Video game comedy
Some time ago I wrote a series of posts on hilarious and absurd situations that routinely occur in Skyrim (eg here, here, and here), and I suggested that a group of actors should systematically act scenes like those out and post them on YouTube.
Turns out that this has in fact been done, as I discovered when I came across the very amusing YouTube channel Viva la Dirt League. They have several shows where they do exactly this, and I particularly like Epic NPC Man, which pokes fun at games like Skyrim and fantasy mmorpgs, from the perspective of a self-aware NPC. And in a friendly way I might add; they’re clearly avid gamers themselves. The videos are short, basically one scene each, but plentiful — they’ve been hard at work finding and using typical gaming situations. (As an aside, one has to wonder if it’s getting harder to come up with new material, as they use up one novel idea after another. Let’s just hope nothing will badly impede their output for a long while still. It’s conceivable that it’s the other way around, at least for now, that it gets easier the more experience in doing this they get.)
More generally, I really like the idea behind this. It is such a strange thing in a way. First, video games imitate reality, but imperfectly, and then the games are played, observed and brought back into reality, stressing those very imperfections and peculiarities, for lolz. Video games are already fun, but now they’re providing the raw material for additional fun.
Cannot help wondering what those people who know nothing about video games, say an audience from a few centuries ago, would think watching these acted out on a stage. I think some might have enjoyed it, if nothing else the true connoisseurs of the absurd, but they would almost certainly be bewildered. And importantly, it would be practically impossible to come up with these in any kind of consistent manner without using video games as raw material. Isn’t that interesting, having these games play an instrumental part in creating what is basically a new genre (or at least sub-genre) of comedy.
It might also be a transitional genre, bound to vanish (or be radically transformed) as games become ever more realistic, so enjoy it while you can.
Mass Effect: Andromeda on insanity
Decided to return to Andromeda for a second run, but this time on the hardest difficulty, insanity.
Perhaps the simplest thing in the world for some people, but I’m not an action hero, so I wasn’t sure how it would go.
On my last run (on normal), after starting out trying various things, I eventually converged on using cloak and the two tech constructs as my three active powers, plus sniping as my main weapon. That makes for a playing style that suits me fine. Figured I might use the same setup this time, but I wasn’t sure — that setup doesn’t allow for taking advantage of power combos, and many say they’re indispensable on insanity. And maybe I would want to play around with other powers anyway, for fun? In any case, cloak and tech constructs aren’t available at the start, so I could at least play around with power combos for a while.
And so I did. At first it went well; noticeably harder than last time, but not to the point of hitting a wall. Then I came up against some remnants guarding a monolith, and I hit that wall. I tried again and again, using different tactics and vantage points etc, but I just couldn’t win. My squad mates died, and it was difficult to revive them without dying myself, and it seemed like an endless stream of remnants coming at us (1). Eventually, it felt like a complete exercise in futility.
I’m sure part of this was just me playing badly, since the first run on normal (and without combos) didn’t provide much training, but I felt defeated enough that I didn’t want to have to seriously practice to demolish this obstacle.
A real low point, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish the game at all. But I had one last card up my sleeve: using my old build, even though I mostly would have to forfeit using power combos. I was still a low level character at this point, but I had enough skill points to be allowed to use cloak and turret, and unlike most of my last run I knew it was possible to respec my character.
And so I did, and it also became a more focused build too, since I before that had wasted a few points trying different powers.
Lo and behold, after a few tries I made it work. Phew. I was elated; the game was on.
And I kept going, clearing Eos, establishing a base and returning to the Nexus. That’s where I was at when I wrote the first draft. Then I forgot about the draft and kept playing. Now I’m nearly done with the game. After I got on track with the build, the game just became easier and easier with each new character level. Soon enough, it was easier even than my previous run on normal.
So it’s not only perfectly possible to finish the game on insanity without using combos (2); it’s also easy (3). Perhaps this build is actually the easiest way, especially for someone who doesn’t have the chops to whirl around like a ninja on steroids. I mostly just hang around in the background overlooking the battle, making certain decisions and some half-hearted sniping. In these games, action RPGs, I often look for the most relaxed playing style, but without ”cheating” like e.g. playing on easy. I want a real problem to solve, but I want the solution itself to make it relaxed, so to speak. And this is indeed pretty relaxed since my squad and my constructs do most of the heavy lifting. In any game of this kind, if there’s a choice between making myself stronger or my squad/companion/constructs etc, I always prioritize them.
Even though I use the same active powers and the same type of main weapon as last time, the build is different in other ways, and clearly better. Partly because it is a lot more focused (like I said, didn’t then know until near the end, long after the main quest was done, that I could respec, so I ended up with a lot of wasted skill points), but there are other improvements as well.
So the build has cloak, tech constructs and sniping, but there is also a matter of having the right combination of optional traits (important), and to some extent the right armor, and even the right sniping rifle and augs. But I don’t obsess over optimization; I’m happy to neglect details. So I may delay researching the next level equipment or making immediate use of a good aug I just found or whatever. I make sure to get the important things right, and then do the rest as I feel like. I never use consumables.
I’ll return to delineate the important elements of the build, as well as a post on tactics to use while engaging in a battle using this build.
1. Not an unjustified feeling, as I didn’t know at this point that Assemblers create new remnants, and so I didn’t target the Assemblers first.
2. Yes, the squad and the tech constructs do use combos, and in fact I build them to maximize that. But I don’t use combos myself.
3. I did run into one (optional) battle that initially was hard (apparently infamously hard, even on normal), but even that one became easy with the right tactic. I’m talking about the end battle in the vault on H-047C.