SuicidalSnowman

 I picked up this in the Steam Indie Games Pack that was available deeply discounted on the Mac steam release.  All the games are the play anywhere type, where you can purchase them once, and then play on PC or Mac.  I am pretty sure the entire pack was $20, although the total value was listed at $60.  It had World of Goo, however, which I have been dying to play for a long time, and Machinarium, which I had seen a quick look of on GiantBomb, and Vinny was pretty adamant that it was a good game, so I figured why not, I'll take the other three as freebies.

AYIM is so far, the most disappointing of all the games.  Although the art style is, quite simply, amazing, the rest of the game is so far lackluster.  The mechanics are cool, but there is a ton of trial and error, and the level design is uninspired.  There is a lot of guessing where to turn next (pun intended), although I will concede the checkpoints are very cool, and do provide some direction.

My real problem, at least early on, is that there are times when it makes more sense to reset the level because you hit a checkpoint, only to find out you need to go back four checkpoints earlier to grab a rock or bat you need for the next challenge.  In a game where moving through the level is the challenge, backtracking is an exercise in frustration.

I'll probably continue playing, however, as I only put in about a half hour, and the art is really something, plus there are steam achievements, but this is my early feedback.    
 
Also, if you want to read more of my posts, check out my regular gaming blog.  

I have a few: Obviously GTA:VC and GTA:SA, but also some of the music from K:Jah in GTA:3. 
 
Tony Hawk games, yes.  But again I knew most of those. 
 
Aggressive Inline, especially the Black Sheep, POD, and a few others.  That game actually had a better alternative soundtrack than the TH games of the time.  (That game also introduced the idea of getting challenges from people in the game world...) 
 
I obviously knew the Beatles before the Rock Band game, but it took me much, much deeper into their music. 
 
I think Still Alive by Lisa Miskovsky from the Mirror's Edge Soundtrack is an amazing song, although I haven't found another song by her that I like. 
 
I know OP said no Nobou Uematsu, but I would just offer that through the FFIV re-release on PSX that came with the game's sountrack, I got into his music from other games, including some that I either didn't play, or at least had just skipped right through.  I personally point to FFIX as my favorite, including the songs worked on by his two disciples.  
 
  

I suppose I should clarify, by competitively I mean not in the "I got this in the Indie Game bundle on steam so I tried three online games since I had it sitting there" category, but the "I really enjoy this game, here is what I have found works" category. 
 
I love this type of game, just wanted to see if anyone else out there was interested or knew where the community hung out.

Interesting post, I think as others have pointed out, both RTS and Fighting games have relatively steep learning curves in the current generations.  For someone who started playing them back at the original release of Starcraft and C&C, it is somewhat more manageable (although I will never play online).  Same thing with fighting games, my first fighter was SFII, and I played the first Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and Soul Caliber.  Again, I will never play online. 
 
I think the type of game that I have never really understood is the open world action/platofrmer.  Infamous, Prototype, even the last Jak and Daxter, I just never really cared.  Even games like Super Mario Galaxy, which I can tell is a technically proficient game, with nice design and something of a story, I just can't bring myself to finish.

" If you feel Final Fantasy VII has a sad story, that's you. But let's say someone else comes along to the Sad Story page and disagrees with you. So he removes it from the page. And then you add it back, and the two of you edit war over it. And since the concept is subjective, neither of you are really wrong. You have different opinions on what's sad, so an open, collaborative page doesn't work. Nobody owns a page, it's collaborative. You can't expect everyone to agree on something that is based entirely on opinion. So it's better that those pages not exist, and that you instead put those opinions in a form that you can control. Forum posts, blogs, reviews, lists, guides. Each of those are better outlets for opinion pieces. "

" @SuicidalSnowman said:

 Immersion is a general term that refers to a game's ability to create a convincing fantasy world environment.  
 

You can't measure if a game is immersive; ergo you can't make this into a concept page. It would be like making a concept page for every game with a sad story. "

 Immersion is a somewhat nebulous concept that is subjectively defined, however it is an important concept in the development of games.  Initially, video games lacked the sophistication and technical capability to fully immerse the player in the game world.  For example, no one will ever confuse a game of Pong with anything that resembles reality, as it is flat, contains odd sounds, and lacks depth. 
 
 As games developed and technical capabilities increased, however, the potential for a fully immersive game experience developed.  Game developers began to use new graphical and story telling techniques to pull the player farther into the game world.  An early example of this is Myst for PC systems.  Myst used photorealistic, pre drawn backgrounds to give players a beautiful and detailed world to explore.  Myst also used a first person perspective, and offered players minimal instructions, helping to pull the player into the game. 
 
After this, however, immersion somewhat stalled as an important concept.  While games continued to improve, with better 3d graphics and sounds, there was little emphasis on increasing realism.  For example, Super Mario 64, a shining example of overall game design, technical capabilities, and almost universally well received, still always felt like a video game. The player was tasked with objectives such as obtaining enough "stars" to open new worlds, received tasks from Lakitus through scrolling speech, and fought Bowser by hitting him three times. 
 
Shortly thereafter a leap forward in immersion came from sports games.  Baseball, football, and hockey games all took major leaps on the Playstation and Saturn to improve their presentation.  This meant liscencing agreements with EPSN to use actual television graphics to display scores and stats.  Also, NHL games began dropping the health meter during player fights.  Football games began showing Jumbotron replays in-between downs.  Game reviews noted that these games were getting closer to watching the real thing. 
 
This development began to spread to other genres as well.  In the shooter genre, games such as SOCOM increased the level of realism.  SOCOM used highly technical terms to refer to weapons and military equipment, for example you did not obtain a "Rifle" but an M16.  Additionally, players could only carry limited equipment and ammo, as opposed to previous games where players could pull out seemingly endless weapons.  Also, there were no healthkits, and one or two bullets would completely incapacitate the player.  Finally, SOCOM asked the player to kill as few enemies as possible, in keeping with the real-world implications. 
 
Games such as RPGs began to see similar developments.  For example, Final Fantasy X developed a full world with a complete backstory, political tensions, and social mores.  Although the heavy emphasis on story is common in RPGs, FFX is a good example of the PS2 generation taking it further.  FFX, for example, reduced the HUD during random battles, making it appear that the player had simply run across dangerous monsters, rather than engaged in a strategy game.  Also, the mini game integration increased. Blitzball was created a sport, and NPCs would reference the sport throughout the game.  
 
In the current generation, this has reached new heights.  GTA4 is a good example of this.  In GTA4, the game world is fully developed to be a realistic and immersive city.  The city is gritty and dirty in places, much like in real life.  The player has a cell phone on which he can receive or make calls, and a computer that can actually access fake internet sites.  The radio plays both music and advertisements.  These all help pull the player into the game world, and, in a sense, forget he or she is playing a game.     

Today, I participated in this forum discussion on the concept Immersion.  Basically, the forum is asking if perhaps the topic should be deleted. 
 
Let me start off by saying that no, so far I do not believe that it should be deleted.  So I set about attempting to write a full article. 
 
@LordAndrew has weighed in, and although I have only been active here at GB a short time (despite following these guys from way back in their Gamespot, and even Arrow Pointing Down, days), he seems to have some idea of what is going on around here.  Plus, a mod has spoken. 
 
Therefore, I will be taking this suggestion, and doing a series of blog posts about Immersion, as it relates to games. 
 
While this is not my personal crusade to have this topic approved, I think it is a very important gaming concept, and therefore would like to share my knowledge with the community and receive community feedback. 
 
Contributions HIGHLY encouraged, these days I am too busy to stay up on all the games. 
 
This will be post one.  
 

Immersion: Is it a concept?