Qual talks about Games and Writing

[QualitasWolf]

I play a lot of games, read a lots of books (though I rarely talk about them), do a lot of writing I am continuously shy about sharing (Changing that this year, though), and have an odd fascination with psychology.   In this spot I will likely spend a lot of time thinking about these things out loud.
 

STEAM ID: Black Wolf Qualitas (so it has always been, so it will probably always be)

Current activities (games I'm playing and what I've been working on) in the spoiler:
 

CURRENTLY PLAYING:

 
XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN 
ZOMBIU
FAR CRY 3
 
CONTINUOUSLY PLAYING (older games that I play on and off regularly):
 
SKYRIM
THE SIMS 3
FALLOUT NEW VEGAS
Worms (any)
Civilization (any)

Star Fox (duh, any)

Sly Cooper (any)
 
RECENTLY COMPLETED:
 
Dishonored
New Super Mario Bros. U
 
CURRENTLY READING:
 
The entire Discworld series again

Homestuck (on and off.  Shut up.)
 
CURRENTLY WRITING:
 
Designation: Xi-Delta (Science fiction, interactive) - You're a female Hy'Zog (or as others derisively call you, a 'hyena girl').  You thought you'd be celebrating your first birthday as a full grown adult today, but instead you awoke in a dark room, apparently drafted into working for the HALF corporation, the best known in Alliance space.  Specifically, the research and recovery division.  This can only end well. 
 

The Barmaid (not final name, Fantasy, Mini-series/short story) - Salma lived with her mother on a small ranch outside the sleepy little port town of Gog Tinn, spending her days working in a seedy tavern and her nights milking ungrateful livestock.  Every day she finds herself ignored or harassed by the adventurers who come through, always on their way to some faraway quest.  Until one day, a problem arises that no mere adventurer can solve.

Unnamed Werewolf Commission

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Right now I feel like commenting on some thoughts about XCOM that I had, given it's what I've been playing lately.

 

I'm really enjoying it.  It's interesting and different; I'd always wanted to play the original XCOMs  but never got around to it before this game came out.  I love the pace of the combat, and the atmosphere, and the fiction, and the general difficulty.

 

What I don't love is the tutorial.

 

Oh god the tutorial is the worst thing.

 

It gives you a green four man squad, and sends them to investigate an area the aliens might have attacked (spoilers:  They did).  After they land and disembark, the game starts to teach you the controls and tell you about cover and all that.  Now, I'm not a very angry man or anything.  I'm not disposed to ranting at games.  If I ever start some sort of internet broadcast playthrough or review of a game you're not going to see me scream at it or anything (goodness knows there's too many of those around).  But I have to say...

 

I really, really wanted to fire the guy telling you what commands to give them.  Because what follows is the dumbest series of events I've seen in a long time, mostly because it was basically player controlled.

 

My memory is a bit foggy on the exact events, but basically the game forces you to make a number of bad decisions that result in the deaths of three out of four squaddies.  (In a game where people can die often if you make tactical mistakes, this is even more frustrating).  You start off strong by being taught about cover, but then the game proceeds to force you to, for example, make people stand in spots that were blatantly not all that protected, while making another guy just walk out of cover to attempt to talk to an individual who would rank highly in the category of "don't stand next to him, he's obviously possessed you idiot".

 

Don't get me wrong.  It covered all the necessary aspects of a tutorial.   Why it felt the need to force you to place your squad in situations where they'd all pretty blatantly get murdered, I don't know.  Maybe it was atmosphere?  Maybe it was teaching by bad example?  Who knows?

 

What I do know is that I immediately started over about an hour later, this time without the tutorial.  Many hours into the game, not only have I somehow managed to keep everyone alive, but the whole game in general is going much more smoothly.

 

It's almost like the opening kind of cripples you.  Given how hard the game is and how many people I know who had to straight up start over after screwing up somewhere along the line, this might be a spectacularly fiendish but kind of a brilliant move.