Unpopular Opinions about Video Games

[MembersSchoolPizza]

To weigh in a little late on the Stormcloak/Empire thing...

Ulfric strikes me as one of those people who has really good ideas.... in his head. They sound good. They are the type of ideas you hear and agree with because they sound right. "Skyrim for the Nords? That makes sense!".

But he's not really competent enough to be what he needs to be to make those ideas come to pass. He's not particularly smart or capable, or even likable. He exhibits no real traits a leader needs. He's charismatic, in a fatalistic sort of way, but only as a "champion of the downtrodden" sort of thing. He fails as an actual leader. His only real lever that got him this far is he managed to master a Shout. Which is impressive and makes him tough in a one on one fight or duel, but doesn't really help him militaristically or anything. It's just a party trick.

 

[The Last Stand]

I don't like using voice chat in games. That doesn't mean I want it gone or computer moderated.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

To weigh in a little late on the Stormcloak/Empire thing...

Ulfric strikes me as one of those people who has really good ideas.... in his head. They sound good. They are the type of ideas you hear and agree with because they sound right. "Skyrim for the Nords? That makes sense!".

But he's not really competent enough to be what he needs to be to make those ideas come to pass. He's not particularly smart or capable, or even likable. He exhibits no real traits a leader needs. He's charismatic, in a fatalistic sort of way, but only as a "champion of the downtrodden" sort of thing. He fails as an actual leader. His only real lever that got him this far is he managed to master a Shout. Which is impressive and makes him tough in a one on one fight or duel, but doesn't really help him militaristically or anything. It's just a party trick.

Do we actually see Ulfric do any of those things to form an opinion, though? He's occasionally leaning over a map with Galmar, but that's just set dressing. We never actually see him do any administration or governance, presumably because he's busy with the war. IDK we would need to actually see him govern to write him off as a leader. YMMV, I guess.

Don't forget also that Ulfric and Galmar are veterans of the Great War. He definitely has military experience, that's for sure.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Isn't that common in shooters? Like in Grand Theft Auto Online where you'd wait for enemies to stand up again because 99% of the time headshots don't register when enemies are on the ground, and bodyshots do no damage whatsoever. Or Earth Defense Force 5, where, if you're going for headshots on the colonists, you wait for them to do their flinching animation so you get a better shot at the head instead of hitting a hand.

It's fine in action games, but it's weird to do in turn based strategy games. It's like a reflex test in a maths exam. It's odd.

No, it doesn't. This has been investigated again and again. The RNG in XCOM exhibits no discernible bias and behaves exactly like you'd expect it to. Human brains just aren't wired to understand randomness, so if something has a 5% of failure, and they fail twice, they think the game is rigged, when in fact the only way to prevent double-failures is to rig the game.

Yes, it does. It gives aliens a flat +10 to all shots, and +10 to crits. That's a flat bonus, not a multiplier. So even if you're in heavy cover, with smoke, and whatever else. There's still +10%. The maths gets complicated, but the point is you get fucked over as far as RNG goes. 1 in 10 shots that should miss will hit, at minimum. And when you're shot at dozens of times, and on higher difficulties your soldiers have less heath, it's completely rigged against you.

 

[Calandrino]

That being said, if I were designing a game where critical events are RNG-based, you can bet your cherry red ass I would make it appear random, but it wouldn't be random at all. If an attack has a 50% chance to hit, and the player misses, the next opportunity will still display 50%, but will silently kick up to 55%. Another miss? 60%. And so on and so forth until you're guaranteed a hit. The player won't care because they're just happy to progress, and will feel luckier than they actually are

I think any attempt to make gamers not be whiny crybabies who blame their failures on everyone and everything else is ultimately doomed to failure

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Dark Souls characters are the literal avatars of their players: fat, low stamina, no muscle so they can't move their weapons quickly and swing in super-wide arcs no real swordsman would ever do.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Do we actually see Ulfric do any of those things to form an opinion, though? He's occasionally leaning over a map with Galmar, but that's just set dressing. We never actually see him do any administration or governance, presumably because he's busy with the war. IDK we would need to actually see him govern to write him off as a leader. YMMV, I guess.

Don't forget also that Ulfric and Galmar are veterans of the Great War. He definitely has military experience, that's for sure.

The only military experience Ulfric has is getting captured by Princess Peach. Gets caught by the Thalmor, gets caught by Tullius, if he were to lead an independent Skyrim against the Dominion, he'd get caught again, leaving Galmar and the Dragonborn to run things back in Windhelm. Which, depending on the DB, might actually be good if the DB's a backstabbing pile of shit who wants his own domain. He can just write off Ulfric as a casualty of war, have Galmar die in a dragon-related ''accident'', make peace with the Dominion, and rule Skyrim as his own dictatorship while the Dominion and the Empire tear each other apart.

Dark Souls characters are the literal avatars of their players: fat, low stamina, no muscle so they can't move their weapons quickly and swing in super-wide arcs no real swordsman would ever do.

That probably explains half the fanbase for the Souls games. If they could beat undead horrors and epic boss fights as that kind of character, they might be able to do it in real life. Even though real-life sword combat is probably closer to Jedi Outcast/Academy where it's totally random and you can easily be gutted like a fish by some rando with a blade.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

The only military experience Ulfric has is getting captured by Princess Peach. Gets caught by the Thalmor, gets caught by Tullius, if he were to lead an independent Skyrim against the Dominion, he'd get caught again, leaving Galmar and the Dragonborn to run things back in Windhelm. Which, depending on the DB, might actually be good if the DB's a backstabbing pile of shit who wants his own domain. He can just write off Ulfric as a casualty of war, have Galmar die in a dragon-related ''accident'', make peace with the Dominion, and rule Skyrim as his own dictatorship while the Dominion and the Empire tear each other apart.

Did Ulfric plow your sister? Jesus.

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

The only military experience Ulfric has is getting captured by Princess Peach. Gets caught by the Thalmor, gets caught by Tullius, if he were to lead an independent Skyrim against the Dominion, he'd get caught again, leaving Galmar and the Dragonborn to run things back in Windhelm. Which, depending on the DB, might actually be good if the DB's a backstabbing pile of shit who wants his own domain. He can just write off Ulfric as a casualty of war, have Galmar die in a dragon-related ''accident'', make peace with the Dominion, and rule Skyrim as his own dictatorship while the Dominion and the Empire tear each other apart.


That probably explains half the fanbase for the Souls games. If they could beat undead horrors and epic boss fights as that kind of character, they might be able to do it in real life. Even though real-life sword combat is probably closer to Jedi Outcast/Academy where it's totally random and you can easily be gutted like a fish by some rando with a blade.

Swordplay is like Ghost of Tsushima and if you don't have armor, it's on Lethal difficulty. It's not exactly random since a lot of martial arts have similar stances and approaches, but it's like playing chess really really fast.

 

[The Ugly One]

Randomness bias always reminds me of that funny story about how iTunes' engineers had to make the way it randomly chooses songs less random in order to appear more random. Because the simple random implementation had too many repeats, or would linger on a single artist for too long.

That being said, if I were designing a game where critical events are RNG-based, you can bet your cherry red ass I would make it appear random, but it wouldn't be random at all. If an attack has a 50% chance to hit, and the player misses, the next opportunity will still display 50%, but will silently kick up to 55%. Another miss? 60%. And so on and so forth until you're guaranteed a hit. The player won't care because they're just happy to progress, and will feel luckier than they actually are. Of course, I'd try to do playtesting to get the percentage curves to feel honest, because players would eventually catch on that they're winning a few too many hits than they should.

Most games with RNG hits have various powers and widgets to augment characters. It might be cool if for something like a capstone power, you could have something explicit like, "100% chance to hit a missed 95%+ shot," "100% chance to hit if your ally missed an enemy," "100% chance to hit if you expend 3 extra action points on a shot," etc.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Did Ulfric plow your sister? Jesus.

No, he did not. It's just that there's no evidence of him being a good military man, that's all.

Dude gets captured in the war against the Thalmor. OK, that's fine, everyone makes mistakes. But in his war against Tullius, Ulfric gets captured again, and if it wasn't for Alduin, he'd be dead. And this is Tullius having mostly local recruits too poor to afford metal armor. The Emperor ignored his requests for more reinforcements since most of the Legion is down south preparing for Rount 2 of ''let's go kill the Thalmor''. Meaning that Tullius had a completely shit army, and he beat Ulfric.

Again, there's not much in his military career outside of being a male Princess Peach. He's not the kind I'd pick to lead a war.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

And that's what Bethesda's become...a studio mandated to do shit by the numbers and not really try anything new. People called Fallout 4 "Skyrim With Guns", and now Starfield is "Skyrim In Space", and...frankly, that's too true.

I'm waiting for Skyrim in the void.

 

[The Ugly One]

No, he did not. It's just that there's no evidence of him being a good military man, that's all.

Dude gets captured in the war against the Thalmor. OK, that's fine, everyone makes mistakes. But in his war against Tullius, Ulfric gets captured again, and if it wasn't for Alduin, he'd be dead. And this is Tullius having mostly local recruits too poor to afford metal armor. The Emperor ignored his requests for more reinforcements since most of the Legion is down south preparing for Rount 2 of ''let's go kill the Thalmor''. Meaning that Tullius had a completely shit army, and he beat Ulfric.

Again, there's not much in his military career outside of being a male Princess Peach. He's not the kind I'd pick to lead a war.

Besides, if Ulfric was so smart, he probably should have noticed some lone autist with a massive warhammer was making trouble and taken care of him long before he smacked him with foooooooooos RO DAAAAHHHH and ended his short reign.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

No, he did not. It's just that there's no evidence of him being a good military man, that's all.

Dude gets captured in the war against the Thalmor. OK, that's fine, everyone makes mistakes. But in his war against Tullius, Ulfric gets captured again, and if it wasn't for Alduin, he'd be dead. And this is Tullius having mostly local recruits too poor to afford metal armor. The Emperor ignored his requests for more reinforcements since most of the Legion is down south preparing for Rount 2 of ''let's go kill the Thalmor''. Meaning that Tullius had a completely shit army, and he beat Ulfric.

Again, there's not much in his military career outside of being a male Princess Peach. He's not the kind I'd pick to lead a war.

I don't remember Peach personally leading an assault on Bowser's castle (she should, but that's a whole other argument). As for getting captured, that tends to happen when you lead from the front.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

I don't remember Peach personally leading an assault on Bowser's castle (she should, but that's a whole other argument). As for getting captured, that tends to happen when you lead from the front.

Looks like someone didn't play Super Princess Peach.

Also, getting captured by a poorly-equipped, makeshift militia comprised of your countrymen is a sign that you're not a general worthy to lead a war. Getting caught by the Thalmor, fine, the Thalmor have top-of-the-line gear and experienced magicians and tacticians. But Tullius' legions in Skyrim are basically a glorified militia bearing Imperial colors, poorly-funded and equipped, since the real Legion is down south preparing for Part 2 of the war with the Thalmor. Tullius had to make do with whatever morons he could scrape off the streets from Western Skyrim's towns and cities. And yet they captured Ulfric without much trouble, and they were on their way to decapitate him if it wasn't for an actual god showing up to save Ulfric's ass.

Let's just put it this way-Ulfric needs a demigod to win his war for him, and an actual god interceded on his behalf to save him from certain death. Ulfric would've been killed by Tullius if it wasn't for Alduin. If you have to rely on the gods that much, you're not much of a general.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Also, getting captured by a poorly-equipped makeshift militia comprised of your countrymen is a sign that you're not a general worthy to lead a war. Getting caught by the Thalmor, fine, the Thalmor have top-of-the-line gear and experienced magicians and tacticians. But Tullius' legions in Skyrim are basically a glorified militia bearing Imperial colors, poorly-funded and equipped, since the real Legion is down south preparing for Part 2 of the war with the Thalmor. And yet they captured Ulfric without much trouble, and were on their way to decapitate him if it wasn't for an actual god showing up to save Ulfric's ass.

Feel free to post a source on any of that.

Let's just put it this way-Ulfric needs a demigod to win his war for him, and an actual god interceded on his behalf to save him from certain death. Ulfric would've been killed by Tullius if it wasn't for Alduin. If you have to rely on the gods that much, you're not much of a general.

Ulfric got lucky, just like the DragonBorn got lucky. Is the DB a poor warrior, then? The Empire need the DB to win, too.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Feel free to post a source on any of that.

Dude, play the game. When you fight the Empire for the Stormcloaks, most of the Legion troops you see are dudes in leather who are locals. When you ask Tullius about it, he says that the Emperor has refused his requests for reinforcements, because most of the Legion is down south preparing for Part 2 of the Great War, something which Tullius tells you is coming once you win the civil war for the Empire.

Ulfric got lucky, just like the DragonBorn got lucky.

That wasn't lucky. That was divine intervention, since Alduin is a Nordic god.

Is the DB a poor warrior, then? The Empire need the DB to win, too.

Except they didn't. The Empire was about to kill Ulfric before Alduin showed up. Take Alduin and the DB away from the story, and Ulfric's tale would've been that of an insignificant rebel leader that got captured by a rabble Imperial militia and decapitated in short order.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Dude, play the game. When you fight the Empire for the Stormcloaks, most of the Legion troops you see are dudes in leather who are locals. When you ask Tullius about it, he says that the Emperor has refused his requests for reinforcements, because most of the Legion is down south preparing for Part 2 of the Great War, something which Tullius tells you is coming once you win the civil war for the Empire.

It's a stretch to go from that to "glorified militia." There's nothing to suggest that the legions garrisoned in Skyrim are poorly-trained or poorly-equipped. They are probably wearing leather armor because they are skilled in light armor or have roles that require moving quickly.

That wasn't lucky. That was divine intervention, since Alduin is a Nordic god.

This I take exception with. Alduin shows up because he's looking for the Dragonborn. He even targets you specifically if you hang around in the open long enough. Play the game.

Except they didn't. The Empire was about to kill Ulfric before Alduin showed up. Take Alduin and the DB away from the story, and Ulfric's tale would've been that of an insignificant rebel leader that got captured by a rabble Imperial militia and decapitated in short order.

We don't know the circumstances of Ulfric's capture. We don't know the circumstances of his original capture either, for that matter. We don't know anything about Ulfric's service except what we see. That was my original point. You mean a high-value target got captured twice? Holy shit! Nobles and high-ranking officers used to get captured and ransomed all the time, I guess we should write all of them off as shitty leaders. Your whole opinion on Ulfric seems to be based on the fact he got captured + your own personal dislike of him. FWIW Ulfric does seem to learn from his mistakes and doesn't lead in battle until the final push.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Mede Empire is corrupt

Stormcloaks only seem to care about glory and are inept

Neither side is the good side, neither side can defeat the Thalmor. Arguing otherwise is fucking retarded and shows that Bethesda needs to dumb down their storytelling even more for the retarded masses.

 

[Gondolindrim]

Mede Empire is corrupt

Stormcloaks only seem to care about glory and are inept

Neither side is the good side, neither side can defeat the Thalmor. Arguing otherwise is fucking retarded and shows that Bethesda needs to dumb down their storytelling even more for the retarded masses.

Skyrim writing is hilarious in that it causes a lot of people to reveal how stupid and basic they are. Paarthurnax is another example. He used to be a murderous piece of shit, like all dragons, but because he ran and hid he never faced consquences. The Blades are seen as bad because they're like "Hey wait a minute" and want him to answer for it. Did Paarthurnax redeem himself? I suppose you could say that, but since the Greybeards don't really do much, all he really did was spend several thousand years of sitting on top of a mountain.

I think that's why the Thalmor are so cartoonishly evil, they don't trust the players to understand the concept of a looming threat. And they're right.