by releppes » Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:13 am
I love the comments about poor parenting. They speak from experience?
My kids are pretty smart about video game playing. As a parent, I had the sit down talk with video games and violence. The response I got from my 7yr daughter was, "Dad, you know this stuff is only fake don't you?" I laughed and that ended the discussion. However, my kids...YES, that's right....my kids often request I turn off the extra blood and gore. It's not an age thing. It's not a parent thing. Some people are just not into the over-the-top effects. They're more into the game itself.
The same goes for the reference made to TF2 and Halo. Violence in games is one thing. Most kids get it. It's a cartoon. It's fake. It's not real. As for cussing and gore, it's all a matter of taste. Some people don't think of swearing as being cool. Some people who drink socially don't think being drunk is cool. It's all a matter of taste.
Then there's the attitude that if you don't want such things in your video games, don't buy them. Sadly, it's a very small market for video games that have good taste. The games are very lack luster and not as much fun as their gory counter parts. I personally hate the flying body parts in Team Fortress 2. I've always hated that effect. Then again, I'm not into goofy party hats, clowns, and confetti either. But I love the cell shaded cartoon style of game TF2, so I play anyway.
All in all, the effects in Torchlight are good for us (me and the kids). I very much prefer the graphics style of Torchlight over that of Diablo. Although I'm not into blood and gore myself, the blood and explosions are pretty good. Yeah, they're a little crazy at times, but it's a cartoon. It does add a nice element to the game.
I do have to admit, the thought of going against one of the bosses and hacking off an arm, only to have copious amounts of blood spew out, then hack off the other arm only to have even more blood spew about. Each time the boss yell out in a british accent, "I'm not dead yet!" Maybe that's the only boss you never totally defeat. After you hack off each limb, you walk away only to have the quadriplegic boss yelling taunts at you to come on back and fight. Guess you'd have to watch Monty Python's Holy Grail to appreciate the ridiculous humor.