Video Game Club [Current Topic: Gacha & Lootboxes | Nominations Open!]

[Plague von Karma]

Video Game Club
General Video Game Thread

Art by Knight626​

Current Topic: Gacha & Lootboxes

This is a biweekly club where you share what gaming activities you've been up to. Be it clearing a game, collecting, finding something interesting or whatever. I want this to be as flexible as possible because gaming itself is a flexible medium. Participating in this club is a good way to earn a

Community Contributor badge!

There'll be a 2-week period where we share our activities and nominate various topics for discussion. Topic nominations begin in the second week of discussion and are open for 3 days. The rest of the week is dedicated to voting. Based on this system, Monday-Wednesday is dedicated to nominations, and Thursday-Sunday is dedicated to voting. You can nominate and vote on multiple topics, but try to keep it minimal. You also cannot vote for your own nominations. Votes and nominations should go at the top of your post before sharing your general activities and opinions on the current topic: you don't have to dedicate an entire post to voting/nominations.

I've picked a biweekly system to give people time to collect their thoughts on topics and play through whatever games they're interested in at the moment. I don't want this to be too big a commitment, as making a hobby something that can be perceived as a chore is a bad thing. Let me know what you think though, it's always good to tweak it.

Essentially, posts can be structured like this;

1. Nomination/Vote (Week 2 only)
   1. Nominations are on Monday-Wednesday, Voting Thursday-Sunday.
2. Current Topic Opinion
3. Current Gaming Activities
   • These can be anything: cool pickups, guides you've made or even cleared games. Don't be shy!

Note that each part of these is optional, but ensure your post has at least one part of it involved. Try to stay on the current topic as well.

Here are some examples of good topic nominations;

• Recent releases
• Game industry trends
• Emulation ethics
• Game preservation
• Collecting
• Lootboxes
• Speedrunning

Backloggery
Using Backloggery or an equivalent is encouraged. This way, you can share your game progress on a more interactive level and showcase what you're interested in. Plus, it's a nice way to record your collection. Backloggery has a "multitap" feature where you can compare game progress with friends, as well as a Fortune Cookie feature to give you a random game to play through. Overall, it's a nifty little thing.

You can add your Backloggery updates to a forum post or signature like this. It's a nifty little thing.

To do so, go to options and scroll to the bottom of the page and copy what's there. Alternatively, follow this format;

[url=https://backloggery.com/NAMEHERE][img]https://backloggery.com/NAMEHERE/sig.gif[/img][/url]

To add players to your Multitap, go to their profile while you're logged in and the option pops up like this:

If you want fellow Smogonites to add you, just ask and I can add your profile to the following list;

• Plague von Karma
• Galvanatic
• Mr. Uncompetitive
• TROP

Past Topics
These are topics we've gone over in the past. It's best to try not to nominate them again, but if it's been a while or there's been a big shift, absolutely go for it.

List

Speedrunning

Votes

Current Topic Nominations:

• Lootboxes (Plague von Karma)
  • Voters: Machoke
• Games made by POC, Black History Month (Galvanatic)
  • Voters: vonFiedler, DC, Lemingue
• Speedrunning (Light Sanctity)
  • Voters: Plague von Karma, TheUltraFinder, Bandkrook, Light Sanctity, TROP, Mr. Uncompetitive, Estronic,Lemingue
• Powercreep (DC)
  • Voters: Plague von Karma, Estronic
• What happened to Cyberpunk 2077? (TROP)
• Leaks and Datamining (Machoke)
  • Voters: Bandkrook, Mr. Uncompetitive, DC
• Pokemon Challenges (Bandkrook)
  • Voters: TheUltraFinder

DLC Content

Votes

• Lootboxes (Plague von Karma)
• Challenge Runs (RonJenzy)
• Leaks & Datamining (Machoke)
  • Voters: RonJenzy
• DLC (DC)
  • Voters: Plague von Karma, Light Sanctity, Machoke, Estronic, Xaviere, TROP

Gacha & Lootboxes

Hide

• Votes

  Powercreep (Estronic)
  [*]Gacha and Lootboxes (TheUltraFinder)
  

  • Voters: Light Sanctity

  [*][*]Leaks and Datamining (Mr. Uncompetitive)

 

[Plague von Karma]

Current Topic Nominations:

• none!

 

[Plague von Karma]

You can now rise up, gamers.

My nomination for the first topic will be the effects of lootboxes on the gaming industry. It's no secret that lootboxes have become a point of contention among the greater gaming community, and a discussion on the topic could prove interesting.

I recently cleared Paper Mario The Thousand-Year Door. I think it's one of the best Mario games of all time, and I have no idea how it isn't in contention with games like Super Mario 64. For its time, it's graphically stellar and the surprisingly advanced combat system makes it something you can really mess around with. Are you going to end up just clicking Power Bounce with Peril strats? Erm...most likely, but man if it isn't satisfying to pull that off. The story and characters are just something you don't normally see in modern Mario games, and I'd love to see it remade or otherwise revisited in the future.

 

[Galvanatic]

Thanks for showing us Backloggery. I didn't realize Fortune Cookie started here.

It's Black History Month, so we could discuss games made by POC. Not meant to spark a debate, just share cool games people worked on.

 

[Mr. Uncompetitive]

Thanks for reminding me to use my Backloggery, I haven't really used it since like 2018 lol so mine is out of date and very cringe (I've been recording the games I've beaten in some Google Sheets). I still need to clean it up more, tried to at least update my current games and make my page look pretty, but you can find me under the name Veiyr

Don't have a particular topic to suggest right now, fine with anything

As for games I have recently beaten Super Mario 64, Katamari Damacy, and Sin and Punishment (albeit on Easy Mode).

• My thoughts on SM64 are pretty much the same as in the VG thread. Camera and depth perception suck, but it's surprisingly fun for being the first 3D platformer, especially its movement. It's a solid 7/10
• Katamari Damacy was short, sweet, and very fun. Got a killer soundtrack too. The controls and physics are a little wonky though, but more critically I think the game's margin for error are way too slim. You can barely miss the requirement one run, and then play just a few minutes faster the next run and your Katamari will be several times larger. It really sucks too given that the levels are extremely long and are done within a time limit (the final level is 25 minutes long) Glad I played it though, another 7/10
• I need to go back to Sin and Punishment and play it on Normal, but it's decent enough for what it is. I can tell that Star Successor is based on this, but the difference in quality and pacing is night and day. The original Sin and Punishment is super clunky to play and control, the scoring system is very simple, the action is nowhere near as frantic as its sequel, or hell even Star Fox 64, and the limited continue system is obnoxious. Probably a 6/10, people definitely overrate this game (if you like this game, I think you will absolutely adore the Wii sequel like I do)

 

[Light Sanctity]

Never heard of the backloggery :V will get it
working soon.

my topic I suppose I could suggest would "speed running". It was something I did prior to joining Smogon. The game I did was Lightning Returns: FF XIII (I can post my run if that is okay, as well as if people are interested) :P the amount of various glitches, skips, and game-breaking ones people find are astonishing. Sometimes it is just a matter of throwing an item, walking funny, or just standing around doing nothing. :)

I never played SM: The 2,000 1,000 year door, but overall I liked many of the SM games and liked SM64 Speed runs too.

 

[DC]

Nomination: My nomination for the first topic is "Power Creep", a topic that Pokemon is too familiar with. Its generally a controversial topic that applies to many games, but especially MOBAs like League of Legends and Maplestory where newly developed characters are way more over-tuned that the originals. I think this topic would be nice to discuss in different aspects, like power creep in trilogies/series vs power creep in singular entities/games.

Current Gaming Activities: Not much going on right now. My recent adventure has been trying to re-complete Mario Kart Wii with 3-Stars on every map and mode + all karts and bikes unlocked. Its harder than I remembered it, especially since I have been getting stomped by RNG and get blue-shelled almost every race and only getting 2-stars .

 

[TROP]

Real topic submission: Cyberpunk2077 or anything that describes what happened with that because it isn't the first and won't be the last to pull off this kind of thing. Could actually explain it myself, but this video does a better job at it

we live in a society

Whoever decided Aeris final limit break should be an achievement should be fired immediately (wherever he/she is) and never allowed to choose an achievement ever again.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Real topic submission: Cyberpunk2077 or anything that describes what happened with that because it isn't the first and won't be the last to pull off this kind of thing. Could actually explain it myself, but this video does a better job at it

I've put this down as "What happened to Cyberpunk 2077" as that'll likely weave into what you're getting at. It's a very prevalent game industry trend.

 

[Machoke]

This sounds really cool, I look forward to discussion of whatever topic is presented.
I'd like to nominate the topic of "Leaks and Datamining." As a Pokemon fan who looks forward to the new Pokemon, movepool updates, etc. of each generation, I have definitely looked into leaks and Datamining people have posted before. It's quite normal to me at this point, but the industry is very aggressively against this practice in general as it ruins surprise elements and could spoil reception of the game or sales. It would be interesting discussing what methods people use to obtain and spread game data, how this practice has changed over time, and the ethics of it.

Also, Paper Mario and The Thousand Year Door is an incredible game. I agree with your opinion 100% and I have very fond memories of it. I've played through it at least 5 times by this point, and there's mods out there too that up the difficulty that I've been meaning to try.
Mario games usually don't go heavy on story (Miyamoto's stance is that Mario shouldn't be story heavy), so PMTTYD is a breath of fresh air. I would love to see a proper Mario RPG again in the future although I'm unsure we'll ever get that.
If you liked PMTTYD, I recommend Bug Fables. It's an indie game with great quality and lots of content that serves as the "spiritual successor" of PMTTYD. I sing praises of PMTTYD and even I (along with a large amount of positive reviews) think that Bug Fables is even better, as it takes the things that make the game great and expands on them while adding new cool features.

 

[Band]

I have to admit, the only other games I've played the last year that weren't Pokemon were Chrono Trigger (1st time, still haven't beaten Lavos but I'm basically there), Hollow Knight (fell in love with it and I seriously cannot wait for Silksong) and Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (borrowed my friend's switch and got to complete all shrines and do some other things here and there, but I only had it for 2 months). I tried playing Earthbound but I found it kinda boring? But the art style is sooo cute.

Nomination: I'll nominate a very popular topic imo, which is Pokémon Challenges. I'm talking about nuzlockes, solo-runs, monotype runs, egglockes, wedlockes, wonderlockes, and every kind of self-imposed rule you can choose for your challenge. I assume everyone here knows what a Nuzlocke Challenge and maybe has even played one themselves. If you don't, here's a quick rundown of the rules:
1- You may only catch the first encounter in a given route or area.
2- If a Pokémon faints (HP bar reaches 0) they are considered DEAD and cannot be used in battle ever again. They must be put in the box or released.
3- You must nickname all your Pokemon

I won't go in detail about other types of Nuzlockes like Wedlockes, Egglockes, Wonderlockes, Soul-Links, and etc, otherwise I'd nerd out for another 10 paragraphs. I'll just leave some resources for those of you who are interested.

For a video from youtuber Marriland explaining how challenges like Wedlockes work, click here
For a video ranking Pokemon games from easiest to hardest to nuzlocke, click here
For an article on Vox about Nuzlockes, click here

I feel these types of challenges can REALLY spark some interest in a formula that we already got tired of playing through. You can't just breeze your way through the game using whatever you like now. You'll most likely be forced to used Pokémon you have NEVER used before. Pokemon like Miltank, Octillery, Emolga, Hypno, Druddigon. You might just be surprised and start appreciating that Pokemon more! I encourage everyone to at least try a Nuzlocke. I swear they are the most fun ever, even if you have to say goodbye to that sweet sweet Gible you just caught after a surprise critical-hit.

Current gaming activities: I'm nuzlocking every Pokemon game from Red to Ultra Sun. Pokémon marked in the Hall of Fame and their evolutionary lines cannot be used in the next games. I'm currently on Crystal after beating Red, Blue, Gold, and Silver. Can't wait to beat Red's ass with a Sudowoodo. Another challenge I'm doing is a SoulSilver Mono Water run. It's a more laidback challenge since fainting doesn't count as dying and I can choose what I get to use too. My current team is

I'm accepting some game suggestions btw, I really like games like HK, Zelda, Don't Starve, Chrono Trigger, and Tomb Raider if it helps.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Alright, it's time to vote on the topic that you want to be discussed! Simply add it to whatever post you make in the thread as discussed in the OP!

We have the following;

• Lootboxes (Plague von Karma)
• Games made by POC, Black History Month (Galvanatic)
• Speedrunning (Light Sanctity)
• Powercreep (DC)
• What happened to Cyberpunk 2077? (TROP)
• Leaks and Datamining (Machoke)
• Pokemon Challenges (Bandkrook)

Votes will be counted on Sunday evening UK time, no idea what time because I'm an irresponsible prick but yeah. I'll have the topic on Monday though!

If this voting system seems off, I am open to suggestions on changes. I've noticed vonFiedler and Martin have used Strawpoll systems, so I am open to considering it.

--

I'll personally vote Powercreep and Speedrunning. I think there's a lot we can glean from these.

 

[TheUltraFinder]

Speedrunning and Pokemon Challenges.
I do a lot of Nuzlockes (the hardcore pokemon challenge) and recently started Speedrunning practice. I know I've never posted here but this seems cool and I'm a gamer.

Current Gaming Activities: Check my Backloggery, where I'm trying to get all my Steam games on

 

[vonFiedler]

I'm voting for Games made by POC. That personally sounds interesting to me. I don't know that I could add a lot in conversation, but I'd be curious to hear from anyone well-versed in the topic.

 

[Machoke]

Voting for Lootboxes as a topic of discussion. It's definitely a controversial industry practice that I feel many people have opinions on.

Recently played:
Smash Ultimate. I don't have a switch anymore, but every so often I get to play with friends. The other day I revisited smash ultimate, which is a game that I played quite often back when I had a switch. It's very interesting how I feel like sometimes I play better when I take a long break from the game instead of playing frequently. I was able to practice my pocket Daisy, which is nice because offline play is really the only place you could effectively practice a character like Daisy in my opinion. Getting float cancel combos more consistently which is pretty cool. :)

 

[Band]

Vote: Speedrunning and Leaks/Datamines

I've never attempted a speedrun nor am I interested in doing one, but I find them absolutely fascinating. When I played LZBOTW, I immediately searched for a speedrun of it. I then binged speedruns of other Zelda games despite not playing them. Same story with Hollow Knight, after playing it I searched for some speedruns to watch. It's a topic I'm very very interested in and would love to hear some stuff from people who have done them.

 

[Light Sanctity]

Vote: Speedrunning gotta got fast brrrrrrrrr

 

[Mr. Uncompetitive]

Leaks / Datamines and, fuck it, Speedrunning too

Leaks/Datamines cause I love that stuff and have sorta kinda been trying to get more involved in hacking / hunting unused content

Speedrunning will be fun for me to talk about too since I have a lot of history with a particular (albeit niche) game from several years ago, other topics sound cool too tho

 

[Astra]

Speedrunning and Powercreep got my vote. I love to talk about powercreep especially considering that playing Overwatch since launch date has given me over four years of experience with it.

 

[DC]

Games made by POC and Leaks/Data Mining for my vote.

 

[TROP]

Speedrunning because knowing strats for that even if you will never actually do a speedrun is actually helpful.

t. just did the hell achievement of doing legendary Halo 2 in less than 3 hours and would have not been possible without that

 

[Bakugames]

Games made by POC and Speedrunning for me.

Right now I'm slowly going through the Spyro remakes, the first one in specific. The flight levels are very annoying, but that's probably because I'm not very good at these kinds of games. I die a lot and the camera can be very confusing to me. I don't play it a lot since I'm busy working/studying, so I don't get accustomed to the controls.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Last day to get your votes in! Currently, Speedrunning is ahead, with Games made by POC and Leaks/Datamining tied for a close second.

While I'm at it, may as well put some Gamer Activities™ in here.

I've been playing a lot of Pokemon Silver lately. I normally default to Gold or Crystal, so it's an interesting change of pace. While it's no secret that I adore the first generation, my favourite would have to be the second. This is because of a combination of my personal history with the game, as well as its own development history that I keep finding out new things about. While I really dislike how some parts of the game were handled and will rant about them to the ends of the earth, everything else is incredible, honestly. It's graphically stellar for its time and pushes the Game Boy to its absolute limit. Pokemon Crystal was forced to the GBC for a reason! If you're ever interested in playing Gold or Silver, I must recommend using a SNES with the Super Game Boy 2 if you happen to have them! The games run incredibly well on it and the unique palette is pretty nice looking.

As my Backloggery in the OP implies, I'm nearing the end of the "first half" of the game. Will likely give a review or something once it's done, idfk.

 

[Plague von Karma]

So the first topic to win the vote is Speedrunning!

Tagging voters in case they want to share anything

• TheUltraFinder
• Bandkrook
• Light Sanctity
• TROP
• Mr. Uncompetitive
• Estronic
• Lemingue

 

[TheUltraFinder]

Speedrunning: Its a cool hobby/job, depending on how good you are. I've been wanting to try it for a while, I've done Pokemon Yellow Speedrun practice and Hollow Knight Practice. Minecraft Speedrunning seems fun, since its random. My most played game is Risk of Rain 2, which is similar to Minecraft Speedrunning since its random as heck.

Ultra's Game Activities II: I've been wanting to replay Pokemon Black, since its one of my favorite games. Maybe it'll be a Nuzlocke? Not sure. I've also been playing a lot of Minecraft Survival with some friends on a Discord server. As I said above, I played a lot of Risk of Rain 2, especially trying to 100% the game (3 achivements, a lot of logs, and then I am finished with the game!)