Apparently we’ve been leaving the Would You Rather game off to the side of the road, flopping like a fish out of water. So, being the kind gents we are, we decided to resuscitate it and bring it back to life for your enjoyment. Not that I’d do mouth-to-mouth with a fish. Well, maybe I would.
For the uninitiated, in Would You Rather, I simply ask a series of questions, and you follow up with your answers. Give as much or as little explanation as you want for your choices, but we all know that we like to see the reasoning behind the madness.
But beware, lest your answers be terrible and full of fail. For if they are, Jeff will use his vast eyebrow powers to blink you straight out of existence. Either that or he will call you names that hurt your feelings. He’s good at both, but it really depends on his mood that day. Anyway, have at it, folks.
Would you rather…
1. Play a shooter made by Square-Enix or an RPG made by Bungie?
2. Wait for companies to announce a game until the year it comes out, or have the announcement come as soon as possible, even several years in advance?
3. Take your time with a robust character creator, or choose really well designed presets?
4. Pay full price for an incredible short game, or full price for a long decent-to-good game?
5. Have your favorite game studio work on a new IP, or a sequel to a legendary game that time forgot?
6. Play an HD version of a classic for cheap, or buy a complete remake of that same title for full price?
1. I know for a fact that Square Enix made a TPS one time, and it was pretty terrible, so I’d rather play a Bungie RPG.
2. I think it’s better for companies to announce a game in the middle of the road. While I’m pumped for Bioshock Infinite, I think that the suspense kills me more knowing it’s coming instead of them not announcing it yet and knowing it will come eventually.
3. It really depends on my mood. If I’m going for a specific role, like an evil bastard or my main character, I want a lot of customization. With something more action-based, like Borderlands, I prefer a few presets.
4. I’ll have to go with the short, incredible game. Decent-to-good usually implies the game has nothing new to offer or is unrefined.
5. I’d rather have a new IP. There are just too many sequels out there. There’s nothing wrong with that, but we need some fresh blood as well.
6. It really depends on the game. I would buy a complete remake of any of the 3D Zelda games, because the gameplay formula only gets better with each consecutive game, meaning there will be lots of improvements. If it’s something like Resident Evil 4, I’d pay for a cheap HD version, even though that game still looks incredible.
Another great Would You Rather. 🙂
1. Play a shooter made by Square-Enix or an RPG made by Bungie? I think I’d like to see Bungie play with a more developed story and characters, and it seems like an RPG would give them the ability to do that,
2. Wait for companies to announce a game until the year it comes out, or have the announcement come as soon as possible, even several years in advance? I think I’d like to be surprised once in a while. I’d love game companies to pull off a JJ Abrams / Cloverfield reveal.
3. Take your time with a robust character creator, or choose really well designed presets? I think character creators make it too easy to waste time before you get into the actual game. I’d rather game characters be imbued with a full personality right out of the gate.
4. Pay full price for an incredible short game, or full price for a long decent-to-good game? I think I’d prefer an incredible short game. Long games are becoming the bane of my existence just because I can never find time to finish them.
5. Have your favorite game studio work on a new IP, or a sequel to a legendary game that time forgot? I think I’d want them to work on a sequel, but only if that meant that they could go even further off the map when they make a new IP after that. I’d love to see an idiosyncratic take on an old classic that also led to innovation in a new world.
6. Play an HD version of a classic for cheap, or buy a complete remake of that same title for full price? I think I prefer a cheap HD version, just because the gameplay should theoretically remain intact if it’s just a visual update. I’d be concerned that a full remake would change or jettison important parts of existing good gameplay.
1.) I’d rather see a Bungie RPG. They have a lot of talent, and I feel that with an RPG, they can focus on characters and story a lot more than an 8-hour-long campaign allows. Plus, we might see some cool gameplay aspects if Bungie combines their skill with map-design with perhaps real-time RPG elements. There’s a lot they Bungie can do with their ingenuity.
2.) I’d rather have a company announce a game two or just one year in advance. That seems like the perfect time to begin the advertising process, and if it’s several years in advance, the game might not meet hype expectations. It’s just the smarter business decision.
3.) How about start with well-designed presets and add some well-designed customization from a wide variety? Personally, I wouldn’t mind using a preset character if it’s super awesome over something boring that I made. When it comes down to it, I don’t mind selecting other people’s art as my own avatar, especially if it’s awesome. Plus, in this scenario, it’s one preset of many, which is really cool.
4.) Either one is fine. I enjoy playing short yet unforgettable games because the experience is condensed and – hopefully – perfected. Longer games with a more moderate quality are good too, since the length and/or exploration ability makes the game turn into a long-term experience that engrosses me. I still play Persona 3 because it’s a long game and yet it captivates me and almost turns my life into a…culture of the game. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but basically, since I’m playing this game over the course of a long time, it becomes a part of my life for this period of time, and I can get immersed in enjoying the long story and engrossing world. I don’t mind decent/good games, and if they put that much effort without relying too much on padding, it’s length probably adds to its quality anyway.
5.) As much as people love nostalgic resurrections, I’d much rather see a new IP especially if it’s from my favorite studio. Resurrections, particularly of games that are long-gone, have a vulnerability to turning out to be crappy attempts to regain lost glory and they end up missing the point of the awesome original games. Even if the sequel and the nwe IP are of the same quality, I’d rather see something totally new.
6.) I probably wouldn’t buy either. If you’re going to make a remake and decide to add new features, just spend the effort in revitalizing that old franchise and make a new sequel and incorporate those new features. The worst that can happen is that you tried, as opposed to spending minimal effort in remaking an old glorious game and adding features that might actually just ruin the flow and design of the original game.
Great questions, can’t wait for more!
Why do you always have to make this so hard to choose between? Here I go, but I may be incurring the wrath of Jeff’s eyebrows… HALP!
1) An RPG by Bungie. Bungie have shown that they can create an relatively deep world and mythology for their games. Even though they aren’t quite on the same level as a Bioware or Valve yet, if given the opportunity I think they could be quite good at crafting an engaging RPG experience.
2) Definitely the year they come out. Even if we suspect that a game is coming, its nice to be a bit in the dark about the specifics. I think Bioshock Infinite is a good example – as nice as it is to know its coming, imagine the shock of discovering it had a completely new setting only a few months out from launch. I think its surprises more than anything that get people psyched for a game. By the time Infinite gets released, and god knows how many trailers get revealed, I think its going to feel like we’ve already spent so much time in Columbia that it won’t be anything special anymore.
3) I prefer using a custom character creator. I like to feel like the character is someone that I’ve built, that I’m telling a story my way.
4) Thinking about this question, for me it came down to whether I got more value out of a Portal or a Borderlands. I know Portal was never sold for “full-price” but that’s the comparison I thought of. And to be honest I would rather pay full-price for a game like Borderlands. Sometimes its the “decent-good” game that, while it doesn’t shake up the industry, you have a lot of fun with. I also enjoyed Portal immensely but I think that if a game like that came out for $80-$90 (I live in Australia) like Borderlands did I’d feel a bit ripped off. That said, judging by what I’ve seen/heard of Portal 2, I am more than happy to pay full price for that.
5) Right now my favourite studio is easily Bioware. But I really couldn’t choose between the two options. I would love for them to be working on a new IP and I would buy it in an instant. But if I heard that they were working on a sequel to say, something like System Shock 2? Also an instant buy.
6) I’d prefer the cheap HD version, for pretty much the same reasons that Jeff said
1. ??? Gross. I’ll say a shooter by Enix because at least most shooters don’t have Boots of Escaping or Swords of Swineflu
2. I’ll see how Deus Ex (3) turns out and let you know……….
3. Well, with a game like Fallout 3 / NV there’s really no reason to invest time into your “residual self image”, but I do anyways. So I’m not too sure… I’d go for presets just so I don’t waste the first hour of my time picking a beard.
4. I’ll play them both and pay for the one that was worth it 😉 .
5. I’d like to see them take a franchise that failed and poke fun of it by making an awesome re-adaptation/imagining.
6. Neither. Re-install a classic game and play it again. If you want your devs to spend hours updating graphics then you probably didn’t really LOVE it the first time. I hate “remastered” music, don’t do it to my games too.
1. Uh, probably an RPG made by Bungie. They have experience with other types of genres outside of shooters. Well, so does Square Eenix, but I think we all remember Dirge of Cerberus.
2. I don’t know, sometimes I like to have games I really want announced far in advance so that I know they’re coming out. Like, Dead Rising 2, I waited so long after I beat the first one that I wasn’t sure it was ever coming.
3. I like robust character creators like the one in Mass Effect. Fallout 3 and New Vegas don’t really count because all my people usually end up looking the same but with different haircuts.
4. The way things are going these days, where short games are more fun and long games are a slog, I’d definitely take a $60 Portal-ish game over a $60 Fallout 3 clone.
5. Legendary game that time forgot! X-Wing pleeeease.
6. Well, that depends. If we’re talking an HD Genesis or SNES game, yeah, I’d do that with just a resolution upgrade. Newer games though, like maybe Chaos Theory or Beyond Good & Evil, put a little spit shine on there.
1. I’ve already played a shooter made by Square Enix (Dirge of Cerebrus), and it was kind of terrible. I think because of that, I’d rather play an RPG created by Bungie, just to see what they could do with it, although my hopes wouldn’t be high.
2. Like Jeff said, I’d rather have a company drop a J.J. Abrams/Cloverfield and suddenly drop a bomb on you that a project is coming in just a few months that you’ve never heard of. That will probably never happen though. I mean, just earlier this week is was great to get the sudden news that PoP HD was hitting PSN that same day.
3. I’d say robust character creator, but all I end up doing is making Cortez from The Leet World with games like that (seriously). So, I’d choose a preset I think.
4. I go back and forth on this. I keep thinking it’d be great to buy a great short game, but really, that’s hard to pay full price for. Paying $60 for a game that you can tap for a year or more is rare these days, and not a bad deal at all.
5. I’d say new IPs. We’ve got enough remakes and sequels as it is. I want more new original properties, which we’re finally starting to see some more of in the past few years.
6. I’m with Mitch, if it’s a newer game, an HD version will do just fine. But for older games, such as the SNES days or something, it’d be cool to get current gen remakes.
1. RPG by Bungie. I’d expect an interface disaster, but a deep, engaging story would make up for technical flaws.
2. For grief’s sake, wait til the release date is at least 6-9 months out! Expectation is great and all, but after a year (or longer) the pins-and-needles effect has completely worn off, and I’m just apathetic about your game. Unless I somehow manage to forget about the title until a month before launch.
3. Push. My obsessive side loves spending excessive amounts of time customizing every detail in a super detailed character creator, while the economical side screams about the half hour of gameplay and story that I’ll never get back. Ok, scratch that: give me a few good pre-designed characters so I can leave my obsessive side to worry about stealing every last bit of loot from the townsfolk.
4. Quality over quantity. Plus it’s hard to enjoy games when your wife has knifed you for ignoring her for too long 😉
5. Too much opportunity for totally botching the legendary franchise continuation. I’ll stick with new IP.
6. HD version, particularly if it happens to be a classic that I never played. I can pretty easily re-immerse myself in an old favorite despite horrendous graphics, but with a title I’ve never actually played, that can become more of a barrier.
1. Square Enix seems to not be doing very good at all lately, and Bungie has done multiple genres before, so I could see them doing an RPG.
2. I think a year, maybe a year and a half prior is fine. Anywhere longer than that just makes me depressed (Bioshock Infinite).
3. Robust character creator. I like to make sure the character looks like I want it to.
4. Quality always trumps quantity.
5. New IP. The industry is too full with remakes and rehashes (thanks Nintendo) and I’d like to see them do something new.
6. Depends what classic. While it may be in HD, the gameplay mechanics that may have been great at the time could be dull today, whereas if it was remade (hopefully) it would be updated with the times.
1. i would do the shooter made by square just because the new deus ex game is made by them and it looks amazing.
2.year it comes out
3.presets
4.short game
5.new IP but it also depends on the sequel
6.depends on the game