Introduce Yourself

[DocSeuss]

Gunflame.... I distinctly remember having an argument with some jerk who was bitching about the post that got you starred, or maybe the fact of the starring. For the life of me I can't remember who it was, but I know that it wasn't the first time in a short period that he got on my fucking nerves with his miserable attitude.... I feel like he had a Solid Snake avatar... Oh well, no use conjuring old and crotchety spirits (thought it would be funny if I have been posting in the same threads as him on here without realizing). Welcome to the forum!

 

It may have been me. I really hated the one that got Gunflame starred, which is odd, because generally, I like Gunflame, even if I do disagree with him more regularly than I do with others.

 

Oh, hi. I'm DocSeuss. On Kotaku, I am known as DocSeuss. Apparently there are other mes on the internet, which is why I can't be DocSeuss on Steam or PSN, and I remember that one time, googling that name found me a gay ex-military guy who sold pot and wanted casual sex. That one is not me. There are a lot of people with my name who aren't like me.

 

So it's probably just best to call me Doc, What's Up Doc (not really tho), or Sully.

 

I have Opinions Wot Upset People. I'm always interested in critical analysis on video games, and some times this lends to criticism of beloved developers/publishers/games/whatever. My opinions are quite different from the norm on occasion, and I generally come to them after putting a lot of thought in the matter, so it can be challenging (not impossible, mind) to change them. If you're prone to overreacting to well thought out criticism of things you happen to enjoy and tend to view them as personal attacks, um, you won't like me. If, like me, you enjoy discussing differing viewpoints on games, then we'll get along so famously they'll write ballads about us, and I will be played by Sean Connery in the Hallmark movie about our discussion.

 

That said, I try to be nice, and I generally succeed. I see no reason I can't be awesome here.

 

That's everything, I think. Time to go to class.

[Hot Heart]

Normally, I'd think it's stupid that someone has to state how important (or controversial) their opinions are but, in this case, I imagine your reputation precedes you, making it somewhat of a necessity.

 

Welcome!

 

p.s. and now it will be easier to let me know when that ME2 thing you are working on is done!

[TheRevanchist]

Welcome, Doc Suess!

 

How have you been, health wise? Hope you are feeling better these days.

[deanb]

Normally, I'd think it's stupid that someone has to state how important (or controversial) their opinions are but, in this case, I imagine your reputation precedes you, making it somewhat of a necessity.

 

His reputation precedes him

[Hot Heart]

Oh, and get an avatar or we will ban you. BAN YOU!

[FredEffinChopin]

Gunflame.... I distinctly remember having an argument with some jerk who was bitching about the post that got you starred, or maybe the fact of the starring. For the life of me I can't remember who it was, but I know that it wasn't the first time in a short period that he got on my fucking nerves with his miserable attitude.... I feel like he had a Solid Snake avatar... Oh well, no use conjuring old and crotchety spirits (thought it would be funny if I have been posting in the same threads as him on here without realizing). Welcome to the forum!

 

It may have been me. I really hated the one that got Gunflame starred, which is odd, because generally, I like Gunflame, even if I do disagree with him more regularly than I do with others.

 

Son of a bitch, it is you. It's coming back to me now, I think that the two of us butted heads several times within a short span, the tail end of which was Gunflame's starring. I remember seeing your post there and thinking "Fuck, does this guy do anything but break balls?!" I'm pretty sure that on my end I didn't take issue with your opinion (in at least one of those arguments), but the manner in which you chose to express it. It was one of the rare times I got genuinely annoyed in someone else's defense. Fuck, I'm almost tempted to go back there and dig. It's not that important though, it was a good (frustrating) time that has passed. Welcome to the forum!

 

But you're still a jerk

[fuchikoma]

Welcome to all the new members, and DocSeuss, I remember seeing you around, but no issues spring to mind. In any case, if you have an uncommon opinion, it'll be interesting to hear it! It's far more interesting to think about something seriously than to find out everyone else is just like you.

[MasterDex]

Cool! You've signed up...and met an old nemesis already, it seems! See! Just like Kotaku!

[DocSeuss]

Oh, I forgot to add in my intro that I'm going to school to learn game design. Turns out I'm actually helping shift the course of the program (they'll be offering a Cryengine 3 class because of me. Oops.), and am currently writing (teaching? I wish) a proposal to the dean for a game narrative course. The department head wants to do one, but the previous proposals have all involved an inordinate amount of reading for a non-literature/philosophy/humanities class, so it keeps getting shot down. So I'm working on one that doesn't involve much reading at all.

 

Normally, I'd think it's stupid that someone has to state how important (or controversial) their opinions are but, in this case, I imagine your reputation precedes you, making it somewhat of a necessity.

 

Welcome!

 

p.s. and now it will be easier to let me know when that ME2 thing you are working on is done!

 

Like my game census thing, my blog series on FPSes, my HL2 deconstruction, and some other stuff, it's... taking time. Getting there, but slowly. School and work both beginning right around the same time certainly impacted me.

 

Welcome, Doc Suess!

 

How have you been, health wise? Hope you are feeling better these days.

 

How am I doing? Well, your spelling of my name just about gave me a heart attack.

 

I kid, I kid. I've been doing better. This may not mean much to you, but before I started getting treatment, I tried reading a rather phantasmagoric comic book by Frank Miller and Bill Sinekiewicz (or however you spell it) called Elektra: Assassin. I couldn't really understand what was going on, much less follow it. I abandoned it. I picked it up again two days ago and everything is clicking into place with clockwork precision. My mind tends to wander, but overall, focus is a little better and pain is somewhat less. I'm never going to be perfectly healthy, but I do think I'll be better than I am now, and incredibly better than I was three or four months ago.

 

His reputation precedes him

 

It better.

 

Oh, and get an avatar or we will ban you. BAN YOU!

 

While I assume you're kidding, I did register and firstpost at school. My avatar, which will be updated by the time I post this, was hiding on Charlie, my desktop.

 

Son of a bitch, it is you.

 

Well, well, well, my old nemesis. I'd forgotten you, you know. In fact, I still don't remember you, or even what it was about. I just remember Gunflame's star post really bothered me and several people got in a tiff about it. Sorry! But NOW we are nemeses again! Clearly! It must be so!

 

Funnily enough, I do remember the one time Deanb and I argued. It was over a word I made up, megaculture. Or maybe it was extraculture or superculture. The basic gist of it was that the United States is essentially a new type of composite culture, since its population exists almost entirely of immigrants who come from a broad spectrum of cultures, rather than one distinct culture subtly influenced by small outside sources over the centuries. I think I must have worded it oddly, 'cause I vaguely remember Dean taking offense and thinking that I meant the US was better. Don't ask me how I remember ANY of that, because I seriously do not know. Miscommunication sucks. But whatever, what's past is only accessible by time travel.

 

It's far more interesting to think about something seriously than to find out everyone else is just like you.

 

One thing I've been trying to do on my blog is talk about things people haven't really thought out before. Like... we could all talk about how Valve used great facial animations, physics, or environmental storytelling, but we already know that, so it's not really worth talking about, since it's been praised to high heaven and back. Talking about how the game appears to have ripped sound effects from/used the same sfx libraries as 8 Legged Freaks and Black Hawk Down is much more interesting, or discussing how the plot is actually horrible (using the exact same mission objective in the three-act structure is beyond stupid) is much more stimulating, because it requires you to criticize things you like, and, hopefully, help you to demand better games as a consumer, appreciate better games as an art audience, or, best of all, make better games as a developer.

 

That's really my whole philosophy in a nutshell. Unfortunately, people like things more the more time they expend on those things, so any perceived attacks on those things are perceived as an attack on the effort and time put into those things, so people can take it a bit personally at times. Personally, I don't understand this point of view, but whatever.

 

Cool! You've signed up...and met an old nemesis already, it seems! See! Just like Kotaku!

 

Mwahahaha. Thank you for introducing me.

 

HAY GUYS IF YOU EVER GET MAD AT ME IT WAS DEX'S FAULT. HES THE ONE WOT BRUNG ME HERE.

[excel_excel]

X-talk really is becoming its own uberculture.

 

THAT ONE IS MINE. Don't you take it Doc! Also I like you. I like GunFlame too, but I remember your reply about PC's to his speak up post. I liked that. You're alright.

[DocSeuss]

Uberculture is yours. I relinquish any and all rights to the word uberculture to you, excel_excel, until such time as you die, at which points the rights transfer back to my estate.

 

I don't remember my reply to his speak-up post. I don't even remember his speak-up post or what it was about. I'm not sure I want to. D:

 

EDIT: Ohey, what's the policy on linking to your own personal blog n' stuff? I didn't see that in the rules.

Edited September 2, 2011 by DocSeuss

[deanb]

Well it's not stopped others. As long as it's not commercial you're generally fine without asking.

[Waldorf and Statler]

Doc's got my protection. He fed me certain green delicacies while we were with a goat, while in a b-

 

 

you get the idea.

[fuchikoma]

Doc's got my protection. He fed me certain green delicacies while we were with a goat, while in a b-

 

you get the idea.

 

In a basilica - of course.

[Mr W Phallus]

EDIT: Ohey, what's the policy on linking to your own personal blog n' stuff? I didn't see that in the rules.

I was actually just about to ask for links to all this stuff:

 

Like my game census thing, my blog series on FPSes, my HL2 deconstruction, and some other stuff

 

Anyway, welcome, and as long as any contrariness on your part is well thought out and reasoned, I for one look forward to reading your posts.

[DocSeuss]

Well it's not stopped others. As long as it's not commercial you're generally fine without asking.

 

Don't plan to get commercial.

 

Doc's got my protection. He fed me certain green delicacies while we were with a goat, while in a b-

 

 

you get the idea.

 

I remember that! You were so dr--delirious from thirst that you kept protesting said delicacies and claiming your name was Sam.

 

Doc's got my protection. He fed me certain green delicacies while we were with a goat, while in a b-

 

you get the idea.

 

In a basilica - of course.

 

A building, actually. What a fine building it was, too. Almost made up for the mimes.

 

EDIT: Ohey, what's the policy on linking to your own personal blog n' stuff? I didn't see that in the rules.

I was actually just about to ask for links to all this stuff:

 

Like my game census thing, my blog series on FPSes, my HL2 deconstruction, and some other stuff

 

Anyway, welcome, and as long as any contrariness on your part is well thought out and reasoned, I for one look forward to reading your posts.

 

Well, here's a blog post detailing why Valve can't reasonably make Episode 3 in time. It sort of turns into a criticism of the series as a whole as it goes, so you can see how I try to approach things. The first few posts were a bit rushed, and then I had work and school start up at the same time, and now I've got to go to Colorado for four days, so I'll start writing mostly-regularly again later. Right now, I think it'll be part of a ten-post series on the various problems of Half-Life 2. You can suss out the rest of my posts from the blog title at the top of the page in the link.

 

Would you believe that I didn't link you directly to the blog just so I could use the phrase "suss out?" s'true.

 

My game census is still an incomplete project on my computer, my HL2 deconstruction is still a draft (with a few nods on my blog, mainly the link above), and my FPS article was doing well until the second bit turned into a love letter to System Shock 2. While gone this weekend, it's my plan to try finishing the final FPS post and have it up on Tuesday, unless I get access to the internet before then. So, if it interests you, it'll be quite soon.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

By accident, you end up getting the entire Citadel to explode and manage to kill the Human ambassador to the Combine, all in a haphazard attempt to rescue Eli Vance and find out just why it is the G-Man brought you here.

Gah. I believe Barney mentions a full-out "attack" on the Citadel as Gordon's going in to rescue Eli & Alyx. We can assume that along with rescuing his friends, Gordon would be looking for ways to weaken the Combine infrastructure or destroy the Citadel, and such an opportunity presents itself at the end of the game. It's hardly by accident. In fact, Alyx states, "This is the dark fusion reactor. It powers their tunneling entanglement device. We will never have a chance like this again. We have to stop him!"

 

Then the game just kinda… ends. You show up, topple a regime, start a war, and never learn why you were brought back to life.

The obscurity of the story is kinda the point of the Half-Life saga. The entire plot revolves around the G-Man's unclear motives. Plus, the episodic nature of the follow-ups determined the abrupt ending.

 

Throughout the course of Half-Life 2: Episode One, you prevent the Citadel from exploding, in order to keep Eli alive

This is patently false. Eli & Kleiner are safe outside the city limits during Episode One. They are slowing the Citadel's explosion with the express purpose of saving every civilian trapped in City 17.

 

Episode Two actually gets you to Eli, distracting you with a brief detour in which you try to save Eli’s daughter’s life, and a second detour in which you must launch Eli’s rocket and protect Eli’s base from assault.

This is a gross oversimplification and misrepresentation of Episode Two's plot. First off, the rocket as I understand it is more Magnusson's baby than Eli's, and the whole project is an absolutely critical mission to shutdown the Superportal the Combine are attempting to open using the destruction of the Citadel. Launching the rocket has little to do with Eli personally; it's a bid to cut off the Combine invasion completely. Furthermore, it's not Eli's base so much as it is Magnusson's (he had been working there for some time before Eli and Kleiner fled there.) I understand you feel Eli was too much of a "carrot" in the series, but this section of the story certainly provides no support for that idea.

 

Half-Life 2 became a contradiction, a game that offered the player the freedom to be whoever they wanted, but strictly regulated how the player used that freedom, effectively rendering the freedom meaningless.

No it didn't. Half-Life 2 offered more gameplay freedom than its predecessor, and I frankly don't see any way in which the game "regulated how the player used that freedom." I also don't see how defining a character's prestige and offering a bit of vague context for his past in any way restricts that freedom. Even Denton in Deus Ex (which you cite as an example of gameplay freedom) had a bit of backstory IIRC.

 

The game is Eli Vance-heavy to be sure, but your whole argument hinges on one big question mark that we don't have an answer to, and that's the G-Man's motives.

 

Ultimately, Eli Vance became the core of Half-Life 2. He was the driving force behind the game–the player’s entire motivation for doing anything beyond “they’re shooting at me so I must shoot back.” Eli, and the secrets he held, was the ultimate carrot of Half-Life 2, and with him dead, there’s no clean way for Valve to say “you’re ultimately here because…

 

Unfortunately I think you're jumping the gun here. You're complaining about an unresolved plot in a saga that's not over yet, and I think despite any doubts you might have about Valve's ability to tie everything up nicely, we ought to at least let them try before declaring the entire plot a debacle.

 

EDIT: I can also think of one very good reason the player might want to shoot back at the enemy: the fate of the entire planet. To say Eli is the "entire motivation" for player progression is to totally misunderstand the series.

 

End Half-Life fanboy rant.

 

 

[FredEffinChopin]

Son of a bitch, it is you.

 

Well, well, well, my old nemesis. I'd forgotten you, you know. In fact, I still don't remember you, or even what it was about. I just remember Gunflame's star post really bothered me and several people got in a tiff about it. Sorry! But NOW we are nemeses again! Clearly! It must be so!

 

Oh, it is so fuckin on.

 

I don't remember what it was about prior to the Gunflame post, but it must of annoyed me because I didn't usually remember avatars/names like that, and I managed to recall that it was someone with a Snake (or something I thought was Snake at the time) avatar just the other day haha. What timing for your joining though, small internet, eh? *sigh* The old days of kotaku essay-fighting. Seems like longer ago than it actually is...... There were a lot of people on you for that Gunflame thing, but you certainly weren't alone in your opinion either, I remember. Must've been pretty damn provocative. Oh well, good times.

[Waldorf and Statler]

I want to have a nemesis

 

but satan in Kotaku never posts.

[FredEffinChopin]

 

I'll be your nemesis

[Waldorf and Statler]

You're all right in my book, either ways it needs to be a famous person/character. I wish I could convince Kotaku's Darth Vader to come here. That would be b-a

[Chewblaha]

Having tons of nemisi (?) is totally overrated.

[Hot Heart]

Chewie, for you, is anything rated justly?

[Waldorf and Statler]

Me <3

[Chewblaha]

Chewie, for you, is anything rated justly?

 

Shit, son. You don't even KNOW!