay and that my independence won't be destroyed because of it.

 

I hope that made sense, I'm not at all justifying the homophobic behavior that you're describing here. In all honesty I find this whole thing to be kinda sad that we just can't accept who we are regardless of it being self-imposed or environmental.

I think you are being rather hard on yourself, though you bag some extra respect from me for the rigorous self-criticism and obvious self-awareness.

As for myself, I'm far too aware that I'll never be an adequate and totally well-adjusted adult individual. My psychological makeup isn't cut out for wanting "the life" in regards to relationships, a family, a social or occupational position, etc. I'm much too aware that I'm an unattractive beta male and my sexulity and desires overwhelmingly reflect that. But I'd argue that, unlike in the past when I felt the need to justify my stance on things and on my conduct to others, I'm actually much happier now than I've ever been. I like my own company, I don't really feel like I'm missing out on anything by not being in a close relationship with anyone, I have no real ambition other than to keep a roof over my head and my belly full and that for the most part I actually prefer the polite distance between myself and my contemporaries.

We have this understandable bias in our culture that a sedentary existence with little or no long-term planning is a recipe for depression and heartache, and it's a narrative that I've fallen for in the past, and suffered for buying wholeheartedly into it's binary tropes. But now I'm almost thirty I've actually rather come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to make a major contribution, and that I possess and melancholic and pessimistic outlook, and that the only thing I truly believe in is entropy. It's not perfect, but then I'm not so worried about it either. I've come to realize that much happier inside my own headspace than in reality, and I urge anyone else who shares my mentality to feel less ashamed or unjustified for being that way.

Stripes From The House Of The Shaman by KETEV

um, you want to beat NV in one sitting?

A man can but dream Meelis!

But to get back on topic, if I were asked to pick a game that I have completed in one sitting several times, and breaks my heart every time it's over (my over-dramatization and pathos aide) it would have to be the first two Broken Sword games. Even though I know how to solve every puzzle and progress through the narrative like I was in possession of an eidetic memory, I love the story and characters so much that I simply enjoy the linear process of playing both games. Point n' click masterpieces.

I think if a government had secret human genetic experimentation it would be cool.

But only if they were inadvertently?/deliberately? creating hideously conceived and barely recognizable abominations resembling little more than piles of skittering, howling limbs that appropriate other creatures flesh in order to reproduce. None of this Ozymandias crap involving perfected humans engineered to fulfil their minds, bodies and souls potential. More shuddering eyeball-and-teeth collecting carcass monsters please, governments of the world.

Your name isn't Freeman, Longliveprose Freeman, you're just being paranoid.

"Maybe I shouldn't of cannibalized that dead Vortigaunt..."

I love depressing music, it just fills me with sincere joy. For example,

o4FIu4Xj16I

 

It's about a soldier leaving for Vietnam.

I can appreciate that, most of my favourite bands peddle a harrowingly melancholic sound. I feel a strange contentment and capacity for imaginary forays when listening to a sad and atmospheric track.

That's it, I officially hate vocal minority Vegans and Atheists. You can be a Vegan or an Atheist without being an obnoxious fucktard about it, It's not hard. I also find it pretty ironic that vocal minority Atheists say they don't believe in god yet they sure do talk a lot about how much he doesn't exist. It's like they don't have any confidence in what they're saying and so they keep going on and on about their beliefs. It never fucking ends.

You hit the nail on the head there, you've got the right attitude for dealing with fundamentalists. I can't tell you how much fun I've had over the years using the old "you know what they say about those that preach the hardest" routine on people utterly convinced by their own righteous exactitude. The same principle works hilariously effectively on homophobes. I've had absolutely awe-inspiring trainwrecks of conversations with people that resulted in them becoming genuinely furious at my implying that their macho heterosexual insistence was more for their own benefit than anyone else. If you can't convince yourself then you can absolutely try to convince everybody else! I know the whole self-loathing homo shtick is an absolute cliche, but it still works against people of limited intelligence. I'm actually quite surprised by their seeming lack of understanding of what I'm subjecting them to, and how relatively easily they could counter my disingenuous trolling by letting me know that they know, if you catch my drift. It's an entirely one-sided and utterly mean-spirited joke that never gets old.

YOU CAN'T CATCH ME GAY THOUGHTS

As ever I enjoyed this video chat immensely Ross, thanks for answering all of my peculiar questions again. Allow me to apologize for the attendant "rustling intensifies" gifs I've made of your face for this post, but I somehow always manage to accidentally pause your videos at the serendipitous moments. Provided you don't mind indulging me yet again, I have some more questions for you.

1. In the last videochat you were asked a question regarding the recent World of Warcraft film, and expressed your preference for the more brutally one-dimensional "Greenskin" orkz of Warhammer over the former franchises more nuanced and human-like orcs. It got me thinking about my experiences playing Dungeons & Dragons and my predilection for playing characters that have unusual and/or unlikely class and race combinations (think Dwarf Wizards or Half-Orc Bards), characters raised in a different species community, as well as monster characters that buck the evil tendencies of their race. To summarize, what do you think of non-human fantasy characters that are atypical for their kind? Whether it's in terms of personality, occupation, outward appearance or any combination thereof?

2. On the subject of Grickle, have you read any of Graham Annable's comics? I recently came across one called Burden in a 2008 edition of a book series called The Best American Comics. Have you read this one?

3. Of all of the seven deadly sins which would you say you are most guilty of? Feel free to pick any number or combination of sins.

4. You've got the choice to be bestest ever friends with either a Revenant or a Hell Knight from the Doom series. Who do you pick to be your "B.F.F.4eva!" and what would you name him/her/it?

5. I read the following statement in games™ Magazine in an article written by Dan Pinchbeck, who is the creative director of the development team The Chinese Room. Given that I respect your opinion I was just wondering if you have anything to say about it:

"Sometimes it feels like the best business model for a start-up is to make just enough game to get onto Early Access and never plan on finishing the thing. It's cheaper and easier to make the first quarter of the game than the last 10%, and you can make a decent chunk of money with less risk doing that than committing to the full thing. Not over and over, people aren't that dumb but... when you combine this with the continued race to the bottom in terms of how much people are prepared to pay for media, you've got a pretty toxic combination."

One of the things Ross mentioned in the video chat is that he's losing subscribers on his YouTube channel.

 

Now, I don't normally watch PewDiePie's channel (can't stand the guy) but I do watch jacksepticeye's channel so this was one of the "related" videos:

 

 

26qVo4kNMSU

 

 

Evidently, it seems this is happening to a lot of people. What gives, YouTube?

The Youtuber Alchestbreach recently announced that he had a bunch of subscribers wiped and not having much of an explanation as to why. As much as I love spending time there, Youtube baffles me to no end.

^ Sometimes life makes more sense when you just over-rustle gifs...

RIP Elie Wiesel

"To forget the victims means to kill them a second time."

One of the most prescient observations of 20th century history.

Doom (2016)

I really get why original Doom was popular but i dont get why this is. Mazes, combat is a joke (even weak enemies are bullet sponges), weapons feel off, all that.

Having never played the original games (my first foray into the franchise was Doom 3, which I really enjoyed) I think I was in a rather less expectant position than most gamers who most likely grew up with the older titles. I've been playing the newest one for the last two weeks and I personally couldn't be happier. I have, admittedly, been playing on the easiest setting, so it's great game for rather casual (i.e. "not actually very good") gamers like me to feel like a screaming macho lunatic. I'd argue that Doom 3 was the better paced and more atmospheric of the two most recent installments, but Doom 2016 (this name annoys me) is probably the more tone appropriate in context of the series.

You'll be back.

Try the south road...

This is another reason Jeb shouldn't take driving lessons. There's always a chance that BTG will appear anomalously in the back seat of her car, tripping balls.

I already mentioned one... Christian Death Metal.

you know that actually exists, right?

I think BTG is pulling our collective locomotive appendages... :3

One of the major things in Fallout is the mutated flora/fauna... Where would you see that if you're on the moon? (since the moon was never nuked)

Space nazi expreiments on animals and plants!

Astronaut Werewolves. Who are also communists.

:3

Falloutback?

I'd start a petition to call it that.

Selfsurprise, I think you may have found the one middle eastern area that would be relatively untouched after nuclear war... I'd love to see a game set there.

I'm pleasantly surprised to read that. I guess that makes me, Selfsurprised.

You know, I have never seen a Mind for Quake.

That would be like Doom Guy's Mind with

I'm too young to really remember Randy Savage, and I only came to appreciate the genius of wrestling later in life, but I don't think it's appreciated just how hilarious his entire Macho Man persona was - and in turn that of other wrestling stars. It's a kind of strange amalgamating of comedic entertainment and sporting prowess you don't really get an equivalent of these days. Even the old school British wrestlers like Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks and Kendo Nagasaki had that utterly unique stage-managed mixture of the absurd and sublime. We have unreal comedy personalities today in the vein of Keith Lemon (ex-Avid Merrion) or Sacha Baron Cohen's numerous personas, but this manifests in wholly different celebrity parody context, rather distinct from the function of wrestling. I hope history does wrestlers some justice and not relegate them into obscurity, because they ought to be remembered for the cathartic role they played in the popular imagination of our particular era.

Ha... Ha... Ha...

 

???

 

You're scaring me, BTG...

 

"Alright, screw this place!" [/selfsurprise drives away]

I don't know if you'll ever be coming back here NioA, but i've watched all of the Stark's Mind episodes available so far and I'm really starting to enjoy your series. It's getting more and more quotable too.

"Just stay down, be dead, decompose and don't have have any aliens burst out of your chest, alright. Then we're good!"

x3

I'd be cool with that. I'd eventually transform it into some Borgesian library of infinite madness.

If you gained the lycanthrophy-like ability to transform into a half-animal version of yourself, except this form was your least favourite animal, effectively turning you into a were-[***]?

Seeing as I get all of my information regarding the outside world from this forum and Ross Scott, then it has to be Electronic Arts. That being said, I still find it hard to forgive Konami for scuppering Silent Hills.

Same question (I don't think I gave a particularly good answer, sorry Helio)