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Which games can you not convince friends are worth playing?
Finkbug
Maine
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January 9, 2011 - 9:27 pm
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Tonight I annoyed Steer by insisting there's value in Farcry 2 (yes, I know it's a broken game), annoyed my APB buddy by insisting L4D2 is brilliant, saw another who'd fought me for years get hooked on WoW, and again poked Armand to play Nox and Space Rangers 2. He still can't convince me to play Minecraft.

I've raved about mine before--Angband, Dungeon Crawl, King's Bounty, Mount & Blade: Warband, the above mentioned Nox and Space Rangers 2--so what are yours?

grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!

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Armand
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January 10, 2011 - 12:36 am
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There is value to Farcry 2. Lots of real cool things in that game. It's just sort of a bore is the only problem. [Image Can Not Be Found]

If I think of anything other than trying to get Fink to try MineCraft, I'll let you all know.

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Steerpike
Subtropical Southeastern Michigan
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January 10, 2011 - 9:17 am
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Far Cry 2 is a crime against gaming, against humanity, and against all that is good and true in this universe. Everything it could have been it was not. I accurse it, I attaint it, I strip it of lands, title, and privileges. To me, it was the single biggest gaming disappointment of the last five years.

 

I often have difficulty getting friends to play Portal, or Defense Grid, or Demon's Souls. To this day one friend of mine insists that Portal is "a jumping puzzle game," even when I threaten to punch him.

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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xtal
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January 10, 2011 - 11:52 am
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All I've ever seen about Far Cry 2 (except for the initial mainstream barf-praise, which doesn't count in my books) is fairly negative and derogatory. Including here at Tap.

But I want to be open to changing my mind, simply because I only last year began reading the blog of one Clint Hocking, who I can't help but think is a really great guy in every sense of the word ... and he had a lot of say in Far Cry 2 and he seems quite fond of it, so that alone leaves me wanting to try it. I've had it on Steam for ages now, just never installed (what a surprise!)

My opinion is also starting to turn because of the frequent conversations with him written in Tom Bissell's book.

 

As for the topic question, I have one friend who I absolutely can not convince to play Braid and Limbo. I know he would love them, and he probably realizes this too; I think it has something to do with them trying to be too "artsy" (is that a crime?) and he resents them because he believes that under no circumstances games can be art. He believes art can be found within games, but games themselves cannot be a work of art. Huh?

 

Another one is Total Annihilation. I only ever convinced one friend of mine to play that and it's still my favourite strategy game to this day. Nobody else would listen.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Armand
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January 10, 2011 - 12:28 pm
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We all have those games that we expected SO MUCH MORE from, and found the final product wildly lacking. I don't even have to think about mine, it's scared in my mind. My "Fail of the Decade" if you will was Spore. I waited for that game for years, fantasized about how cool it would be. It turned out to be a silly thing with a bunch of half-assed game genres squeezed in. Why I can't imagine getting excited about Dark Spore. It has Spore in the title.

Despite what Steerpike says though, Far Cry 2 has a lot of real cool things going for it. Goes without saying it's a beautiful game graphics-wise. They pull off the lack of much of a HUD real well. The combat is often intense and exciting. It really captures the "fighting a gorilla war in some African country feel well."

And my favorite thing is when you gun someone down, but don't quite kill 'em. I still remember thinking a killed a guy, than walking up to his body only to see he was just hanging on. Had his head propped against a shed, taking fast, short breaths like he knew he was gonna die. My first urge was to help him. Instead, I watched a shaky arm raise a gun up slowly and aim it at me, still trying to fight. I shot him there on the ground, blood splattered against the shed's wall. That was a real heavy gaming moment. Just thinking about it makes me want to play the game again!

My only real problem with it is that it gets real repetitive within a few hours.

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Steerpike
Subtropical Southeastern Michigan
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January 10, 2011 - 12:53 pm
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Spore was definitely a fail, no question about it.

 

It was like they were afraid to make Far Cry 2 good - I agree with xtal about Clint Hocking, he's a genius and actually a very nice guy too, but this game just infuriated me. The jeep patrols. The fact that there was no... I don't know, storyline to go with the quests. The ridiculous diamond finding. The car repair mechanic. The weapons purchasing system. That there were no people in this war-torn Africa. ARGH! That game makes me angry!

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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Pokey
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January 10, 2011 - 1:55 pm
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I enjoyed Far Cry 2, but I don't need much of a story if the missions are fun. I avoided the road blocks and used the bus or the river to travel around. I didn't care for the diamond finding or the car repair.

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Armand
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January 10, 2011 - 4:33 pm
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What part of car repairs did you guys not like? Just having to do it? The overly simple approach to it? Just curious.

The lack of non-combatants were a little lame, but they sort of explain it off in the beginning by mentioning just about everyone who could has left town. Still, yeah, I hear you on the lack of people who aren't trying to kill you.

Jarrod
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January 10, 2011 - 4:37 pm
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Transformers War for Cybertron - it's a pretty fast run and gun kinda game, made faster by transforming into speedy vehicles.  People look at my like I have two heads when I say it's pretty good.

 

I've had friends try Portal, but then not like it.  What the hell?

A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. – The Teachings of Don Juan

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Pokey
California
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January 10, 2011 - 4:51 pm
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Armand said:

What part of car repairs did you guys not like? Just having to do it? The overly simple approach to it? Just curious.

 


Just having to do it at all. I don't like repairing things and it seemed to happen often and at the most inconvenient times, when I'd like to get out of here fast but my jeep is busted. It was a minor complaint though. I don't like doing things that seem like achievments either.

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Steerpike
Subtropical Southeastern Michigan
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January 10, 2011 - 6:31 pm
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Exactly. I also disliked that you swapped vehicles more often than underwear... in a few missions you'd get a "special" vehicle as reward for some mission; considering how often they went over cliffs they weren't much of a reward.

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

Finkbug
Maine
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January 10, 2011 - 7:40 pm
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I can't defend the mechanics of Farcry2: it is a bad game. There are lovely small moments like the one Armand mentioned but beyond that, blech.

Why I think it's worth having played was the game sneaking up from behind and smacking decades of accumulated game story expectations out of my head.

Step 1: looks great, runs great, ooh car blows up real purty

Step 2: combat is hard, unless the AI seizes up and NPCs start doing end zone dances

Step 3: this is boring

Step 4: EVERYTHING I DO MAKES THE CONFLICT WORSE. I wasn't playing a hero or an anti-hero, I was playing a dimestore Shiva. Every possible action tore another small chunk of stability from the nation.

 

That realization earned a nod of respect--and a game uninstall.

grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!

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Hanover
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January 11, 2011 - 2:46 pm
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"Still, yeah, I hear you on the lack of people who aren't trying to kill you."

 

That reminds me of the first Thief.  It starts out great when you are sneaking around other humans...unfortunately it takes a turn and the majority of the missions have you sneaking around monsters which made it a lot less fun.

Thief II provided a lot more human-based missions.

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