syllo's recent activity
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
syllo Link ParentMy initial thought would there would be some sort of "Door of the Dead" where you could visit the souls of the dead. But I found it really interesting that they never actually talk about the other...My initial thought would there would be some sort of "Door of the Dead" where you could visit the souls of the dead. But I found it really interesting that they never actually talk about the other doors, or what useful things could be behind them, especially considering the coveted door is the one of Forgotten Knowledge.
Although maybe the side effects of the Other Worlds are related to their use. If the World of Forgotten Knowledge makes you forget things, would the Other World of Death rapidly kill you?
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
syllo Link ParentI would argue that the Prophet didn't even slightly redeem himself, and in fact cements him as a entirely selfish person, as what he did wasn't to help Piranesi. Helping would have just been...I would argue that the Prophet didn't even slightly redeem himself, and in fact cements him as a entirely selfish person, as what he did wasn't to help Piranesi. Helping would have just been leading Piranesi out of the House. Piranesi being saved by 16 is just a side effect of the Prophet harming the Other.
From Prophet:
Now while I have no particular wish to oblige 16 - I have no particular wish to oblige anybody - I'm all in favour of doing Ketterley an ill turn. I hate him. He's spent the last twenty-five years slandering me to anyone who would listen. So I shall give 16 copious directions to get here.
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
syllo Link ParentInitially, I was a bit annoyed at the random capitalization of letters, but it really grew on me. Words that are capitalized are just concepts that that are intrinsic to the House and don't come...Initially, I was a bit annoyed at the random capitalization of letters, but it really grew on me. Words that are capitalized are just concepts that that are intrinsic to the House and don't come from elsewhere. I feel like it is slightly more complex than just giving capitalization to things to make them proper nouns like how "Other" is capitalized when referring to Val.
Randomly scanned until I found a sentence with an egregious amount of capitalization for an example:
The Beams of the Declining Sun shone through the Windows of the Lower Halls, striking the Surface of the Waves and making ripples of golden Light flow across the Ceiling of the Staircase and over the Faces of the Statues
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
syllo LinkWhat other worlds do people think existed behind the other doors that aren't described?All around me doors into other world's began appearing but I knew the one I wanted, the one into which everything forgotten flows. The edges of that door were frayed and worn by the passage of old ideas leaving this world.
What other worlds do people think existed behind the other doors that aren't described?
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
syllo Link ParentThat's interesting, because I had the opposite reaction. I really wanted Piranesi to stay in the House, and was scared for him to leave as there was the potential for the Piranesi personality to...That's interesting, because I had the opposite reaction. I really wanted Piranesi to stay in the House, and was scared for him to leave as there was the potential for the Piranesi personality to be destroyed if Matthew took back over. In my mind, Matthew was already "dead" and bringing him back would only cause suffering for the both of them as Matthew's mind would be broken like Poor James Ritter's mind.
Piranesi was the only one truly able to see the wonder in the House, and if he was no longer able to do that, there would probably never be another person able to explore as much as him without condemning them to mental collapse as well.
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
syllo Link ParentRegarding the House, I found it was such a great choice to have Piranesi label the rooms in such a systematic fashion that initially leaves the reader the impression that the House is well laid...Regarding the House, I found it was such a great choice to have Piranesi label the rooms in such a systematic fashion that initially leaves the reader the impression that the House is well laid out. If he can remember how to get everywhere, and the Halls are labelled so easily (E.g. Sixth North-Western Hall), how complicated can it be? Then we see the outsiders referring to it as the Labyrinth, and then when we see some actual directions between locations, it's not as simple as "go through Second hall to Third hall, then to Fourth Hall," and instead it's more of each Hall having multiple doors leading to multiple different places. Piranesi has just become so in tune with the House at this point where we forget about getting lost is even a possibility.
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
syllo Link ParentI think the statues are the The Great and Secret Knowledge. The Other spent so much time looking for it, when the answer was all around him the whole time, and he didn't even care about them. Each...I think the statues are the The Great and Secret Knowledge. The Other spent so much time looking for it, when the answer was all around him the whole time, and he didn't even care about them. Each statue in the House represents a different person in the real world. In the last section, he is able to match people he sees in the real world with the various statues from the House, and he can see their true self. The House can even send messages via the Statues with the birds' help. I really enjoyed seeing the bird's prophecy come to fruition. "A message from afar. Obscure Writing. Innocence eroded." He finds the letter in the first Vestibule, he finds the scraps of paper from his Journal, and then he has a discussion with the Other about how the Other would kill Piranesi if Piranesi goes mad.
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - Piranesi in ~books
syllo LinkI really enjoyed this book. The first page had me thinking it was going to be a rough start, to the point I took a picture of the first page to make fun of it later, since it reminded me of the...I really enjoyed this book. The first page had me thinking it was going to be a rough start, to the point I took a picture of the first page to make fun of it later, since it reminded me of the XKCD comic about authors making up words. No made up words, but the flowery description of the year, along with a ton of words being capitalized made me think it was going to be that style of book. I'm glad I was proven wrong as only a few pages later with the section titled "A list of all of the people who have ever lived and what is known of them" really clicked with me, and instead of all the capitalized words being some overwrought fantasy society with weird rules, it's just how some person is making sense of an incomprehensible world.
I enjoyed how we find out bits and pieces from his interactions with the Other and how Piranesi is incapable of piecing together some clues because of how the House affects his memory. I found it highly amusing when he was listing the things that the Other gave him and one of them was a ham and cheese sandwich, since as the reader, to this point, we only know about seaweed, fish and mussels for nutrients and Piranesi has no questions about where a ham and cheese sandwich came from?
I was a little disappointed in how the mystery of the house is resolved, with the information just being given to us via Piranesi's journal entries and eventual escape to the real world. I'm a sucker for interesting worldbuilding and figuring out how things work, so to just being given the answers, and the answer effectively being "Pagan magic rituals are real" rubbed me the wrong way. It reminded me how I felt reading the last quarter of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" where we had a ton of really cool worldbuilding and interesting mystery stuff is going on, and then the explanation for everything is similarly out of left field.
And I think that was why I was disappointed when the real world was introduced (I think specifically when we saw that his journal was labeled 2012), because all I wanted was a cozy exploration adventure throughout the House and all of it's various wonders. He finds a tree leaf in the water at one point, and we never get to know where it came from.
That being said, I did really like the ending that Piranesi himself got. Throughout the entire book, you kind of know he was trapped there and his memory is being messed with, but at the same time he is so peaceful and happy. Piranesi realizing he is actually two consciousness's in one, with Matthew being asleep inside himself made me happy, as the consciousness of Piranesi's is it's own separate thing, and is happy in it's own right. (Although, someone with two personalities saying "Neither he nor I had ever been mad" made me laugh). "Saving" him by bringing him to the real world would potentially just kill him to bring Matthew back. So when he does actually go back, we instead get a third consciousness that is a combination of the other two, while the other two still being discreet in his mind (In the real world there's some quotes along the lines of "Piranesi wants to say: ..."). Also, it made me happy that Poor James Ritter (always with the "Poor" title) gets a somewhat happier ending with Piranesi bringing him back to the House and him crying with joy.
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentI'm glad my suggestion hit the mark! After posting and rereading your comment, I wasn't sure if it would since it definitely advertises itself as more of a horror game than the others. I also just...I'm glad my suggestion hit the mark! After posting and rereading your comment, I wasn't sure if it would since it definitely advertises itself as more of a horror game than the others. I also just grabbed it along with a few other games people mentioned since the summer sale started, so now just need to find some time to play it.
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentRegular Human Basketball from my comment on 'Controls Games' is very similar to Lovers with running and jump on buttons to activate different systems, except it's two Regular Humans playing...Regular Human Basketball from my comment on 'Controls Games' is very similar to Lovers with running and jump on buttons to activate different systems, except it's two
giant baseketball mechsRegular Humans playing against each other with up to 10 players. -
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentShapez is my personal favorite of these. It's factory building, but with unlimited resources, space, and no time limits. I couldn't get into Factorio because I was too stressed about everything...Shapez is my personal favorite of these. It's factory building, but with unlimited resources, space, and no time limits. I couldn't get into Factorio because I was too stressed about everything being "correct", even when I turned off the aliens. With Shapez, you can just copy and past whole sections of your factory if you want. I ended up with several blueprints that I treated as functions and then combined them in different ways. I ended up "fully beating" the game by making a "build anything machine" without having to look up anything which was really satisfying. Definitely not the most efficient time-wise, but it's mine.
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentThat's awesome! After having that experience of doing a ton of runs, I've been going back to it about every month or so, usually to somehow mark occasions. I climbed on my birthday, climbed in the...That's awesome! After having that experience of doing a ton of runs, I've been going back to it about every month or so, usually to somehow mark occasions. I climbed on my birthday, climbed in the new year, or just as a cherry on top of a nice week that I've had. I feel like I'm pretty happy with my sub-8 that I got and have no desire to push it further.
Definitely going to checkout 'Difficult Game About Climbing' it looks so good. My secret 'controls game' that I like that I didn't list is actually another of Foddy's games: GIRP (game crashes on foddy.net). It was a fun game, but only had one truely "dangerous" part at the very end. And Baby Steps is already on my wish list for when it comes out :)
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentI remember seeing your comment in that thread also being interested. But I just remembered watching a Jacob Geller video about a game called Who's Lila which I think might fit this pretty well,...I remember seeing your comment in that thread also being interested. But I just remembered watching a Jacob Geller video about a game called Who's Lila which I think might fit this pretty well, but it may fall too much into your description of games that mainly use another source of horror. Link to video with spoilers. First part is just a general description of the game, but kinda seamlessly transitions into spoiler territory as opposed to having a specific spoiler section. I'm generally not a big horror game person, but loved DDLC and Inscription (and also enjoyed Pony Island), and I still want to play this game after being spoiled on some of the big twists from the video, so I'll give a description with less spoilers.
It's a narrative horror game but instead of choosing dialogue, you interact with it by manipulating a portrait of your character's face like the menu screen from Super Mario 64 to express different emotions. You apparently do different playthroughs with more locations being unlocked in later ones, as well as giving you different options on how to react to what people say (E.g. instead of looking sad when someone says a character has gone missing for several days and no one has seen her, you can give a shit eating grin). To tie it into some of the sub-genre elements you mentioned, it has some 2d/3d shifts and also has some elements of running separate programs alongside the game that change things up (among a few other things, but I think any more would maybe ruin your enjoyment if you want to go in as blind as possible).
Edit: Put MGS here and didn't realize you put it in your comment
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentThat's a good one! I think a lot of Roguelites like Bindof of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon also fit in here. There's definitely a lot of fun to be had learning what everything does your self, but...That's a good one! I think a lot of Roguelites like Bindof of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon also fit in here. There's definitely a lot of fun to be had learning what everything does your self, but if you want to see what everything does in detail, and how all the various powerups interact with each other, the wiki seems pretty mandatory.
I think Old School Runescape also fits in there in it's own weird way. When I was playing it, I constantly had multiple wiki tabs open.
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo LinkComplex Communication Games Alternatively "Asymmetric Co-Op" based on a bundle when looking to see if I could find anything else on steam. @Wes's comment made me remember another sub-genre: Games...Complex Communication Games
Alternatively "Asymmetric Co-Op" based on a bundle when looking to see if I could find anything else on steam.
@Wes's comment made me remember another sub-genre: Games where the challenge comes from asymmetric information known by different players that needs to be shared quickly. I think all of the games they mentioned in their comment probably also fall into this sub-genre as well.
Space Team: Where everyone's phone has a randomized control panel for a space ship, as well as an instruction for someone else (or potentially for yourself). Very fun, silly game with everyone trying to shout over each other with technobabble instructions like "Set the flexible steamprobe to 4!" "Engage the flux capacitor!" The game is level based, with each level getting harder and harder with how much time you have, as well as different modifiers to make the levels more challenging. Sometimes, the levels will have symbols instead of words, or the various components on your panel will start to fall off, held on by only a single screw so you need to swipe it back into place before using it.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes: Another fun party game, but I haven't actually played this one yet. One player has control of a bomb box that has several different puzzles on it, like having 5 different colored wires and they need to cut one. All of the other players have a PDF (or a printed out binder if you're fancy) with instructions about all of the puzzles. Often times there are different version of the puzzles, so there will be some back and forth required (e.g. "If there are 2 red wires, cut the blue wire, otherwise cut the yellow wire). Also has a VR version!
Operation Tango: Agent and Hacker tag team game. One player is the Agent moving around a 3d world, while the Hacker player hacks into various systems to help out. Lots of communication between the two when the hacker needs specific passwords/clues, or vice versa when the Hacker needs to inform the Agent the correct sequence of buttons or tiles to step on.
We Were Here Together: Own this but haven't played it. Two characters facing a blizzard together and communicate through a walkie-talkie with each other to solve puzzles.
Tick Tock: A Tale For Two: Found this one via the Asymmetric Co-Op bundle that the non-phone games were all in together, so I don't know much about it. Another two screen puzzle game that looks like an escape room type game.
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentInteresting, are there any immersive sims that you feel don't fit the sub-genre you're thinking of? I have only read about most of them, although I guess the differing approaches don't necessarily...Interesting, are there any immersive sims that you feel don't fit the sub-genre you're thinking of? I have only read about most of them, although I guess the differing approaches don't necessarily relate to a growth in power. Maybe the old Thief games as immersive sims that don't fit?
If you like those games though, you should check out Ctrl Alt Ego. Immersive sim game where you are a consciousness that can hop between robots. You get to choose which new power you buy, as well as choose where you spend your limited upgrade points into. Has a free demo on Steam.
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentTotally agree. Definitely feels like what happened with RPG's in how once they got popular, every game started adding RPG leveling systems to their games. There was a period when so many games...Totally agree. Definitely feels like what happened with RPG's in how once they got popular, every game started adding RPG leveling systems to their games. There was a period when so many games added crafting and hunger meters to hop on the survival game trend even when they don't actually add anything to the game. Really needs the distinction between "Survival Game" and "Game with Survival Elements" in the same way people distinguish RPG's from "Games with RPG Elements."
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo Link ParentThat's a great one! I heard about Artemis a long time ago and thought it sounded really cool, but never had anyone to play it with. Potential game to add to the list, although stylistically very...That's a great one! I heard about Artemis a long time ago and thought it sounded really cool, but never had anyone to play it with.
Potential game to add to the list, although stylistically very different
Puzzle Pirates: The pirate puzzle MMO from 2003. Players could crew a pirate ship together and player would take on different jobs that would impact the ship in different ways. Rigging puzzle for speed, Repair puzzle to get health back for the ship, a bailing puzzle. But what was more interesting was when you got into a fight with another ship, the captain had their own puzzle game of maneuvering and firing cannons, while there was a separate puzzle for people to load the cannons. Maybe doesn't fit as well because there isn't too much communication beyond the captain yelling at people to be better at their jobs, and at the end of the day, each person is just trying to be as good at their individual puzzle as possible.
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
syllo LinkKnowledge Based Games Games where you as a player learn things about the game itself which allows you to solve puzzles. Sub-genre of puzzle and mystery games, but a bit more specific than that....Knowledge Based Games
Games where you as a player learn things about the game itself which allows you to solve puzzles. Sub-genre of puzzle and mystery games, but a bit more specific than that. The puzzle/mystery is more about how the world itself works rather than the individual puzzles or mysteries themselves. Oftentimes, things you figure out change how you view the world itself. Not a full requirement, but sometimes if you know the "truth" about the world, it is possible to skip directly to the end of the game. With a normal puzzle game, you can come back to it after a few years, you will probably beat it faster than your first playthrough, but you will probably have forgotten most of the individual puzzles. With knowledge based games though, it's much harder going back to them, as the things you found out change how you view the puzzles themselves.
I've definitely seen the phrase "Knowledge Based Games" used before by video game essayists on youtube, but it's not exactly a tag you can search on steam for.
Not going to put spoilers for these games, and honestly recommend going into them pretty much as blind as you can, but I highly recommend them if you like that feeling of discovering something and saying to yourself "Oh shit, this changes everything"
Outer Wilds Is the probably the game in this genre that gets discussed the most nowadays. You travel around a miniature solar system in your space ship trying to uncover the mystery, and save your species while in a time loop. There are lots of really cool moments when you figure out how things work. Since it's in a time loop, if you know how all the mechanics work, you can easily skip right to the ending of the game.
The Witness: The main mechanic for this game is solving little mazes. But as you progress, extra rules are added to the mazes, so just getting to the end of the maze isn't enough. Figuring out the rules to how they work is a lot of fun to do and it feels great when you figure out why a certain solution works or doesn't. It also does a really great job with environmental tutorials for each section of the game. Starting you off with tiny puzzles that only have 2-3 possible solutions that you can brute force before coming up with theories about why only the one solution works. Also has a great "Oh Shit" moment.
Void Stranger: Seems like a basic Sokoban (block pushing puzzle) game at first, and I honestly didn't think I would enjoy it that much. I ended up putting 50 hours into it somehow, and took 10k+ words worth of notes about everything I was discovering, theories about what is going on, and things to go back and try out to see if they do anything. The puzzles themselves are very well designed, and most of the levels don't have too many moving pieces and instead require you to figure out the "gimmick." I had a few different "Oh shit" moments while playing this game
Tunic: Zelda-like with a twist that you find pages to the instruction manual that are written in a different language. The core game itself is fun, but also has you learning about how the game itself works. In a zelda-like fashion, you will get tools which allow you to solve puzzles, but sometimes, the tool that is given to you is knowledge itself and you could have solved those puzzles the whole time if you only knew how, which definitely makes it harder to play a second time fresh. Also has some meta-puzzles for those who want to go the extra mile, with figuring out how to read the instruction manual language, open the door in the mountains, and the golden treasures.
Anti-Chamber: Mind bending puzzle game with non-Euclidian physics. For how surreal and interesting this game is, I don't actually have much to say about it other than it's a lot of fun and is constantly challenging your expectations. There's no big "Oh shit" moment in this game, but instead each puzzle is it's own mini mystery about how the world of Anti-Chamber works.
Honorable mention: Return of the Obra Dinn: Also talked about a lot recently, but probably doesn't fully fit into this category, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I describe it as a Sudoku Murder Mystery where you are trying to figure out how everyone on this ship died based on snapshot vignettes of things that happened on the ship. I say this one doesn't fully fit this sub-genre because there's no real learning about the rules of the world other than the mystery of why all these things happened on the ship itself, which is separate from the actual detective work that you are doing. You will probably remember some of the harder deductions you made because you were proud of figuring them out, but that is more like being proud of solving a difficult puzzle as opposed to truly changing how you view the game world.
What do you think the destroyed portions of the House represent?
There are the Derelict Halls to the East of the First Vestibule where everything is destroyed, and Piranesi barely talks about it, other than the fact that he fishes there in the lakes that form there.
There are also the various sections of the Western Halls that he mentions that have had ceilings collapse.