It is most likely a reference to “head measuring”, it has it roots in outdated pseudosciences like Phrenology (making assumptions on intellect and mental traits based on cranial size and formation) and physiognomy (making assumptions on someones intellect and mental traits based on what they look like).
No matter how scary you think Measurehead is just think about how scary it is that people still believe this stuff today.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying Disco Elysium @TheChicken, will be very interesting to hear your thoughts on the game once you hit the end, and what kind of ending you get, and how you fare politically and morally.
I’ve decided from tonight to return to Kentucky Route Zero, but rather than resume from the middle of the third episode (or rather this act as this game calls them), I’ve decided to play the game from the start again. I started playing KR0 a year ago, back when I literally just moved into my house, but all my furniture was in storage, and I had no internet because I opted to have my internet upgraded to fibre and had to wait months for them to install it. While I had bought KR0 (probably in a Steam sale at some point) and had intended to play it, I essentially played it at the time because I didn’t have many options, and I think there were other games I would rather of been playing instead. Not a great mindset when you start a new game, especially one like KR0 which is quite talky and low energy.
Part of the reason I wanted to go back was talking to @Accidental_Kills98 about the game earlier on this thread. I said I got frustrated at the game for moments I felt were pretentious and annoying, AK clearly disagreed, especially since I had only reached the halfway point of the game. And honestly, that’s fair, even more so now that it’s been a year and my memory of what I have played is pretty hazy at best. So this seemed like a good time to go through the game, and I’ll write up about it one act at a time. I envy AK and his clear depth and knowledge of art and politics, things I wish I could grasp nearly as well as he does. I feel like in my last post on this I was perhaps boasting about my ignorance, when really I absolutely don’t want to. I consider myself not very smart and not very knowledgable, but certainly don’t see those as strengths or virtues. And a game like KR0 I want to give a fair shake, even if by the end I don’t really understand it.
So, let’s get started. KR0 was released episodically. (Act 1: January 7th 2013. Act 2: May 31st, 2013. Act 3: May 6th, 2014. Act 4: July 19th, 2016. Act 5: January 28th, 2020.) KR0 is made up of five acts, each of which is followed up by what I guess you would call an interlude, which takes a break from the main story, but does still tie back to the main story in some regard.
I think I’ll leave this summary unspoilered but will spoiler tag the follow acts when I play and write about them.
Act 1 sees our playable character, Conway, arrive at a gas station with a giant horse head as a decoration, looking to make one final delivery for the antique company he works for, but doesn’t know where the address is. The gas station attendant tells Conway that to find the address, he will have to find the elusive Kentucky Route Zero, and to talk to a woman named Weaver about how to find the Zero, starting off a chain of events in the game.
Act 1 is pretty simple and small, it definetly feels smaller than what happens in Act 2 and what I played of Act 3. Act 1 begins with Conway in our party, and in the second half we’ll see Shannon join our party, in a really great bit in which the perspective changes as it breaks from Conway, starts with Shannon, giving us dialogue options with her, and then Conway approaches her like an NPC. The game does a really great job of intergrating party members, where party members can often made dialogue options and see their thoughts once they join, as more people join us later down in the adventure.
Act 1 keeps things relatively simple, there aren’t many cutscenes that are mandatory to complete this story. KR0 will break up point and click segments with you driving on an open map, so while you could drive to your next destination, it is very rewarding to go off the beaten track and see what encounters you may find. While most of these are text only, they do tend to be nice and weird. KR0 very much embodies that sortof real life weirdness you find late at night, like driving into a city at 3am or in the middle of nowhere, how when everyone is asleep there is a kind of ethereal feeling you get. I really enjoy this slices of weirdness, my favourite so far being the church which you can hear this loud choir repeating the same two verses over and over, and when you go inside, the place is abandoned and all there is a VHS tape playing the choir noises. No explanation, it’s never elaborated on, just a nicely weird thing to happen, making you think you’ve left Kentucky and entered another realm at night.
I complained about pretentiousness and while that may come up later, in Act 1, I’d say that’s never really a thing. Sure, the game is low energy, serious, and doesn’t have much humour. It’s definetly a game that you need to vibe with I think from the beginning, and if you don’t, I imagine you probably won’t stick with it. There are few main characters introduced so far, and no real stakes. Even the KR0 is something our party only finds the entrace to at the end of the Act, we won’t see what KR0 is until Act 2. Characters have unique voices, and Conway is clearly quite a simple man, which makes for a good playable character in a very strange world. Really I think the only person who does have pretentiousness like I described would be Weaver, but it’s made clear that she is in fact meant to be weird and off like that, not the writers trying for something and failing.
I really enjoy Act 1 and will be a good to see the following acts as things get meatier. As for our first interlude, we get to visit a museum displaying several pieces of art. Quite a nice change of pace, interesting in its own right, but will ofcourse also have ties to the plot overall.
As a side note, I only realised on this playthrough that the gas station’s basement is meant to look like the body of the horse, that’s a cool detail. The gas station reminds me of the Kelpies statue in Falkirk, Scotland.
I commend you for wanting to give the game another go, it shows a profound lack of ignorance to actually want to engage with something or attempt to reevaluate something and it shows real strength of character as well. You don’t get to be as knowledgeable as me without doing so also thank you for your kind words, I am actually touched I got someone to play a game like this even if they may not wind up liking it.
Bought Helldivers 2, so did two of my friends. Tomorrow a 4th will join. We had a blast, it was incredible tense and chaotic.
We did have some connection problems and suffered from some bugs. It took around 10 min to get a game working.
9/10 democracy points, will bring freedom to socialist bugs again.
Another one joins our indispensable ranks! 
Been eyeing the game since around release, but there was a lot of other priorities that needed my focus and cash. So I finally had the chance to get the game. Now I just need to learn how everything works.
Finally another individual spreading democracy by any means necessary.
I’ve been playing Alone in the Dark and holy fuck it’s absolutely great. If you like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Evil within etc - dont sleep on this game.
So yesterday Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League began Season 1, the first actual content update to the game. And the reaction has been largely negative:
The biggest thing this update shows is just how unsuited Rocksteady was to make a live service game. When a lot of the player base is on thin ice with the game, they decided to stick with their plan of splitting the Season 1 content into half now and half 6 weeks later. They might be releasing Joker now and releasing the season’s story stuff in the second half, or they might not be adding story at all. Either way, they should’ve known that their choices wouldn’t be received very well and tempered people’s expectations. It took them 9 hours to do server maintenance for the season’s launch yesterday. Buying the Joker early in the store apparently breaks the game, and the Battle Pass gets stuck in one of the early tiers so it doesn’t scroll and you can’t even level it up more.
And the funniest Joke of it all is, I’m not even really disappointed. The gameplay is so fun to me, and it’s added a new set of gear to unlock and play with. I prefer this Incursion mission selection to the base game’s, the Jokerized Elseworld also looks better and has better music. The Green Lantern Brainiac fight was much more enjoyable than the Flash Brainiac fight. The Battle Pass content seems pretty good, especially since you earn its cost back by completing it (which means Deluxe owners can essentially get every BP free). I’m surprised by how non-greedy it is compared to everything else in the shop. They also added in a ton of cool audio logs that provide more characterization (the base game had 56, this episode by itself adds 30 more). I also like the new holding cell where the squad member you bench stays, it reminds me of the villain cell from Arkham Knight.
It’s fitting that as the Joker launches I’m the one feeling crazy for still liking the game. Yeah the update is more of the same, but I guess what sets me apart from a lot of people is that I actually liked “the same”. I also viewed this post-launch content as a nice little bonus, not as something that’ll radically change the game. Though this Season’s launch likely killed any chance they had of making a proper comeback, and who knows what the other 3 seasons will be like when (if) they come out. I guess this game is just one of those “If it has one fan, I’m that one. If it has no fans, then I’m dead” situations.
I saw this compilation and at least what’s there for Joker narrative content seems fun.
Say what you will about the design (I don’t mind it) but I think the actor does a good job at portraying a version of the character and has fun with it.
But yeah, damn, the one thing that could help add more fun or diversity was at least one new mission type, but nope. LOL. But also ouch.
This game might not last long if, in their first test of “live service content” to revitalize a horrible launch – it’s more of the same with an increased focus on either taking your money or your time just to unlock the one special new bit of content.
Can you replay the story with Joker and get new dialogue with him? The clip at the end as they explore the Batman museum thing has a bunch of dialogue, and I feel like I heard that they’d tie in some endgame-specific characters into the story’s script…?
There doesn’t seem to be much dialogue with him in the main story, the core 4 say the same lines, with the member you bench just talking via the radio. In stuff like the Batman fight, you still play through the core 4’s Fear Toxin sections but then when it’s time to shoot Batman then Joker shows up again. Joker will give comments when in some missions, but they’re more universal lines that activate every time you play that mission type. There’s some small progression with other characters, with Amanda Waller being a bit less hostile and Brainiac being more pissed off. Who knows, they might have even made more lines for Joker in the main story but made the big-brain decision to not add them till the second half of the season.
As for Joker himself, I like that he’s so different from the Arkham Joker. I love his animations, he has a very flamboyant movement style, and even gives a little jump when stopping. I like what lines he has a lot, the actor seemed to really be enjoying himself. They even gave him lines commenting on collecting Riddler trophies, the most memorable being “Like stealing an achievement from a 13-year-old playing an M-rated game online!”.
Gameplay-wise, he’s easily the best character so far. His traversal attack is where he drops explosives below him, and there’s some strategy whether to activate it higher for a wider attack range, or activate it lower for more damage in a smaller area. His movement is on an umbrella (presumably taken from his world’s Penguin) and you can do a slow glide around, surf on it for fast horizontal movement, explode it for fast vertical movement, and fluidly chain them all together. This traversal takes a good bit of skill to master like Harley Quinn’s, but unlike Harley it’s actually fun to use.
All in all Joker is a good addition to the game, but they should have just cut out the whole grind requirement and let people unlock him from the start to compensate for not having any story after that. Anyway, I will leave you with the glorious patriotic color swatch you can unlock for Joker for free. The other 4 characters get similar swatches, but they’re only sold in the store.
I think my issue with Season 1 stems from how confused I was. Loading into the game I found myself just confused with how to approach the new content. So confused I just quit the game and didn’t even bother.
Could just be me and my neurodivergent mind. Could also just be them not really making it clear what’s endgame content and what’s Episode 1 Fear content fully outside of some minor labeling.
Suicide Squad narratively is compelling, but I don’t have that retention for the game beyond its live service model and very minor story additions. It’s evident that corners are being cut with the opening cinematic or rather animatic for Joker which gives me HITMAN 2 flashbacks. And I simply just don’t wanna deal with the repetition and tediousness that is its gameplay now.
Locking Joker away behind a grind or paywall is where the game will fail especially in its future. I was hoping Episode 1 threw in a few story missions but instead we get to grind.
A game I’ve been playing recently is one I think some of you might like, it’s called Hitman: World of Assassination!
Hitman: WoA is a stealth video game where you play the role of an assassin known only by a number: 47. Agent 47 is basically the ultimate killing machine, he’s highly skilled at infiltration and he’s able to use a variety of methods to kill his targets all around the globe. Played by the amazing David Bateson, 47 is a captivating protagonist, he and the rest of the voice cast do an excellent job to bring the whole story together! Part of the charm of Hitman is the semi-comedic tone it has, with funny outfits, kill methods and dialogue that brilliantly contrast with the idea that you’re a professional and ruthless killer. You’re also able to replay missions over and over again since each location is designed around being a sandbox to explore, and they all come with several fun challenges to figure out how to complete!
Although it may seem a bit expensive for a 3+ year old game, the $70 price includes access to the base games of Hitman 2016, Hitman 2, and Hitman 3 so it’s basically like you’re getting 3 games in one! Plus, there is the $30 Deluxe Pack which gets you access to all the major DLCs from Hitman 2 and Hitman 3. Really, the Deluxe Pack is worth it just for the two sandbox story missions, but it also includes 2 Sniper Assassin missions, 4 Special Assignments, 13 premium escalations, and a whole bunch of items and suit cosmetics. In terms of content, this game is jam-packed with stuff: main missions, side missions, escalations, Elusive Targets, contracts mode, and they’re still periodically patching it and adding new content like bringing back The Undying Elusive Target which stars Sean Bean, and there’s also a totally new celebrity Elusive Target they just announced to be coming in a few months! Last but certainly not least is the huge game mode they added in January 2023 called Freelancer!
Freelancer is basically a sort of rogue-like game mode where you go through the main game locations and take down members of crime Syndicates, and it’s very fun and addictive. Once every few missions, you will have a Showdown mission where you need to identify the Syndicate leader by finding a suspect who has all of the proper traits. Oh by the way, on the Showdowns you also need to watch out for Lookouts who will cause the suspects to escape, and Assassins who can kill you super fast if they’re alerted. Lastly, as you level up in the mode, you unlock new decorations for your safehouse which let you customize each room how you like! So be sure to check out Hitman: World of Assassination, it’s definitely worth full price!
Started my second Playthrough of Alone in the Dark, playing as Emily Hartwood this time. The game is basically the same, it’s nut like the A and B Scenarios of the original Resident Evil 2, but all Cutscene are different in dialogue and sometimes in outcome, which is very cool.
Your brief words about this game are some of the most positive I’m hearing about it. That’s cool because I’d like to play it sometime.
(I “played” the original back in the day but couldn’t really figure it out and only could get through the first few screens. I was only 10 or so when I tried playing it. Also I vaguely recall it would crash on our Mac a lot? But I remained intrigued by it and will always remember the graphics.)
@Accidental_Kills98 I’ve been playing more Kentucky Route Zero, currently halfway through the fourth act. So feels like a good time to talk about the second and third acts, as well as the respective interludes that follow them. Will be spoiler tagging all of this from here on and all out. Mostly, I am enjoying my time with KR0, but I do have issues, I think the third act is a bit of a dip in quality for me. (Although from what I’ve played of act 4 so far, hopefully just a temporary blip because I’m really enjoying act 4.) I don’t think KR0 is the type of game that is for everyone, but I do feel confident enough in saying that if you think you would enjoy KR0, you should go for it I think.
Act 2: Honestly, despite having played this before, I was actually shocked at just how short act 2 is, especially if you discount the optional content. I believe there is only 5 cutscenes, 2 of which are very brief as the gang visits the Bureau, the storage facility, the Bureau again, the museum, and finally the forest. Perhaps because I had played it all before it all went quite quickly. I imagine this also ties into the release date between episodes as I talked about earlier, with there only being a 5 month gap between the first 2 episodes, which would start to become longer onwards. The plot inches forwards, with our heroes arriving in the Zero, but then realising they have to leave the Zero because Conway’s leg is messed up from the caves accident in act 1. Not sure how I feel about this, it does feel oddly roundabout, since in act 3 our heroes will go back to the Zero to do what they were trying to do in act 2 before Conway’s leg went to hell. But a lot is set up in act 2 that will clearly matter in big and small ways in the bigger picture, the Bureau, the introduction of the Zero which serves as a sort of taster for things to come, the introduction of Lula, the second of the that trio of characters with Joseph and Donald who clearly matter in someway, and Ezra, a young boy, joining the party.
I’ll talk about this more in act 3 but for act 2, this does set up my issue with KR0 so far where I think the Zero itself is actually less interesting than the stuff in Kentucky itself. The Bureau is fine, I like the concept of it actually making a weird kindof sense, rather than it being completely nonsensical, and I do enjoy the setting of it being a former cathedral which is also a dock. But I also can’t feel like satire of beaurecacy and red tape is something that feels done to death and often has the obvious observations. (Red tape makes everything take forever, unneccesary paperwork, the tedium of the office environment etc.) To me, the museum is far more interesting, with it’s idea, how it looks, and the concept that every conversation you have is being told after the fact to the museum staff, with observations of Conway and Shannon. And the atmosphere of the final segment in the forest is really just sublime, some of the soundtrack is truly outstanding.
I’m tired. I’ll talk about the rest later. I just finished Act 4 tonight, easily my favourite thus far, although honestly wonder how this will all tie together in Act 5, it seems like there is a lot to resolve.
“Woman: World of Man” lmaooo, fuck, ain’t that the unfortunate truth still… 
