it's nice to see more people playing Zodiac Age finally =P
Honestly it was the original Super Mario Bros. games, I use to design stages for them with friends in art period in the second grade. I also loved when GamePro would give me guides to level designs for the Sonic titles. I don't think I began to really take it seriously though until Chrono Trigger because it was a game that I simply kept discovering stuff for long after I thought I had mastered it. It gets some flak for some of it's quirky logic but it's kind of staggering how well integrated your choices are. For me, I've always been the type who likes to take things apart and see how it works, so I've been kind of doing that with games since I was little. I would probably say that it's the craftsmanship of a title that is often the most important element to me.
Aah I see, that's a shame. For me it was kinda my gateway into becoming interested in game design, because holy trout the amount of creativity people poured into that game is just an incredible sight to behold, so I was wondering if you'd had an encounter with it yourself. Did you have a particular game that really made you interested in game design?
No I missed that train I'm afraid. I didn't get a PC for myself until the late 90s and by then I was pretty much a console junkie. I've only recently returned to PC games in the last few years and even then, it's still my least favorite mode of gaming.
Since I didn't see it on your list; have you ever played Warcraft III?
I understand that feeling. I know I have some quirky taste which always makes recommending stuff hard for other people.
That's good then =P I'm mainly asking cause I've just made the experience that I have a higher tolerance than most, at least when it comes to stories I hear people praise a lot, because I always find it interesting to see just what people see in a story even if I don't end up agreeing. Something I've had trouble with in regards to recommendations I give in the past
If the premise is interesting enough, I can suffer through a slow pace but the payoff has to match up. 358/2 and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy are good examples of stories what have incredibly slow and dry pacing but had such a great climax that I can forgive it. On the other hand, FFX is a game that felt like it dragged on because the plot was a bit too predictable for me.
Hmm, makes sense... I guess the better question to ask is, are you easily bored? In particular in cases when not much plot is being moved forward but just setting and characters slowly but surely getting established.
It depends, though one of the factors that can change things for me is knowing what type of story it is. Most of the time I prefer a good hook early, but there are enough stories I've loved where the hook doesn't pop up until much later. Lovecraft for instance had a bad habit of not establishing a real strong hook until halfway through some of his short stories for me.
