Minor thoughts on Remember Me

Okay, I'm starting this a quarter through my third playthrough of this game (in a row, mind you, because I will get all the achievements, dammit) and so it's gonna miss a lot of stuff but I don't care, I just want to build this habit. Granted, a lot of these aren't going to make any sense, if you haven't played the game. Or if you have. Because I have completely omitted any other information than the thoughts I had. Whoops :D

1. I really like that they explicitly make the point that drones only can't scan through walls because of privacy laws. Nice way to limit the technology through non-technological means.
2. Synchronizing with a remembrane is a good way to make a mechanical abstraction of the action of "repeat the complicated action that someone else shows you how to do". You don't have to manually enter the passcode, you just... sync up with their memory of entering the passcode. Nice.
3. Maybe we should have a term for the mechanic/genre where you climb along buildings. I guess that's just the direction that 3d platformers have gone. I wish it felt a little more realistic! Also, fluid. It always feels pretty jarring, unless they're taking the "you are a god of parkour" approach of Infamous and (maybe) Assassin's Creed.
4. Kid X-mas's body just doesn't look realistic.
5. This train that casually starts moving after you board... Definitely looks like it's not even remotely close to capable of moving.
6. The dudes in this game all look the same. I'm lookin' at you, Johnny Greenteeth.
7. Background conversational dialogue, about someone who's nervous: "You're like a cat in a flux chamber." What??
8. Why exactly is there a minefield in slum 404 again??
9. A Zorn says "You are subject to a sigma 8 arrest warrant." What the heck would sigma 8 mean?
10. I really love the Zorns projecting a screaming open mouth in front of them when they roar. It's bullshit in terms of why would you make a robot roar, but like, damn, it's a good visual effect.
11. "This little red riding hood's got a basket full of kickass!" is a hilariously over-the-top and great line. (Delivered to someone who's been hunting Nilin, and shouting Red Riding Hood-based taunts at her)
12. They started exclusively using the spammer to activate things after you get it, and barely ever using the "press e to activate". It's kinda sad! It makes the spammer feel more like just a game abstraction and less like it has any specific meaning in the game world.
13. That carts and tracks puzzle is stupid. It doesn't make any sense. Why were those tracks in that order? Why is this all suspended in the air???
14. Diktat is a major brand / fashion label in this world.
15. The cube climbing puzzle in the conception cube is... Well, it's weird and out of place. But it's a clever way to make that kind of climbing puzzle! Having cubes stacked vertically but out of alignment so that you have to shift around consecutive ones to get on the face that matches the next? Yeah, good.

Silent Hill 2, or, Shoofle Gets Too Scared To Play

I wrote about Silent Hill 2 today, which my roommate and I finally finished playing last night. I gave up on it previously, much to his annoyance, because it was just too stressful and scary for me to play. That hasn't happened before. He eventually took up the controller in my stead, but after trading it off to me for boss fights a few times, I picked it back up for the final few bits. After I got my thoughts down, I thought I'd collect some lasting thoughts or impressions; in retrospect, I think they're more interesting than the rest of the review. It's hiding behind the link - here's the TL;DR:

Okay, so, I want to try to get some kind of lasting something out of games more often, so I'm going to try to think about what I learned from each game I play. Silent Hill 2?

1. The absence of enemies defines a horror game. This game got a hell of a lot of mileage out of giving you enemies to fight, and then not giving enemies for you to fight, so you're left with that floaty confused feeling - which intensifies the terror of actually seeing an enemy tenfold. 
2. Leave the player weak and unable to affect their environment. I didn't often die in this game, but I got hit - it was scary, and I used my healing items a lot in contrast to my hoarder tendencies. I didn't down them reflexively, but it was a fairly regular thing. The disruption of getting hit once in every three battles aided my terror, and when I eventually figured out the combat, it became a lot less stressful.
3. If the player character responds ambiguously or in a low-key way, the player responds directly instead. This supercharges things like fear and terror, but can easily bite you in the ass for confusing story and plot. If the player sees the character being scared, then the player just watches it all happen. If the character doesn't show terror, then the player will feel it themselves.
4. Fourth, creepy shit is creepy as shit, but you've gotta play it quiet. Being startled is almost diametrically opposed from being unsettled. The threat of startling overpowers the actual effect of being startled by a million to one.

thanks, silent hill wiki