Introduction and Captions by Ilmari
Our group of reviewers is growing! We got eager posts detailing his wish to play and blog some games from Mad Welshman already back in December, but our posting schedules were then pretty filled up. He may not yet have appeared in the comments, but Mad Welshman has been reviewing games in another setting for few years. He'll be starting his review experience in The Adventure Gamer with a Missed Classic in February - we'll see what game he has chosen in couple of weeks. But now for his answers!
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| He sure looks mad, but I wouldn't have guessed he's a Welsh! |
My Home Country Is... Wales, glorious Wales, land of harps, sheep, rain, and interesting myth cycles which may predate Arthurian myth, but we're not sure because we only have two main written sources, and they're both post christianisation and waaaay past our use of the oral tradition, go us!
My Age Is... 32, which translates to "I'm 30 something" until I can't lie about it any more.
The First Adventure Game I Played Was... either Granny's Garden or Twin Kingdom Valley, primary school was mostly a bit of a blur, barring some things like playing King's Quest IV and Mixed Up Nursery Rhymes at an education expo where we were extolling the virtue of computers in education. Got away with it, too!
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| I assure you, this is NOT the Missed Classic we will be seeing--- |
My Favourite Adventure Game is... actually a tough call. I loved a lot of the Infocom games for their humorous writing (And Graham Cluely's work for exactly the same reason), but at the same time, there's the Space Quest series, Sam and Max Hit the Road, the Blackwell series, Grey Matter... Er, let's go with Sam and Max hit the road, for the amusing dialogue and strange world. Ask me again next week, it'll probably be something else.
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| Who wouldn't like these two? |
When I'm Not Playing Games, I Like To... Tabletop roleplay, go for long walks, the occasional amateur freehold rock-climbing, swimming, reading, doodling, singing, playing guitar badly, attempting to compose music and make my own games and aaaaaaaaah not enough time in the world, dammit!
I Like My Games In... mostly digital, these days. But I do seriously miss the days of cluebooks and cloth maps, and when a dev makes a package for a game involving such things, my wallet gets this strange itching. Which is stranger still, because it's definitely not a sense organ of mine...
The Thing I Miss About Old Games Is... not a whole lot beyond the attention to things that came with the box, to be honest. I appreciate both old games and new, and prefer to judge them on their own merits. Indie developers do a fair bit of experimentation, AAAs do... Ah, I was about to say polish, but that's not always true, is it? Something, then... But old games were just as prone to being rushed, or development difficulties, as any modern game. We just tend to catch them in the act quicker these days.
The One TV Show I Never Miss Is... technically none. I mainly watch my TV series via DVDs or VOD, so I can better organise my free time (IE devote a day to watching Batman The Animated Series, or Doctor Who. :D )
If I Could See Any Band Live It Would Be... aaaaaaaaaa! So many good bands, some of which are gone, and not nearly enough time and/or money in the world! Pomplamoose and Depeche Mode and Talking Heads and Pink Floyd and Queen and... The list just goes on and on!
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| I hadn't heard of Pomplamoose before this, but now I am intrigued |
My Favourite Movie Is... Trick R Treat. Didn't even have to hesitate. It's a Warner Bros horror movie that's well written, well directed, and for one scene, they used four different methods (suits, CGI, animatronics and makeup) to get it just right. I've heard rumblings of a sequel quite recently, and I'm hoping it's true!
One Interesting Thing About Me Is ...Er... I... Gimme a minute, I'm sure I'll... I have a personal library that comprises two thirds of my room's wallspace. Yeah, that's... Interesting... [runs and hides]
Batman the animated series, that sure was a great show.
ReplyDeleteHeh, TAS was awesome, The Batman only slightly less so. Currently started Misfits, which is... Well, I'm not sure how much I'm liking it so far...
DeleteAnyways, this is the name you'll see for the Mad Welshman on comments, so, er... Hi! :D
The Batman was any good? I skipped that one because it didn't look so hot. I was a huge B:TAS fan and really loved Batman Beyond too. Really wish that one would come off "hiatus."
DeleteI haven't watched The Batman or Batman Beyond, maybe it is time to do it.
DeleteThe Batman starts pretty good, but I found it got a bit silly by around Season 3 (possibly a little earlier). Beyond, however, was definitely enjoyable, with only a few bum episodes.
DeleteAlso, I found I just didn't get on with Misfits. I'm guessing it's because the characters are... Well, I have a *really* hard time empathising with them, so I just don't have a lot of reason to care.
A remastered release of Fahrenheit AKA Indigo Prophecy is now on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/312840/
ReplyDeleteYou know you have a large backlog of unplayed games when games you've owned for years are being remastered before you get around to playing the original!
DeleteSad, but true... Homeworld's being remastered, Thief was somewhat botched, Alien: Isolation wasn't... There's been a lot of remakes, of pretty much every genre, and I have a *massive* games backlog. But here's to finishing some for TAG! :)
DeleteTRPG? Damn, I envy you, dude. I can't even find players who are free enough to commit anymore.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult (I don't have a group at the moment, for example), but not impossible to play yer tabletop games online, so long as you don't mind searching hard for folks, and using Roll20 for your tabletop needs. Well, or Tabletop Simulator for Steam, which has a lot of board/card games with the possibility of modding in more...
Delete...I've seen workshop items with TTS that seem to allow actual tabletop models, customisable dungeons and the like, but I personally think TTS is too fiddly, physics wise, to really be useful for that. Better to use something like Roll20, I find. :)
Roll20 is great for how easy it is. I've heard that maptools is also sweet, though getting everyone online is fiddly. Tokentool is a must for either program though.
DeleteThe best way to play is to find non-gamers and get them to play with you though. I've found that surprisingly easy. Also you get far less rules laywers that way.
I've played Granny's Garden, and I absolutely love it because at the start, it's completely linear but gives the illusion of choice in a way that makes me laugh.
ReplyDelete"Do you want to go in the cave?" "NO" "Yes you do."
"Do you want to save the king and queen?" "NO" "Yes you do."
"The raven says your adventure may be dangerous. Are you brave enough?" "NO" "Yes you are."
*Picture of a house with FIG written in giant letters on the side*
"The door won't open without a secret password! What's the hidden word?" "AOIJFOIASJ" "No, try again." "QOWUEOQIM" "No, it's FIG." *Game puts you in the house automatically.*