Patreon Q&A #27 (Patreon)

Sandraincloud90 Asks
What are some games that are on your bucket list that are REALLY hard to obtain but still hope to play one day? 

TIMESPLITTERS.

God damn, I really wish I had Xbox Live when Future Perfect had its servers up and running. Aside from that however, most games on my "bucket list" are things to own rather than just play. Things like Steel Battalion and its controller.

Japan is on every nerds bucket list though, and especially after watching Super Bunnyhop tour they're popular and almost overwhelming arcades, it's definitely something I wanna experience first hand one of these days.

The Great Leveler Asks
If you had to pick one thing above all else that makes combat in a game feel good (movement, sound design, weapon animation, impact, etc.) What would it be and why?

Hrrrrr... that's tough. They're all extremely important.

Movement I don't think has quite ever killed a gaming experience for me, but there's definitely games that frustrated. Metro 2033 comes to mind. When it's not fun to do something as basic as move your character, the game's already fighting an uphill battle. Max Payne 3's combat is very enjoyable, but it's cluttered cocktail of animations, reactions, and rag dolls really brings it down at times.

Speaking of which, animation. It's vastly underrated when it comes to combat. Modern Warfare's weapons aren't thrilling to fire just because of sound, its how their sounds work with the supreme animations, hand-keyed and slightly exaggerated to give everything a unique flare.

Sound design is one of the reasons I didn't like fighting in Skyrim. Swords sounded like hitting someone with a knife's handle. Blades don't go "clunk" except for the Dragon's Tooth in Deus Ex.

And impact is key. You can have the best sound-effects and animations in the world, but if it seems more like the player is tickling the enemy rather than hurting them, combat will never truly satisfy.

Exploring these four values, it's really difficult to hold one above everything else.

Speaking personally though, I'd have to go with sound-design, mainly because in shooters, weak weapons are one of my biggest pet peeves. It should be impossible for a firearm to sound weak and yet they so often do!

Ferenc Viczmándi Asks
What is the coziest game in your opinion?

Oddly enough, Call of Duty & Halo used to be comfort food for me, in a way they still are. They're games that I never feel like I have to relearn. Sure, there's maybe some new weapons, perks, abilities, and strategies but by in-large, if you've got decent game sense, aim, and a good weapon, it's like therapy.

Gran Turismo had a relaxing atmosphere too, I think it's the catchy jazz and funk played in menus, something that the series seemed to trade for elevator music by GT5. It's the experience with all of these games that made me understand how most people play games. They come back from a hard days work, sit down at their couch or chair, and zone out to their game of choice with friends, because what's cozy isn't so much about the game itself, but how familiar one is with it.

Submit your questions in the comments below, for future Patreon Q&A's.