[Shenmue Stare]

Been playing a lot of Tabletop Simulator on Steam lately. It's literally every board, card, and rpg game ever. I'm gonna be playing this shit for years.Decades maybe.

Jaywalker. We should get your Shenmue Monopoly going again and play it via Tabletop Sim.

[James]

I think he's gonna be busy playing inFAMOUS for a while.

[Shenmue Stare]

Hahhaa, yeah.

[jameswalker85]

I'd love to finish my Shenmuenopoly board, but I couldn't get nullDC working on my PC and my requests for location screenshots seemed to fall on deaf ears.

But yeah, it'd be awesome to finish. I have all the materials required to print out and make a solid board too. And a digital online version would be even more awesome!

[Shenmue Stare]

Pm me and let's discuss this farther.

[jameswalker85]

Completed the First Light story, and dunno if I can be bothered getting the platinum. Now I'm unsure of what to play next. I could either attempt Pier Solar, a complete Metal Gear Solid 1-5 playthrough (only ever played 1 & 2), or I could tackle some of my many unplayed PC titles.


Hmmm...

[Shenmue Stare]

You could always get gta 5 on pc and come join our crew. Otherwise playing through the mg series sounds like a great idea if you haven't already.

[James]

A friend wanted to try GTA Online for the first time last weekend, having only played the early Franklyn missions of the main story. While I waited for him to complete the online intro sections with Lamar, which really ought to be skippable, I secured a helicopter so that the world of Los Santos and Blaine County would be our oyster once he was ready to venture out into the sandbox and take in all that GTA Online had to offer.

So with this vast sea of opportunity for carnage and mayhem stretching out before him, what was the first thing he wanted to do? Play tennis.

[jameswalker85]

I'm not a GTA fan, so that one is doubtful.

[Shenmue Stare]

Aww c'mon how could you not appreciate even just a little bit a game that enables one to make vids such as this?





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tF8NBtXigs





You should definitely check out Tabletop Simulator for ideas on Shenmue themed games.

[jameswalker85]

I have a rule that I apply to pretty much all forms of entertainment.

If I wouldn't let me kids play/see/hear it, then I shouldn't.

Games like GTA and Saint's Row, despite me really enjoying them pre-fatherhood, fall on the wrong side of my line. It's also the reason I stopped playing Skyrim, Borderlands, etc...

Anyhoo, right now I'm playing AdVenture Capitalist. I'm kinda addicted.

[James]

I finally played Journey today.

I was worried that I was too late to the party to enjoy the famed multiplayer/companion aspect of the game, but I quickly encountered another player and we stuck together like glue.

And it really is quite unlike any other multiplayer experience. Having no direct interaction apart from an all-purpose gesture button that could mean anything from "Come this way" to "That was a close one" to "I have no idea what I'm meant to do here," it's easy to imagine gamers who emerged from the womb wearing a headset asking what the point of it is. But I've never felt closer to another player.

Their eye for exploration and their evident learning curve suggested this was their first playthrough too, and at times they were eager to follow my lead while at others I had to rely on them getting the hang of things before me. But beyond this interpretation, I knew nothing about the human being controlling this other character identical to my own. I didn't know their name, their gender, or what language they spoke. I didn't know their age, and I didn't know for sure that they weren't cursing me out for being a n00b. But within the limited scope of expression the game affords, I felt a precious bond, whose transient nature was the crux of the game's drama.

I laughed out loud when my partner kept getting blown down the stairs by gusts of wind, and chose to interpret their rapid pressing of the speech button as a profuse and embarrassed apology for making me wait rather than a torrent of expletives worthy of such censorship. But moments later when I feared that same wind had blown my companion to their death I immediately felt a huge loss, and made the decision to risk sacrificing my own progress by following them off the cliff rather than continue alone, even though confident I wouldn't require their help to proceed. (Fortunately we merely landed on an alternative route.)

When later we appeared to be separated by design, I was distraught. This anonymous stranger had been a part of my life for the past forty-five minutes, and now the game had decided I would never see them again. We didn't even get to say goodbye. I hoped they were okay, and that they would make it to the mountaintop, where I was now headed in what had become once again a single-player story.

Except it wasn't. The relief and jubilation at finding each other again was apparent on both sides from the excited tapping of the generic speech button, as these two expressionless monks ran giddily towards and around each other. Highly trained actors are paid millions to portray feel-good reunions on screen less rewarding than this one. And then to accidentally lose sight of one another after this? How cruel! But only temporary - phew!

When we finally reached the final doorway, we could sense it was the end. I say "we" because I feel I can speak on behalf of my co-player, judging by the way we both slowed our pace and issued sporadic speech gestures on the long walk into the light, as if not wanting it to end but acknowledging we had done what we'd come all this way to do, and had enjoyed each other's company along the way. And that, in more ways than one, was the conclusion of our journey.

After the game it tells you the PSN username of any players you met. Reassuringly, there was only one name listed. A little cyber sleuthing suggests my companion was a Japanese dude nine years my senior, who appears to be a fan of After Burner. What sorcery is this, Journey?

[jameswalker85]

That story was... beautiful, dude.

Seriously, none of the reviews I've read have made me feel the need to play it. Now I'm looking forward to payday!

[James]

Thanks, hope you enjoy the game.

I got it as part of Journey Collector's Edition, a disc that also includes Flow, Flower, and three mini-games, all from the same developer. So it's worth pricing that up before choosing whether to download Journey on its own.

[Shenmue Stare]

Great story, James. I've only played through Journey once. I had met half a dozen people or so. It was a neat one off. Though it kinda reminded me of playing Resident Evil Outbreak back in the day. Hell, kind of reminded me of online co-op console gaming from the early ps2 era in general. Lots of games didn't even bother with online voice chat, you only had gestures to communicate. If you don't have the other games on the collector's edition, Jaywalker, i would get that, as the other games are probably better in my opinion. I think Flown would have been a nice alternative title to Journey. They could just call the set the flow trilogy then.

My PS3 isn't working. I need to get it fixed soon for Yak 5. The game is really the only thing i need my ps3 for anymore at this point. How's Adventure Capitalist? Also, i promise to have those screenshots for you soon.