@veektarius: I didn't say most popular. I said best. I'm aware that MOBAS are clearly the most popular, despite being gaming's equivalent of The Human Centipede (by which I mean they keep crapping the exact same game into people's mouths in an ongoing chain of horror, not that they have managed to create even something at the quality of that miserable film).
But the number of great roguelikes is out of control: Spelunky (the greatest game of the decade), FTL, Nuclear Throne, Enter the Gungeon, Rogue Legacy. Darkest Dungeons, Binding of Isaac, Cataclysm:Dark Days Ahead. Invisible Inc. Dark Souls borrows heavily from roguelikes. All interesting. All fun. Completely varied in style, gameplay, etc.
Of course it's less popular than MOBAS - it requires thought and planning to make them interesting, they can't just be copied. MOBAS are, like CS and Bejeweled, casual games aimed at people who just want to play the same game over and over again. Roguelikes are for people who want to see new things.
@davekap: I used to speed-solve sliding puzzles. I seem to be one of the few Giant Bomb fans who actually enjoys them. It is neat that this game "teaches you to improve" at them (though I'd argue that if people actually sat down with them, they'll naturally improve anyway.)
I still wouldn't want to do them in a crafting game. I already modded my copy of Starbound because the half-second wait to craft items enraged me. When I'm building something in a game, I want it now. I already made the effort to gather the resources, let me have my stuff.
And that's beyond the fact that the constant and incessant FTP feels malicious in a very cynical way.
The multiplayer reminds me of the video game from the common room in Ender's Game, where the players would try to dig tunnels and lure their opponents into them. Cool to see that.
@picklebucket: Explanation =/= justification, dude. It's a dumb, kinda goofy game which I don't think I will ever play.
I get that you're apparently horrified by the game existing. I'm horrified by the existence of movies like Saw and Hostel (and by people who find those movies sexually arousing). But just because I don't think the game needs to be nuked from orbit it doesn't mean I'm going through some weird cognitive dissonance so I can sleep better at night.
@picklebucket: I don't hear Jeff 'squirming to defend the creepiness' at all. He made the (I think valid) points that 1) it's not really trying to be porn, and most of its audience isn't viewing it as such. 2) it's more like a raunchy comedy. 3) Yes, it's weird. 4) Japan is weird sometimes. 5) It's creepy through an American lens. 6) Japan still isn't America.
Also, he's been pretty tongue-in-cheek about the games since the beginning. I think he's done a good job of being fair to people who would like them while still clealy having a laugh at the games expense.
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