Last time, you decided that bragging is better than swearingand by a substantial ‘overturn’ amplitude. I can’t say I disagree but ooh, hear you out, aren’t you realistic. You will get lost in the interesting conversations behind the school bicycle warehouse. We must continue. This week, I ask you to either let yourself go to the wind of fate or tell fate to do it. What’s better: random item stats and perks, or saving everyone?
Random item stats and perks
I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve played Diablo 2 hunting for great loot. At first, my concern was good loot. You know, just a nice sword to swing or some cool javelin to throw while I run around and chat with my friends on TeamSpeak. Perhaps a unique item or two would be great. Then I switched from wanting good loot to great loot. Give me not only good items, but also good items. A terrible trap. And usually an interesting one.
I know that this isn’t all that different from playing a bandit with a fancy hand or clicking a very fancy number generator. And yet, when that awesome item drops with awesome stats and perks you crave…! It’s terrible to live with a part of your brain that desperately craves this feeling.
I like when I can influence the random stats. Destiny 2, a great game with a terrible grind, has used various systems over the years to allow you to influence the stats of dropped items and include or remove other perks each other from the group. That is always welcome. Many games have similar ideas or systems for remaking items later. And in many games, even mindless farming can be a nice relaxing space if you know that you have some influence over the drops, whether it’s by focusing on a specific enemy, or a specific area, or… it’s to feel a small amount of control over a random number generator. What power, to bend chance to your will!
Save everyone
The popular claim that “video games are a fantasy of power” is overused, but I find it interesting to think about the different types of power fantasy in video games. What if you could save someone? Save them from tripping their toes, save them from mortal danger, save them from being looked down upon by their boss, save them from an awkward conversation, save them from a moral dilemma, save them from boredom, save them from being late and let a friend down, just save someone by all means? What a nice fantasy, to have that power. But what if you could save everyone? Now that’s power!
I love when a game lets me save everyone. When people go on quests, side quests, bounty goals, and opportunities go completely unmarked and unnoticed to do something nice for someone who can happily deal with. I will put a lot of effort into exploring the possibilities and unlocking alternatives to achieve a more friendly outcome than settling for decent solutions and I’m happy that it pays off. I will also search on Google often. Sure, I’m getting into the game as presented, feeling its system, but I have to know: can I save that guy? Or later find out that you could have saved someone but didn’t? gutted. My power illusion is to make good things happen to people.
A game that allows me to save most people is fine, but I’ll save that for a future decision.
But which is better?
I just want to save everyone. It would be great if I could save everyone while wearing a really, really good hat, but I’ll deal with saving everyone. I think Destiny 2 ignited every desire I’ve ever had to get the breads I craved, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to that. I have entered the following grinding years of my life. I still think to myself Darktide’s great Left 40K Dead experience is garbled by tedious random loot. But what do you think, dear reader?
Choose your winner, vote in the poll below and make your case in the comments to convince others. We’ll convene again next week to see which wins—and continue the great competition.
