Q&A: March 10th, 2021

The Great Leveler Asks
If you could re-experience a game for the first time what would it be and why?

Spec Ops is normally what comes to my mind, though it is one of those games that just gets more and more detailed the deeper you look into its story. 

DaCody Asks
What is your favorite movie soundtrack?

I won't call these answers definitive, and I can't pick one, but Tron Legacy, Senna, Annihilation, Virgin Suicides, and most of Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross' stuff gets endless repeats from me. I notice with films, its rarer for whole OSTs to blow me away, and its one or two songs that really stick with me, things like Evey Reborn from V for Vendetta or The Car Chase from A Beautiful Mind.

GiantPurplePen15 Asks
Do you read comic books? If so, have you read Invincible? (Highly recommend it if you haven't)

Absolutely! If you go back in the recommendations catalog, I've even recommended a couple, though I've been terrible about catching up. Both Books and Comics are quite time consuming, and I'm already consuming a pretty time consuming art-form.

I can't say that I've read Invincible, though I'm guessing if its Kirkman, that it's only a classical take of Superheroes on the surface.

Kacey Asks
Where the hell do you even find information about games for Years Later? I'm trying to find stuff about Test Drive amd it's just. Not anywhere I look.

I always start with going to IGN and Gamespot, and going through every article, video, interview, or audio clip. I liken it to Pearl Hunting, it's mostly just yard after yard of phlegm, but occasionally, you find what you're looking for, or something you never expected, which is often even better.

I also find that people's ancient theories logged on forums can sometimes point you to areas of information you wouldn't find from official sources. I've been lucky enough in recent years to be able to contact peers in-case they know anything, but a lot of "research" is more often tedium.

Though, that's what you sign up for.

Unless you just wanna wing it.

Or stop caring.

SandrainCloud90 Asks
What are some pet peeves of yours when it comes to games criticism?

Where do I start?

I've really backed away over the years from touting my "objectivity" or offering up arm-chair ideas on how to make things bigger without a greater point attached, because I realized going down that road is as endless as it is pointless. If you tell a game developer they should've done something their budget, resources, or team couldn't allow, your feedback is useless. Its like telling Ford their latest hatchback should've been a GT40. 

So when I see professionals do both of those things, it irks me. There's an absolute importance in using objective information, you can't say Mario isn't a platformer no matter how emotionally attached you are to the concept. At the same time, I find the constant discourse about a game's defined genre, feature-set, balance statistics to be life-threateningly dull.

Though part of my own problem is falling for those discussions, and I've only made recent efforts to correct that. I love talking about games, but really, I should be playing them, not explaining to a stranger on Twitter how changing dumb camera shots in Mass Effect isn't censorship.

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