#AAA games are not bad

[grandwitchbird]

Ethically strong games that are not indulgent:

Pillars of Eternity (and most obsidian games post-NV)

Death Stranding

Disco Elysium

The new GOW games (if you want a much stronger story about regret and mythic conflicts and family and responsibility after playing Veilguard: go here)

Ethically strong games that are pretty smart about using indulgence:

Fallout NV

Witcher 3/Cyberpunk

RDR2

Persona 3 portable fem MC route specifically

Every RGG game but especially Judgment and Yakuza 5, 6, 7, Gaiden

Sleeping Dogs

Bioshock

[ebethtumbls]

PSA: if you've ever wanted to play an indie game made with unity, download it before january 1st 2024 or risk losing your chance! (for a list of unity games, i found this. can't say if it's completely comprehensive but it's a start)

if you're a game dev or aspiring game dev, i would check out unreal engine. it's widely documented, pretty easy to jump into, and free until you make over $1 million and then they take 5% above that- so if you made $1,000,001, epic games takes 5 cents. epic is a big corporation so they could pull some bullshit but it's less likely. and they have protection from future bullshittery if you stay with the current or older versions. beyond that, there are a ton of other free game engines out there or engines that are on the cheaper side (game maker for ex, only requires payment on export and is the game engine used for undertale/deltarune). so if you can help it, don't waste your time on unity!

and above all: fuck unity. indie games are so important and don't deserve to be fucked over by corporate greed

[toxintouch]

hii!! I just read cold spots and it was AMAZING!!! Im not sure if you wanted to continue the fic, but if you don’t mind could you continue with Veres part? I don’t know what you would write about but I just feel like that fic has so much potential to be a little 3 part series or something 🙏

<- Cold Spots TYSM ANON!! I put the Vere End at the beginning for ease of reading. For the sake of folks who would like to read this as a stand-alone... I think u can? With the knowledge that the premise of Cold Spots is that Mhin and MC/Sparrow went ghost hunting. Vere is said to have been responsible for a handful of local ghost stories, so…of course he makes some mischief.🦊 Also MC needs some Winter wear, stat.  A very light Possessive Vere warning in this btw, though perhaps in a roundabout way.  Plausible deniability is so important to him.

You putter around in your room at the Wet Wick as you go about your nightly routine. The occasional cheer or thud from below only accentuates your nervous energy, punctuating your reluctance to settle down and get into bed. You smooth the covers with your bandaged hands and fluff the pillow before extinguishing the lamplight. You tug the bedding up above your shoulders, fighting to get comfortable. As your eyelids finally start to droop, the flicker of a shadow catches your attention.   It dances and sways and bends and grows until suddenly it is right in front of you.  On top of you. Silken, blood red drips down onto your face, a knife gleam smile too close for comfort.  You breathe in a gasp, wondering if you should scream. “Vere, what–” “Shhh,” he coos, pressing a finger lightly to your lips.  His breath is hot against your skin. “I only came to keep you warm, pet.”

Heat Signature

“Poor thing.” Vere purrs.  “Your lips are so cold.”  He leans ever closer, his mouth hot over yours–hovering.  His other hand reaches for your face as well, nails trailing against your cheek in a teasing caress.

You feel even the thought of being cold leave your body, replaced instead by the unusual thrill he commands, that strange enthralling sway.

That heat you’ve come to associate with Vere; sweet tendrils of want that nestle in your bloodstream.

You squirm a little, though you can’t move much with him looming over you.

(You should probably do more to protest his intrusion into your room, you think to yourself, though, the majority of you is–curious, daresay even far too eager to–)

“Whatever trouble did you get up to that left you in such a state?”

At this you scoff, tilting your head back into the pillow and effectively knocking Vere’s finger from your lips.  

“As if you don’t know,” you accuse.

Vere looks entirely unperturbed by you shaking him off, his lithe fingers traveling freely along the newly displayed skin of your throat, making your pulse jump.

Vere chuckles at that, dark and silky.

“Being tight lipped about your adventures, hm?”  He angles your face just so, ensuring you meet his sharp eyes, his nose brushing up against yours.  “Not that it matters.  It so happens I do know what you’ve been up to.  Trespassing in places that don’t belong to you.”

“...It was an abandoned building.  I don’t think it really belonged to anyone.”

“And that’s where you’d be wrong,” Vere says, “everything in this city belongs to someone, darling.  You just don’t know what belongs to who yet.”  He peers down at you with laughter in his expression, though there's a distinct edge to it that you can't quite place.

“So, you're here because that building belongs to you...?”

“Hmm, amongst other things.  However shall I make you apologize to me for this most egregious offense?”  He asks airily, shifting until he’s beside you rather than perched over you, resting his cheek in his hand and letting his eyes slip closed. He's the absolute picture of unbothered leisure.  

(You’re not fooled–he’s simply waiting for you to let your guard down before he pounces.)

You open your mouth to deny any debts on your part (though, if your ghost hunting spot was indeed Vere’s hideout, you really do feel guilty) but Vere cuts you off before you can speak.

“Alas, I suppose it’s not mine anymore.  Within a week it will reek of wet dogs and cheap booze. It's a lost cause now that those drooling reprobates know it's inhabitable.  A pity.  By Eridia's standards it really was divine in its heyday.  Good wine, music, dancing.  There was this portrait artist who would paint the performances…”

His tone remains light as he reminisces.  But the look he pins you with is dangerous: his eyes gleaming bright, his canines bared in an irreverent grin.

“I had such hopes and dreams of reviving the place myself.  Some of the dances were very scandalous.  You never did share with me your stance on dancing, did you?”

You stumble out an approximate answer.  It’s…harmless information to give, isn’t it?

Though, judging by how pleased Vere looks, you wonder if you should have refused to say.  He looks positively wicked as he ponders your answer aloud.  “Oh, I’m sure you’ve got plenty of talents to share.  In another life, perhaps I'd have put you on stage.  Though, I admit.  I find myself partial to a private show.”

And–as expected–the moment you let your guard down, he's in your space again, crowding you.  Heat and proximity and the softest brush of his lips against yours, light enough to send a thrill down your spine, curiosity and a want so deep it surprises you.

“Well?”  He purrs.  “Care to audition?”

You can't hide behind the excuse of supernatural sway or charm or the thrall of hypnotic sunglo eyes.  It's not Vere's power that controls you. It's your own gnawing desire; starvation and longing that draws you to him despite all sense.

Kissing Vere is heady.  Dizzying.  

Kissing Vere is like being in conversation with Vere–a constant of giving and taking, being chased after and running to keep up.  It’s enticing and alluring and decadent and never quite enough, over too soon even as you feel yourself losing air, the rush of blood and sensation threatening to overwhelm you.

He gives a parting nip to your bottom lip as he pulls away.

Then another one, playful, to your jaw.

When he presses his face into the side of your neck, you expect him to bite again.

What you don’t expect is for him to nuzzle into you, inhaling deeply before heaving a great sigh, his tail flopping lazily to land across you with a thump.

He’s officious as he rearranges the covers, ensuring your arms are tucked carefully away from him before he’s willing to fully settle into the bedding, pulling the blankets up around the both of you like a den.  He hums something low in his chest as he tucks himself up alongside you, long tail curled around your waist. 

It’s rhythmic–

purring.

And it’s…soothing, actually.

The weight of him, the warmth.  The incessant lamplight of the Amaryllis District, shining ever present through your window, is dim–tolerable, even, courtesy of Vere's magnificent shadow manipulations and the blankets sheltering you. 

The constant noise seems to fade away as well, obscured by the sound of purring. “Falling asleep when you have me in your bed, pet?  You really do try your luck…”

[devotedlystrangewizard]

i dont think veilguard is bad i think it displays a very sanitized version of thedas and in doing so destroys what the past games have built rather than building upon it. but i dont think its bad. it literally has emmrich volkarin

[confusedlucifer]

Veilguard is what it is but what a joy it is to have such a breadth of trans/gnc characters in one game? between Mae, Tarquin, Taash, Flynn, Ivenci, Vorgoth and im possibly even forgetting some - not to mention being able to play a trans Rook and actually bring it up in conversations. its so pleasantly refreshing

[blee-bleep]

conduit is like one of the good filipino-rep in video games, i get that and she is so good in-game... but she is so filipino-american, it hurts lol

[wraithsoutlaws]

theyre so in love

[wackpedion]

Hey I'm in ur house rn do you have any frosting

no i might hav an heart attack tho

[chatdae]

Grace FUMBLED Ryan! BAD parenting to preach respect and then act contrarily (ie saying she wants him to feel safe, then not allowing him any autonomy). She should've let him leave and come back... or at least explained why she didn't want him to leave before deciding (ex: 'Homelander will kidnap you', etc). She needed to let him make the decision for himself... agh. AAAAA.

And now Butcher's no use because he's committed to being evil and can't offer ANYTHING good to Ryan!!! He was so right, they NEEDED to give Ryan more space... I know the external pressures seemed impossible, but dammit, Grace, this was no way to beat the odds!

(this is about The Boys season four)

[prontaentrega]

something i’ve observed while watching videos of Videogame Men talking about punishing indie games is that they’re always like this game is INSANE HELL DIFICULTY it will BEAT YOUR ASS it will MAKE YOUU CRY AND CALL YOU A BABY!!! and then i play the game and it’s not that bad and it turns out the gamer with the youtube channel may just not be very good at this specific kind of videogame. and im not a Gamer whos Skilled at videogames i dont know how to aim and i only care about games that are 70% reading. and its never an AVGN type guy its always the video essay introspective I Have Deep Things To Say ones doing this. I’m not talking about shit like dark souls btw i mean like pathologic or fear and hunger. Which are games i feel are gonna wreck your brain only if youre wayyy to used to like, aaa first person shooter or high profile rpg-elements sandbox games.... like i’ve seen people call disco elysium a game that’s hard to get into gameplay wise. but i think if i gave my 50yo dad disco elysium and left him to his own devices he wouldnt have a hard time learning the gameplay ropes of it because he’s not brain poisoned by skyrim. like sometimes the problem is that you haven’t dedicated your middle school years to playing shitty indie horror rpgmaker games with a lot of unfair instakills and shitty puzzles.... and now you automatically assume the obvious way to beat a game is thru sheer violence and skill so the moment a game puts you in a position of Uh oh maybe you can’t kill this guy even if you get really good! maybe inflicting as much violence as you can isn’t the way forward! it makes videogame men go 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 is this the hardest most challenging videogame EVER?

[metaltea]

Watched the fnaf movie, 0 out of 10 Sun wasn't in it

Slight spoilers below

jk jk it was fine, not scary at all in my opinion as a horror fan, which is a shame bc I felt like I could've been an actually pretty spooky flick if they just let it be a rated R since lets be honest most fnaf fans have grown into adults anyways... Oh well. BUT I'm sure some people will find it rlly scary and that's awesome!! I unfortunately am hard to scare so that's no fault of the movie.

It was fun, a fine experience if you just want something goofy and it stands alone fine if you aren't super caught up on the billions of hours of lore. I enjoyed the main character's storyline more than I expected to, tho some might think it takes away from the action... ehh, I'm cool with it. I thought it had some heart.

It's especially a shame cause some part of me hoped against all hopes it would get enough popularity it'd spawn a sequel or two buuuuut I haven't seen many ppl talking about it at all and the rating isn't good, soooooo... I sad. Shouldn't have hoped but still did like an IDIOT. (If I am wrong, which I SO HOPE I AM, I can die happy)

[genderfluidloki]

There is such a thing as bad nonbinary representation.

[medicinemane]

When it comes to gacha there's a couple games that are good except for their gacha

Like if Genshin was a game I could actually buy and play and didn't have shitty dailies and let me buy DLC instead of wanting me to drain the GDP of a small nation... I think it's a pretty good game if you strip all that bullshit away (there's a reason when I found out you can run private servers of it I was interested... when they actually have all the quests and stuff working I'll probably download it and play through the story stuff)

Then there's pretty much exactly one gacha game I kinda respect that my friend plays, and it's actually a kinda sad story to me cause the company used to just make normal ass games, but they made this most recent one gacha just cause... they couldn't afford to keep going with the old model and this lets them keep funding development while releasing the story more episodically

I'd never call any gacha good, but they at least seem less bad and like they try to tune the rates to be fairer... but again, it's mostly sad that it feels less like a company going for a cash grab and more like them needing to be amoral to stay afloat

Anyway fuck the very concept of gacha, the people who let shit like lootboxes make money should be bludgeoned cause... saying that accepting gambling mechanics in games lead us here isn't some slippery slope fallacy... it's just recounting history

[soft5ku11]

Everyone getting excited for unova remakes??? When we all know they're going to fucking suck either way?? You guys we should be living in fucking fear of this not hyping it up fr

If they're made by ilca they're going to be ugly and they're going to be crappy 1 to 1 remakes with no innovation

If they're made by gamefreak they're gonna be butt fucking ugly and buggy as fuck because they'll be on the scarlet violet engine.

Like.... Begging y'all to open your eyeballs get the pitchforks out and cower in the cave

[felixitous]

The amount of tags and words I've had to block just to not see new DA game

[lelianaslefthand]

15 seconds into making gifs and im being reminding why i stopped making gifs