@fledeye: Nah nah, I get that 'it becomes automatic to drive a manual' is a thing people do. I drive enough to have experienced the same "My body is trained to know how to do x, y and z,'.
What I was trying to get it was that, as someone who has only ever drove automatics, my mind just can't process "Why...why would you force yourself to learn more steps when you could just off-load that stuff to the car". To me, learning 'how to automate' manual driving takes more effort then learning 'how to automate' er..automatic. (I wish I was not sleepy enough to have better phrasing but I hope my point gets across.)
That said, mine might very well be not just an American perspective, but a upper middle class, lives in a place where "every" adult has too own a car to function in society. And that might be even more refined down to "American Suburbia". I grant you, price, demand, and I would even hazard to say location in so much as "I know people who live in rural who absolutely swear manual>automatic cause they can control better on less then ideal road conditions" Which is an arguement I buy.
So uh..I'll plead to writing that when I was a bit loopy and a bit self-focused. It was not meant to read as "You are all absolutely wrong!" when I started to write it..it was just meant to be "Standing where I am, I'm utterly out of the loop/don't think I am capable of getting it".
@ebinbraveheart: As someone who has never learned to drive a manual..the concept that somehow its easier to get too "Driving is automatic" on a manual confuses me to no end.
Like my driving style goes. "Put a car in drive, set the cruise-control, watch road/mirrors etc." All my actual attention is paid to whats going on around me, with the car doing essenitally everything automatically for me unless/until something going on around me requires I take control, or turn the cruise control off for 5 secs (or click it to speed up..which I have done so much I automatically can sense how much 1 or 2 'go faster' bumps on my cars CC will speed me up) to match the traffic around me, or speed up to pass someone or etc.
Like I get "Dude cruise control is not good on..." or whatever but to me, the concept of having to add in 'activate the clutch, change gears' into that is mind-boggling. Not just 'I can't see myself ever doing it" but "why would anyone bother?"
Automatics do all the stuff you've got to do manually for you..why would you not do that? Aside, obviously, from vehicles that need a lot of personal imput (Farm Equipment, off road vehicles, etc)..the vast (Vast) majority of people just turn a car on, drive from Point A to B and back to A..done.
So uh yah. If I somehow had to learn to drive a manual and was ban from ever driving an Automatic again (some weird 'your rich uncle left you his fortune but requires you only drive stick to keep it" sorta fairy-tale) I am sure if I had too, It would take awhile but I'd get used too it. But..its like being able to do super complicated math in your head. We have calculators..why bother.
...even if I am a math nerd and like doing number-games in my head. So I utterly understand some people are always gonna want the feel/control I am sure manual makes you feel like you've got. I just figure 99% of the population is on the side of "Drive, Reverse, Park..all I need to know".
This really is the first VR game I've seen where I am convinced "The VR aspect is absolutely integral to making this as cool and worth doing as it is" while also being what I'd consider a full game and not a 1-3 hour experience or a super simple 'Think of a game you could play in an Arcade in the 80s and now you've got it"
I realize its just PUBG but VR, but with some polish and some style added to the game. Speakers in the walls announcing each player kill and etc, this kinda thing just screams "Now this, this is what makes a full fledged AAA VR game". Obviously this is kinda..no where near that? But man, this is the first time, as I said, where I'm convinced developers are starting to progress enough in VR that..well.
Skyrim or Fallout 4 in VR seems neat, but really its just a cool but tacked-on mode. This? This gives me hope that by 2025 we might see a truly amazing Witcher 3 level made from the ground up for VR (even if I am sure they would still have to sell a non-VR version).
Heck, can you imagine if the next Elder Scrolls game is being delayed (cause if they don't announce and release it this year/sping of 2019..hmm) that we might be seeing Bethesda finally create a new engine, with VR in mind from the get-go. And can you imagine just how much of a field day the modding community would have with such a game if it wasn't the 6/10 'meh' that FO4 was?
Granted...a lot of time goes into to some very sketchy mods (not that I'm one to tell people what to spend there time making/downloading/doing on there own) but man..
I'm so close to being able to shoot lighting and fire from my hands, cast a spell and fly around the world, summon elementals and slay dragons (while riding on a tamed dragon why not) I can almost taste it..and this game of all games is what finally, finally has triggered me to go "Welp, time to start saving to get a supped up PC and get into VR.
I've been on the fence for so long, waiting for it to fail. Waiting for developers to decide the only things worth making/we will ever get are shooting gallerys/1-3 hour experiences, Decent, but not worth dropping two to three thousand dollars getting my hands on. Now? Now I realize that, while I doubt Skyrim VR provides the experience I want from the future 'Ur-Game'. VR is getting closer and closer to being a must-have experience if, like me, you want to play all the biggest/most impactful games in any given year.
@opusofthemagnum: Its a base system called "Powered by the Apocalypse" with a number of differnt settings that can be used in it. (I.e. campaign books which provide classes and rules for fantasy, gothic horror, angels vs demons, and etc). Its not a rule-set like Dungeons and dragons where everything is very specifically stated out. Instead, the system is designed, based line, to be extremely open-ended. It is literally just 2d6+ at most 3. With, I think don't quote me, 2-6 being a failure, 7-10(or 9) being a partial, and 11 (or 10) + being a full success.
The rules, as Austin reads them out a few times are super generic. Like, full success on combat isn't just 'you deal X damage' its "You deal a lot of damage, or take none, or take control of the situation, or intimidate/frighten your enemy, pick 2". The player picks 2 options and the DM narrates based on the scene what happens.
There are rules for Hitpoints, damage dealt and ect. Generally speaking if you take the 'deal a lot of damage' then you'd deal whatever the rating or etc in wounds too your opponent your weapons/skills indicate. I don't have a book infront of me but this too isn't much more complex then "deal 1-3, you've got 3-6 hp total).
PbtA is a free-form system, like a number of others. Its designed to be this kind of game, a lot more story-telling and roleplay and improve. The players are suppose to, for the most part, be able to try and do anything they want, with the rules being generic enough that, while it does ultimately come down too "roll 2d6+your relavent statistic/ability" the outcome is as much descriptive as it is mechanical.
On a whole unrelated to answering that question note. I as said in the last one of these. I plan to setup a GB community RP group, which I'll start off DMing for sometime in the next few months. The plan, tenatively, is to offer to run starter scenarios of a bunch of differnt systems so anyone who is interested can participate in the kind of rpg they might find interesting. Plans at the moment include basic High Fantasy Dnd. But also Cosmic Horror, Scifi space opera, Superheros, Modern day spy/crime solving investigation and a near-future post zombie outbreak where people play mercenaries trying to make a dime, provide for their home base, and prep for the last big score.
So uh..look for that in the forums sometime soon guys. And again I'll offer, pop me a DM if you want me to alert you when what I am planning goes live. Not for a few months (I have a family member who is currently in Hospise care, I do not anticipate being in a good DMing mood until the grieving period (which I expect to start in a month or less) is over. To explain why I am saying 'will be a bit before I put this all up"))
Have not finished it yet, but all these comments and what I've heard so far leave me echoing what's been said.
I will say, Dan playing this week now reminds me not of the first game I ever ran for my friends where 'they finally got it' That was the first session. This is much more like the early days of DMing. Outrageous plans and the sheer joy of being able to do absolutely anything resulting in some very silly, even sometimes stupid plans.
But that isn't a critiism of them, or Dan. Some of the very best sessions i Have run have involved players latching onto an incredibly bad plan, and steam-rolling towards getting there.. The rollercoaster of 'this is so dumb" leading too "...I Can't believe that worked?!" can produce some absolutely amazing memories.
And of course they do. Good stories are all about ups and downs, starts and stops. Players having a creative idea that maybe..isn't quite perfect..becomes a down-ward slope they caused, and invests them not just in making it work anyway, dragging this foward and up, but makes the ultimate climax a DM might have planned (I.e. the big boss fight at the end is designed to be winnable) even more personal. After all, their plan got them there, and looking back it was "man that was crazy! But we somehow still managed to make it work!" or, sometimes even better "Man we screwed that up but the trainwreck was so much fun!"
As I said, havn't finished this, will comment more when I do, so no spoilers (i don't know how it ends yet!) But man I am so glad Dan seems like he enjoyed the first game enough to be as invested in this one as he was. That, that is what its like to introduce people to rpgs.
As I said before, not everyone will be into them. But so many people who start from where Dan was months ago "I don't understand this at all" can go from that level of dis-interest and complete ignorance about table top roleplaying...to enjoying themselves and having a great time with friends if only they sit down with a willingness to try and learn and do their best. Dan did that, and was seemingly rewarded with an experience he at least seems to be enjoying.
I absolutely absolutely recommend anyone who might have never touched rpgs like this take that to heart. Maybe it won't ever be for you, but you might also be completely shocked how much you enjoy something new if you'll just give it a decent chance.
@puppykisses: Chill. They will get too it. That is a series that takes time to edit, only features 2 of the staff in a given episode, and spoilers for anyone not aware of the game For all we know they have recorded the last episode already. The base invasion happen, they were caught off guard, had only rookie guys with none-upgraded equipment, and got game-overed.
Where as this series is pick up and play. The whole staff can get involved, and honestly might be a lot more popular.
@slaughts: Graci. This has got me deciding to put up a forum post (once the normal front page is back) to recruit for something I've been trying to do for ages, get back into being a DM regularly online. Maybe GB will prove the place to find players.
And hey, if people are interested, PM me.
That said..
@pikapuff: You know, when everyone else was looking forward to continuing, when Vinny's twitter posts a link to this and says he had a lot of fun, when Austin seemed like he was absolutely into letting Dan and company have the freedom to do what he wanted. When he not only took Dan's idea, but rolled with it and let Dan's creativity feed into the narrative and gameplay. When Dan decided to try and come at the problem presented too him in his own way, used the systems the game had, and addressed the train snake in character...why I think everyone at the table was having a lot of fun.
But then you ended it with "I don't care if he is genuine or not, I don't buy it" so, while in this case he absolutely is, I suppose nothing he could do would convince you. At least your honest about that. That said, everything your critical of is IMO completely incorrect.
@doncabesa: worry not. I did not enjoy what I played of Nier either. Its not for everyone. Not every game must be for everyone, even the ones that are for some people (like Alex) GotY material.
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