Well, I like all the classics like early Megaman, Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, Hitoshi Sakimoto, anything from Falcom (Y's, Xanadu, etc).
There are some truly oddball compositions out there that are dear to me, like a lot of the work of Zuntata, which was an in-house band for Taito in the 90's. Similarly, a lot of the weird, sample-based music from the Amiga-era, from people like Chris Huelsbeck, Dave Wittaker and Rob Hubbard.
In recent years, from Japan I've really gotten into anything that Yoko Shimomura has done, and Michiru Yamane upended/revitalized some of the later Castlevania's music in the best way possible.
I will always go to Koichi Sugiyama's Dragon Quest music whenever I want to turn someone on to truly beautiful game compositions (chills), or just relax. Also Matt Uelmen's music for Diablo 2 and Torchlight games also veers toward more contemporary genre's, but is atmospheric, masterful and provides a really well-done alternative sound for what we usually get in interactive media.
Some super strange stuff that just sticks out as not belonging anywhere else: Katamari Damacy's OST, the VibRibbon soundtrack, the Neverhood soundtrack by Terry Taylor, the hidden gem that is the "Moon: Remix RPG Adventure" soundtrack (seriously a great one; check it out).
I have a lot of game music and it's my primary soundtrack while I work.

I thought the solution was rather obvious, actually.

You fix things by making games where people are portrayed as... people. Not trophies to be acquired, not sexual objects to be drooled over, and not stereotypes.

You couple that with continued criticism of games that continue to rely on sexist, racist, or homophobic tropes.

And guess what? That's already happening. People have been saying that games need to change for a while before Sarkeesian showed up. Bioware acknowledged the issues and started trying to include more realistic characters in its RPGs years ago--and caught flak for it even back then.

To address your other... points?

My daughter asked me the other day why she can't play as the princess in Super Mario Galaxy 2 (or any of the other Mario games we own). And I had to tell her it's because the Princess got kidnapped. Her response was to ask if she could play as the Princess once we freed her from Bowser. And I had to tell her no.

There is something wrong with that!

After having that conversation with my daughter I fired up Torchlight, where I'm currently playing as a Vanquisher. Vanquisher's are rogue-like ranged characters and can only be female. If you want to be a warrior ("Destroyer" in game terms) or magic user ("Alchemist" in game terms), sorry--it's a men's only club. And not only that, but Vanquisher's--regardless of the armor they wear, must bare their midriff and wearing a mini-skirt showing lots of leg and cleavage (do a google image search for Torchlight Vanquisher to see what I'm talking about). Apparently you can't be a Vanquisher without being a sex pot too.

There is something wrong with that! (To be fair, they got better with Torchlight II and allowed any class to be any gender and allowed the women to cover up with armor OR choose to be sexy).

Society doesn't just change by itself. You're right, society is becoming more accepting of diversity--because people are fighting very hard for it.

Take America's attitude towards homosexuality. Look at the strides made in the last 20 years. That didn't just magically happen. There were TV shows that portrayed homosexuals as human beings worthy of respect. There were lawsuits. There were marches and protests. There were speeches. There were YouTube campaigns like "It gets better." A lot of people worked fucking hard to get the message out that bigotry is not okay.

Look, I'm sorry people pointing out to you how fucked up it is how women are sometimes portrayed in games is somehow ruining your ability to enjoy games. But there are serious problems here. Maybe not problems for you, but problems for people like my daughter.

The solution to these problems is not to lambast the people pointing them out. Nor is the solution to sit back and do nothing and hope it all works out for the best. One solution, as I've already stated, is to be openly critical of the messages contained in ALL media (including games). Another solution is to be vocal about the need for more realistic and diverse portrayals of people in ALL media (including games).

You can still have your Damsel/Dude in Distress trope, by the way. I have no doubt lazy developers will continue to use it as a substitute for meaningful story. Just don't expect people not to call out the utter absurdity of it, is all I'm saying.

I can agree with some of that.

You are correct that they reuse elements from other games and bring them together and polish them. Is that not creative for some reason? It's like saying that Sonic Youth was not creative since they used concepts from No-Wave, Glenn Branca and labelmates on SST, polished it and made something of it.

One thing that has always pissed me off about people trying to piss on Blizzard is they never even consider the ambient sound, the music and the environmental sound. I've spoken to people about it and it flies over their heads - "I listen to Rammstein when I play WoW"... There were parts in Wrath of the Liche King that sounded nearly straight off "On Land" but done in their own fantastic way in a fantastic world.

Not to mention the art direction and style in all of their games is very satisfying, weirdly psychedelic art. They blend all of the elements far better than most companies but actually make games out of them, grindy games but still games with many details and many elements. I definitely wouldn't say they are not creative. And as much as I liked Guild Wars 2 initially after a couple of months it was forgotten about completely,

Speaking of ex-Blizzard employees I liked the Torchlight series, both 1&2 were far better than D3 in art direction and gameplay but still became boring fairly quick.

>> ^campionidelmondo:

>> ^kceaton1:
I've already bought Torchlight 2 you son of a bitch!
With all due respect of course.

You might want to read the blog post more closely


I know, but pure ignorance is always more funny.

>> ^kceaton1:

I've already bought Torchlight 2 you son of a bitch!
With all due respect of course.


You might want to read the blog post more closely

>> ^ReverendTed:

Can I nominate someone else's joke?


Sure but I was actually thinking about written jokes.

I've already bought Torchlight 2 you son of a bitch!

With all due respect of course.

Reckon that's Torchlight 2, didn't see error 37 anywhere or get any gold spam = \

Augr, or how stupid users have become. The board rules say no petitions.. of any kind.

The online single play may be hurtful to some.. but as a range player, I prefer multi play matches with a melee class cause they can bunch up the mobs while I lay on the dps and crowd control. I am half way through hell mode now and always play multi.

As far as torchlight goes... I think players may be in for a surprise when while it may play very similar, it is plagued with cheating, item duping, and no online managed friends system for easy joining of games.

As someone who leveled alot of alts by playing single player WoW online, there are benefits that many of us prefer. There would be no auction house, and definitely no real money auctions possible if single play profiles were kept offline.

Torchlight 2 should be interesting considering it'll be released for 20$ on the first day and also have multiplayer.

One thing that might hurt Diablo 3 in the long run is the inability to mod the game, due to the online nature. Unless of course Blizzard allows users to create a non-sanctioned clone version that can run along side it and not allow people to put their items up for trade, but still have to connect, but they can mod to their hearts content.

Modding really could open this game to a much broader and I would say better world of a gaming experience. But, BUT, we have to wait for the big blue names in the sky to make a decision on that.

Unless of course people make modded off-line versions that work... But, Blizzard would probably put a patch on your computer looking for these mods and ban your account if found knowing them... Oh well...

I have faith someone else will get the hack & slash RPG genre going in a good direction eventually; the Torchlight 2 guys have a good chance as they were the ones that did work on Diablo 2. And, now that they have money from the first Torchlight they can broaden their horizons. We'll see. Diablo 3 is still a decent game, but it feels like they held FAR too much back that will inevitably be in the expansion--which is probably almost done (as Diablo 2's expansion was almost already included with the original game; with the art and other resources ON the game disc!).

Ah the amusing valiant defense of a game with a mandatory mega-tutorial... yeah, pass on that, haven't even finished Torchlight, don't think I finished D1 either - the introductory comment was so succicnct.

Well spoken. I can understand why people are upset that D3 is online only, but personally, the only reason I even bothered with D2 was because of the co-op. I really have no desire to play a game like this by myself, which was why I thought the original Torchlight was incredibly disappointing after all the hype.

>> ^berticus:

For people who want a Diablo-style fix but think Blizzard are making a dick move with the online only nonsense, perhaps you might like these:
Lineage Eternal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABcBFGK5B4w
Torchlight 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpXQO76bjrY

There is also Path of Exile, which looks interesting. It will also be free to play when released.


The beta was unplayable for me here in Aus due to the lag, in single player. Good work there Blizzard!
I also dislike how the outdoor areas are corridors and not open spaces.

So I think I'll give D3 a miss.

For people who want a Diablo-style fix but think Blizzard are making a dick move with the online only nonsense, perhaps you might like these:

Lineage Eternal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABcBFGK5B4w
Torchlight 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpXQO76bjrY

I actually love Blizzard games and think they're worth every penny... and Blizz has seen many a generous pile of pennies from me. But, yes, LoG is a $15 game and Torchlight 2 will probably be $30. Diablo 3 will be $60 but I am sure it won't get boring even after 500 hours.