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Post by wyrdwad on Nov 6, 2010 19:55:02 GMT -5
I was reminded of this recently, so figured I'd start a topic and see if anyone else has any gaming misconceptions they've encountered that they feel need to be cleared up.
For me, the big one is "I am Error" in Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. This line has gone down in infamy as an example of why Zelda 2 sucks (which it doesn't IMHO -- but that's beside the point!), and it seems most people actually believe this is a real error (which blows my mind!).
In point of fact, this is simply a character named Error telling you his name -- which is an important piece of information, since his best friend Bagu (a mistranslation of "Bug") tasks you with delivering a letter to Error at one point... and if Error HADN'T told you his name, you'd have no idea where to go with that letter!
So yeah... not only is "I am Error" NOT an error, it's actually an important piece of information, AND a joke that was half-ruined by mistranslation (best buds named Error and Bug).
Anyone else know of any good gaming misconceptions?
-Tom
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Post by Mr. Faptastic on Nov 6, 2010 19:58:22 GMT -5
Not to mention that no game would ever spit out an error message like "I am Error" for missing NPC dialogue anyway.
To be fair, though, Error is a really stupid name.
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Post by X-pert74 on Nov 6, 2010 19:59:03 GMT -5
That Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is yet another multiplayer game. Every single person I recommend the game to responds that they're not interested because they don't care about multiplayer Final Fantasy. ARGH
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Post by Ike on Nov 6, 2010 20:04:19 GMT -5
Not to mention that no game would ever spit out an error message like "I am Error" for missing NPC dialogue anyway. To be fair, though, Error is a really stupid name. It's possible it's a mistranslation of something, like Errol. sup destroyman |
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Post by wyrdwad on Nov 6, 2010 20:07:50 GMT -5
No, I think it was meant to be Error -- as I said, his best friend is Bagu, which is the Japanese way of saying "bug" (as in, a computer bug). It was definitely meant to be funny, having two characters named Bug and Error. And I can respect that -- I like stupidly-named characters with tenuous humor value.  -Tom |
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Post by kitten on Nov 6, 2010 20:09:41 GMT -5
That "The Lost Levels" were first on SNES.
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Post by thethird on Nov 6, 2010 20:31:58 GMT -5
That every Bond game except for Goldeneye is garbage.
Everything or Nothing vigorously says "hi", but really they're all pretty good cept for maybe Agent Under Fire (and I never played TND so....)
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Post by America Young Fusion on Nov 6, 2010 20:32:23 GMT -5
People telling me I need to watch Morgan Webb's review for Other M same way Catholic priests telling me to watch The Passion.
It's actually a personal misconception: people thinking I give a shit about anything that cumdumpster says.
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Post by kitten on Nov 6, 2010 20:56:07 GMT -5
The review is pretty hilariously bad, it's worth watching just for how terrible it is.
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Post by Weasel on Nov 6, 2010 21:12:37 GMT -5
1. Video games are all about violence.
There are loads of games that give you the option of not killing anything - some rogue-like games even give you massive character boosts for not attacking at all! Deus Ex and Fallout: New Vegas can actually be completed without ever firing a shot, and that's not to mention the various games that are simply non-violent by their very nature (Tetris, Marble Madness, Sim City, pinball).
2. Games make you a social misfit
Uh, no. Look at forums like this! If this isn't social, I don't know what is! Hell, video games can actually be a good conversation-starter, especially if you're playing in a public venue.
3. Piracy is killing the industry
While I don't have any actual data to back this up at all, the games industry is doing as fine as it always has been. Granted, it's easy as pie to illegally download just about any game, and almost as easy to make the system of your choice run said game, but even with that knowledge, there are still reasons to buy a hard-copy of games you like. "Scene" group FairLight had this to say in 1991, in their cracktro screen for Pinball Dreams: "A game worth playing is a game worth buying!" This credo is still in place in many scene release NFO files, saying that although you may be a cheap bastard for not initially paying for the game of your choice, you'll feel better about it if you eventually go buy it. Besides, a lot of the numbers released by the media watchdogs fail to take into account that one BitTorrent download of a specific game does not mutually exclude the downloader from also having bought the game. It's increasingly common that people will buy a game, then leave the still-sealed box on their shelf while they get a warezed copy to avoid malicious shit like StarForce and Games For Windows Live.
4. Call of Duty/Halo/World of Warcraft are the best games ever and you are a heretic for not liking them
To quote a certain ad campaign for a certain popular children's breakfast cereal, "We eat what we like." (And no, it really doesn't taste like apples.) I have no idea why these big games get so many fans when there is really nothing that separates them from the other entrants in their genre. And that just gets me into the next point...
5. Zelda is an RPG/Fallout 3 is an FPS/Farmville is a game
Genre labels are terrible. Many times they don't really do justice to what a game actually has to offer. Zelda is not an RPG to me because RPGs, by traditional terminology, are stat-based and tend to have you controlling actions via a comprehensive menu system. Zelda is not an "Action RPG" either, if you ask me; it's really not the kind of thing I feel like dumping into a category. I don't like classifying anything in a category. I mean, what the hell kind of game is Yakuza to you guys? Beat-em-up? RPG? Life simulator? Hard-boiled-mob-chairman-gets-stuffed-toys-from-a-crane-game simulator? And what about games like Fallout: New Vegas, where you could just as easily play it as an FPS, a hack-and-slash RPG, a tactics game with action elements, a diplomacy game, or a gambling simulator? I'd rather just write a paragraph of what the game's about and how it plays instead of trying to fit it into a two-word category.
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Post by Jave on Nov 6, 2010 21:13:30 GMT -5
This is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it's not pronounced eye-magic, it's im-magic, like it sounds like imagine, as it's a portmanteau of imagine and magic.
It's an understandable mistake, I guess, seeing as it's a made-up word to begin with.
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Post by kitten on Nov 6, 2010 21:33:29 GMT -5
3. Piracy is killing the industry qfmft People claiming this one drive me nuuuuuuts. |
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Post by America Young Fusion on Nov 6, 2010 22:23:21 GMT -5
The review is pretty hilariously bad, it's worth watching just for how terrible it is. Nah they don't want me to watch it b/c it's bad and stupid, they're really serious about it so that's why I brought up The Passion. It's as if I say I like Other M there's something wrong with me and it's time for an intervention. As if it's gonna change my opinion about women in videogames, and women that play videogames, and women with beauty marks, and Susan Wayland's pout trailer trash pornstar lips. What's that?? That's not what she talks about at all?? Well I might as well change my name to Tameem b/c I don't care. Sure wish people fucked off with their celebrity worship though! |
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Post by munchy on Nov 6, 2010 22:55:41 GMT -5
That really slow ledge shimmying = platforming.
That we will not relate to any game character unless they are way too dark and brooding and want revenge for their dead wife/family.
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Post by wyrdwad on Nov 6, 2010 23:05:11 GMT -5
Uhh, as an industry rep, I can actually tell you this IS true... sort of.
It's not killing the industry, but it's DEFINITELY having an effect on sales -- especially for smaller game companies like us. And it's an effect that COULD have serious repercussions down the line -- it could even contribute toward our inability to release the sequel to a popular game, for example, due to low sales of the original.
Of course, used game sales and game rentals are just as guilty of contributing to this, both of which are completely legal. So it IS an exaggeration to say that piracy ALONE is killing the industry, when piracy is only 1/3 of the pie (and the remaining 2/3 are not illegal or immoral in any way). But still, it's a statement made from a true place. A lot of people DO download games without later buying them, and those people ARE contributing toward the eventual failure or production loss of that game's publisher.
-Tom
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