Pillars of Eternity - Beaten in 40 Minutes @ Kotaku

Yes ok, cheating to do a speedrun makes the whole thing irrelevant to me. Exploiting glitches in the game however can be somewhat creative and skilled, sort of like hacking, if you're the first to do it and not just copying someone else who found the exploit.

But the best kind of speedruns, the only really interesting for me, are the ones that are done 'cleanly'.

Originally Posted by Darkhawk
Yes ok, I don't care about cheating to do a speedrun. Exploiting glitches can be somewhat creative and skilled, sort of like hacking, if you're the first to do it and not just copying someone else who found the exploit, but the best kind of speedruns, the only really interesting for me, are the ones that are done 'cleanly'.

Wouldn't it make more sense to call that particular process exploit hunting? That would make slightly more sense.

As in, it likely takes skill (or just the interest, really) to find an exploit. But once you've found it, I don't see the skill involved with using it.

Maybe I'm missing something, though.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Wouldn't it make more sense to call that particular process exploit hunting? That would make slightly more sense.

I guess, for that particular field, but it's also applying the exploit afterwards, planning, min/maxing, iterating and optimizing the time taken to complete the game using the exploit(s) - you still need to be super effective/competitive in how you use the exploit and also how you use the existing game mechanics. So it's about more than just finding an exploit.

Ah well

Originally Posted by Darkhawk
I guess, for that particular field, but it's also applying the exploit afterwards, planning, min/maxing, iterating and optimizing the time taken to complete the game using the exploit(s) - you still need to be super effective/competitive in how you use the exploit and also how you use the existing game mechanics. So it's about more than just finding an exploit.

Ah well

Yeah, I guess I can see that.

My problem is probably just a basic lack of interest in the subject.

I should just shup up and leave people to their fun

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
I don't blame anyone for doing what they feel they have to do. My confusion is related to why you'd want to actually watch and care about a game that's so obviously rigged.

But it wasn't rigged. All the teams doped. It was a level playing field.

All road races are generally boring to watch, I only enjoy the mountain stages. It is better tho if you bike and understand just how strong those guys are.

Originally Posted by Toff
But it wasn't rigged. All the teams doped. It was a level playing field.

All road races are generally boring to watch, I only enjoy the mountain stages. It is better tho if you bike and understand just how strong those guys are.

Doped in the exact same way with the exact same drug and quantity - and this established so it was certain knowledge for all involved?

Because if they're all using the same drugs in the same way, wouldn't it be healthier to collectively stop doping yourself?

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Yeah, I guess I can see that.

My problem is probably just a basic lack of interest in the subject.

I should just shup up and leave people to their fun

Well, it's not the most burning interest of mine either, just wanted to nuance it a bit. I guess I've only ever seen 2-3 impressive speedruns maybe.

So I'll shut up as well now

Originally Posted by Darkhawk
Well, it's not the most burning interest of mine either, just wanted to nuance it a bit. I guess I've only ever seen 2-3 impressive speedruns maybe.

So I'll shut up as well now

I'm glad you explained, because I think I understand now. Well, not the fascination - but the point for those who have it.

So thanks

I'm waiting for the Pillars of Eternity NWN2 mod Take Obsidian's writing and put it back in an AD&D engine!

Originally Posted by Darkhawk
It's not either/or, black and white. Those people who compete to do speedruns they have already played through the game once and usually several times, otherwise they could not know how to optimize the speedrun.

Not really.
Those people only have googled, baidued, binged and yahooed for bugs, glitches and exploits. None of them played through everything in a game themselves.
If you believe those people discovered "holes" by themselves, you're too optimistic.

They're all plain parasytes who used reports from others to make headline on Kotaku and similar sites who encourage use of bugs, cheats and exploits.
Sure, when a game is boring you can try to spice things up with cheats at least, sadly, it's far from real creativity called - modding. Headlines about superb mods in Cities:Skylines and other games are a sort of Kotaku's redemption over speedrun articles.

Just to add for interested parties - Cities:Skylines reached one million sold copies. And I'm not seeing it stopping there as there are over 30K of different mods available on Steam for it.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
I'm waiting for the Pillars of Eternity NWN2 mod Take Obsidian's writing and put it back in an AD&D engine!

Dear God, please don't! BG1 mod for NWN2 was barely playable. I managed to make to Friendly Arm Inn and quit there.

Originally Posted by Archangel
Dear God, please don't! BG1 mod for NWN2 was barely playable. I managed to make to Friendly Arm Inn and quit there.

Hmm, I wonder if that is true of the other 152,000 people who downloaded it?

It is beyond me why anyone would choose to play like this, but to each their own. With that said, hackers and cheaters should all die in fires.

I never understood the intense hatred that some people have for speedrunners. If that's how they wish to enjoy the game, who cares. Getting angry about the way someone else plays a game seems a pretty useless expenditure of energy to me.

It's also something I have absolutely no interest in doing…

it takes a lot of research and skill to do a speedrun, just watch the Morrowind one posted earlier in the thread. Exactly what npcs have what, exact locations of everything.

Crazy

Despite everything I find speed runs entertaining and admire them in a way. It takes a lot of research, patience and game knowledge. Doesn't matter if it takes advantage of bugs and exploits.

I have very little interest in doing speed runs like this myself, but they are often very impressive. It really takes an incredible in-depth knowledge of a given game to pull it off, so I'm certain the players in question have been extremely thorough in the past. It's not as if they can do something like this on their first go.

Originally Posted by rjshae
Hmm, I wonder if that is true of the other 152,000 people who downloaded it?

I downloaded it 151,999 times. Archie was the other downloader