VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

[droaa]

You know what grinds my gears?

Everyone using the term "fam". Comicfam. Gamerfam. Baseballfam, etc.

Just because we both play video games, does not make us family. Sorry.

I've only heard and used fam before but this is the first time hearing these terms which seems a bit much IMO

[Flashback2012]

It was a preorder from Strictly Limited Games in Germany (I think) that was originally supposed to ship at the end of last year, but it kept getting pushed back due to COVID.

It's not covid, they're just incompetent.

It took them forever and a day to get my Sisters Royale purchase to me. After a little runaround and blaming it on COVID I came to find out they put the damn package on a f'ing boat. 

I finally got the package after almost two months but now that's made me SUPER hesitant to spend any more money with them. 

[burningdoom]

You know what grinds my gears?

Everyone using the term "fam". Comicfam. Gamerfam. Baseballfam, etc.

Just because we both play video games, does not make us family. Sorry.

I've only heard and used fam before but this is the first time hearing these terms which seems a bit much IMO

Been hearing YouTubers use it a lot, and have seen people use it in groups on Facebook.

[sworddude]

You know what grinds my gears?

Everyone using the term "fam". Comicfam. Gamerfam. Baseballfam, etc.

Just because we both play video games, does not make us family. Sorry.

I've only heard and used fam before but this is the first time hearing these terms which seems a bit much IMO

Been hearing YouTubers use it a lot, and have seen people use it in groups on Facebook.

I've seen groups of people use the word but I haven't really seen it in any retro game groups. It's a certain subset of especially of a younger audience that uses the word fam in my experience as in late teens early 20's in my experience

[kashell]

It was a preorder from Strictly Limited Games in Germany (I think) that was originally supposed to ship at the end of last year, but it kept getting pushed back due to COVID.

It's not covid, they're just incompetent.

It took them forever and a day to get my Sisters Royale purchase to me. After a little runaround and blaming it on COVID I came to find out they put the damn package on a f'ing boat. 

I finally got the package after almost two months but now that's made me SUPER hesitant to spend any more money with them. 

I never even heard of this company until now.

[droaa]

You know what grinds my gears?

Everyone using the term "fam". Comicfam. Gamerfam. Baseballfam, etc.

Just because we both play video games, does not make us family. Sorry.

I've only heard and used fam before but this is the first time hearing these terms which seems a bit much IMO

Been hearing YouTubers use it a lot, and have seen people use it in groups on Facebook.

Havent heard any Youtubers I watch use it nor do I use Facebook so it seems dependent on who one follows in this case.

[Warmsignal]

Spending the afternoon re-organizing the game collection into genre+theme similarity. It's actually a lot tougher than it sounds, with a robust library of games. The Wii U was super easy; I just put all Nintendo franchises together, and then there were maybe a couple of games for each genre by third parties that were vaguely similar and that's the whole Wii U catalog. Xbox 360 however, has not been so easy. Lots of similar games with more subtle differences. Is Tomb Raider platformer, or adventure games? Is Overlord an RPG, or more RTS? Is Rage a FPS, RPG, or just open world? Just what the heck even IS Brutal Legend? It has no genre, and it's theme is unlike anything... except maybe Overlord, in a way?? Maybe?

It's also an eye opener into just how far plaftorm games had fallen during gen 7. It's no wonder everyone wanted a renaissance this gen. Everybody gave up on the genre when their mascot character couldn't break Mario level sales and collectively decided "let's just make a military themed shooter game instead, that is where the money is at now!" How did that work out for most of them? Bankruptcy. 8th gen comes along - "Hey, open ended games with crafting systems is where the money's at!" Rinse, repeat.

[kashell]

Organizing by genre sounds like a lot of work, especially if you really get into the weeds and particular particulars.

I'm sticking with alphabetical.

[burningdoom]

Spending the afternoon re-organizing the game collection into genre+theme similarity. It's actually a lot tougher than it sounds, with a robust library of games. The Wii U was super easy; I just put all Nintendo franchises together, and then there were maybe a couple of games for each genre by third parties that were vaguely similar and that's the whole Wii U catalog. Xbox 360 however, has not been so easy. Lots of similar games with more subtle differences. Is Tomb Raider platformer, or adventure games? Is Overlord an RPG, or more RTS? Is Rage a FPS, RPG, or just open world? Just what the heck even IS Brutal Legend? It has no genre, and it's theme is unlike anything... except maybe Overlord, in a way?? Maybe?

It's also an eye opener into just how far plaftorm games had fallen during gen 7. It's no wonder everyone wanted a renaissance this gen. Everybody gave up on the genre when their mascot character couldn't break Mario level sales and collectively decided "let's just make a military themed shooter game instead, that is where the money is at now!" How did that work out for most of them? Bankruptcy. 8th gen comes along - "Hey, open ended games with crafting systems is where the money's at!" Rinse, repeat.

Yeah, that's the entertainment industry, always chasing fads. Music and movies do it, too. Not that I'm complaining, but how many superhero movies are there now? And I can't be the only one sick of seeing hip-hop everywhere.

[Warmsignal]

Games I thought I had in my collection but do not! for $100... "You play as an ostracized scientist on the run with a bevy of upgradable and customizable firepower in this largely forgotten FPS, receiving mixed reviews in the mid-2000s".

[burningdoom]

Games I thought I had in my collection but do not! for $100... "You play as an ostracized scientist on the run with a bevy of upgradable and customizable firepower in this largely forgotten FPS, receiving mixed reviews in the mid-2000s".

Half-Life 2?

BTW, I recently did the same thing. I saw the announcement for Sonic Colors Ultimate at E3 and decided I need to play that again...but I don't have it. I'm sure I did at one point, though, because it was my only Wii game without artwork in my collection so it stood out to me.

[ignition365]

I had the same issue.  I thought since before I joined this site that I owned FF3 on NDS.  I've had the case on my shelf for years, it's empty, no game, can't definitively prove I ever actually owned anything but the case.  Gonna have to go out and buy the game some day.

[Warmsignal]

Games I thought I had in my collection but do not! for $100... "You play as an ostracized scientist on the run with a bevy of upgradable and customizable firepower in this largely forgotten FPS, receiving mixed reviews in the mid-2000s".

Half-Life 2?

BTW, I recently did the same thing. I saw the announcement for Sonic Colors Ultimate at E3 and decided I need to play that again...but I don't have it. I'm sure I did at one point, though, because it was my only Wii game without artwork in my collection so it stood out to me.

Sorry, we were looking for "what is Pariah". Half-Life 2 does fit that description except I think the reviews for it were all glowingly positive.

[Warmsignal]

I think a general piece of advice that can be useful to any collector right now, is to focus on picking up those games which are still inexpensive first. I wouldn't have really advocated for that in the past... but if there's anything the past couple of years has proven to me, it's that any game (and I do mean any game) can see a significant price spike for no apparent reason. I'm not saying go out and buy useless filler, just the ones you're interested in which are still low in price. Don't let the low value deceive you, the quality of a game is not reflected in it's price high, or low.

You might be tempted to spring for those that you see climbing up and up in price, but I say put those on the back burner unless you've gotta have it now. There's actually still a lot of games which are very inexpensive and I don't know that this will always be the case. If you don't, you'll not only being paying up for those games which were already spiked AND you'll be paying up for the ones you contemplated the most convenient time to buy when they sat at $10 - $15 for years and years. What a steal it is to still be able to even buy games at $15. Just go for them. Better now than $45 in another six months, or maybe $150 next week.

[kashell]

I really wish more companies would normalize employees taking sick leave. Well, no. I think most companies have SL. But it feels like many places frown upon their employees needing to take a sick day whether it's for physical or mental health. Today, my allergies are in full force, I woke up with a headache, and after working OT both Saturday and Sunday I just needed a break. I emailed the team, and have only gotten one, "Get well soon" message and it was from a new employee. I envision the manager looking at my sick leave request, rolling their eyes, and putting it in a filing cabinet of shame or something.

I'm probably overreacting, but these days that's how it feels.