That Resolved Itself More Quickly Than I Expected

Yes, my computer has rediscovered the network. I'm not sure what of the various things I tried did the trick, but the trick is done, and that's the important thing. Presumably everything is A-OK now, so daily posting should resume. Now if I can think of things to post about. Well, there's always complaining about stuff.

Recently, I've been thinking about the different video game systems I've owned, and what my favorite and least favorite games have been for each of them. Even with a voting bloc of a single person, consensus hasn't always been easy to reach, probably because I haven't really defined my criteria, so sometimes it comes down to a game that had a strong multi-player component, versus one with superior single-player capabilities. That's not what this post is about (though I might put those lists up someday, for kicks). Comparing different games to try and judge their value to me brought up a certain trait in a few of my games that I truly despise. Actually, it brought up a couple of different traits, but I'm just focusing on one.

I tend to like flight combat games. One of the only games I owned for my family computer was Out of the Sun, a WW2 flight sim. There's been Starfox 64, Rogue Squadron's 1 and 2, Crimson Skies, Secret Weapons Over Normandy, Yager, and most recently, Defender. One thing that some of these games do is provide you with wingmen, or at least have you team-up with other pilots occasionally. The problem being, the A.I. on these allies is rarely helpful, and usually a burden. So every mission becomes, in addition to whatever other objectives you have, a protection mission, where you have to keep your idiot friends alive in spite of themselves. With Starfox, for example, Falco was the only one of the three wingmen I had much use for, simply because he seemed the least prone to needing to be saved. Slippy would be chiding me for killing some target he was (fruitlessly) pursuing, then start screaming for help 3 seconds later. Stupid frog.

I find it even more frustrating when you're given some control over your wingmen. Secret Weapons and Rogue Squadron 2 each give you the ability to choose from a limited number of commands, which you can then issue to the others in your flight. So your squadron is attacking some Super Star Destroyers, and you're trying to take out shield generators so you can then destroy the bridge. Except TIE Fighters are shooting you to pieces, so naturally, you order your wingmen to attack the TIEs. You even hear your pilot say 'Get those fighters off my back!', and Random Wingman responds 'Roger that', or something similar. Time passes, and nothing has changed. The TIEs are still shooting you to pieces, so you're spending most of your time trying to avoid death, rather than completing your objective, which gets Admiral Ackbar or some other commanding officer jackoff bellowing at you to take out that Star Destroyer. Hey fishface, give me some buddies with functional nervous systems and maybe I will! It really puts a damper on the whole experience for me, since I don't enjoy screaming at the screen about how I'm sure it's screwing me over, and calling the console a stinking cheater. Even if I win, I'm tense and angry, the victory is almost a revenge thing by that point.

I suppose the problem is that, by giving me the ability to issue commands, the game has tricked me into thinking I can compensate for stupid allies. I know they're idiots, but I'm sure I can come up with a way to deploy them so they can be helpful to me. Then you start giving orders and surprise! they're still useless! Crimson Skies earns a lot of credit with me because while it doesn't let you give commands, it also doesn't make you waste time saving the other pilots. They can't win the level for you, but they're good enough to attract sufficient attention that you can do what's necessary to win, and that's all I really need. Just keep enough of the small fry busy I can destroy the important stuff, and it'll all work out.

The games just don't provide that very often.