#final fantasy games are the ones that got me into gaming

[alpaca-clouds]

Let's Talk About "Marvelfication"

Okay, let me try to get this out of my system, because I do have some thoughts on this one.

See, as you know, I finished Dragon Age: Veilguard last week. And I did enjoy the game. I never was that attached to the franchise. I really enjoyed Inquisition back in the day when it came out, but after doing two runs with it never have really returned to it. I also did play one of the older games, though I am not fully sure which one, because it was a long while ago. But I just never got that attached to the franchise. (Which mostly has to do with my own personal issues with High Fantasy.)

But that is not what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to talk about is more the thing I have seen now multiple people call out: "The Marvelfication" as some have called it. And mind you, I absolutely do agree with this: There were several scenes in this game where I thought to myself: "This feels kinda MCU."

However, what I kinda want to talk about is the specific wording here: "Marvelfication." Because it is super understandable that the first thing that comes to mind (for me as well) is the MCU. But I think the issue is way deeper than "MCU is popular, so let's do something like the MCU".

A lot of folks on Youtube and other platforms have talked about how a lot of "tropes" that people blame on the MCU are actually older than the MCU. The reason people associate it with the MCU is moreso that the MCU is just fucking everywhere since it became this big thing. It is what defines the media landscape.

The big issue actually is another one, though: Those tropes are everywhere because in a more and more conservative media landscape they are considered safe. These types of jokes are not risky in any way. These types of characters are not risky. These types of stories are not risky.

It is stories that are set in societies that are messed up, and then there is a big conflict that only tangentally relates to the ways the societies are messed up in, and then that conflict is resolved but the status quo does not change.

And that more than anything is what I would criticize about the game. Outside of very prominently centering some trans issues, the game has taken very little risks.

I wrote about that a bit last week in comparison to BG3, how safe the companions in Veilguard feel. This shows so harshly in direct comparison to BG3, because really, Larian sat down with player and told you: "Those assholes are your companions. Take it or leave it." Those people I know who never finished BG3 mostly never did because they could not stand the companions. Meanwhile those who, like me, got obsessed with the game, mostly did it because it feels so fucking satisfying when you start to get through to the companions after they started out as those assholes. This satisfaction is something Veilguard never really offers you - because... Well, I can assume that some of these characters had some edges at some point. But whatever edges there had been, those have gotten smoothed down, so now everyone is perfectly sweet. Sure, they might argue a bit here or there, and if you make decisions they do not agree with, they are gonna be pissy with Rook for a bit, but that's the most of it.

Same with a lot of other stuff. There is basically no sexual content in this game. You get one sex scene that is super tame and you see nothing - and one to two kisses per romance. No risk.

Any no matter what kinda choice the characters make, they are all gonna be nice, you know?

There is one thing in the finale of the game that is kinda risky, I will admit. But I will not talk about that yet, because I knwo a lot of people have not finished the game.

But for the most part the game does not risk anything.

And really, that is the core of what folks call "Marvelfication". Because pretty much this is also the issue with Marvel and Star Wars and pretty much all American made media: Outside of some smaller productions, some of which do well with the tumblr crowd but barely get any attention from mainstream audience (*coughs* Interview with the Vampire *coughs*) there is little risk taken. The humor is the same everywhere because this humor is considered safe. The characters feel kinda samey everywhere, because those characters are safe.

It is why I have stopped going to the cinema, because these days there are barely any movies I consider worth watching. It is ironically also why I have recently watched a whole lot more Japanese stuff, because it is easier to find stuff there that does not play it that safe.

It is also why I do these days mostly consume western stuff that has a 18+ rating on it - because at least with that stuff I know that it probably is not gonna play it "safe".

I just wish some media took more risks. I want those medium budget projects back, that cost like 30-50 million, so can make a profit with 100 million at the box office, without doing billions. I want some stuff in there that is not a big IP. I just want... stuff.

Right now I am looking at the soon end of What We Do In The Shadows, mostly because it is one of the few things on right now that does some risky stuff. And I miss those SyFy low budget originals, because some of it was kinda risky. Ugh.

The issue is not Marvel. It is not even Disney. It is that the creative industries in the US right now mainly put out big budget stuff that because of that big budget needs to be loved by everyone.

And look, I am trans. Hence I absolutely do see some value in the fact that Bioware clearly took position and said: "Okay, we get to do one risky thing, so that thing is gonna be to incluse a variety of trans characters." Which I love and respect. But I kinda wish the game had not been quite that pretty and instead also included a bit more edges on the characters.

... But I guess in the end there is still fanfiction, where I can still make the characters messy. lol

[inavagrant-a]

I was so out of it this week that I didn't realize my phone already predownloaded honka i star rail.

[doctorbeans]

once again thinking about cloud “there’s someone in me that isn’t me,” “i have to leave, i’m afraid I won’t be able to stop him next time,” “i’m sorry i couldn’t be your cloud,” “maybe one day you’ll get to meet the ‘real cloud,’” “i was never hunting sephiroth, he was always calling me,” “please give me a number professor,” “tell him that when you see him again, it’ll mean the world to him, okay?” “back then we got by with scraped knees,” “hey, tifa” strife.

[of-the-eventide]

a famous cowboy turned simple farmer for the sake of their son finds themselves in company with a mercenary who wishes for a fresh start...

auraugust 2024 - frontier

[akimojo]

i just saw someone call ffxiii overrated like? what?? it's literally one of the most hated games in the franchise wym "overrated" 😭

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Sword of Kaigen

standalone fantasy set in a rural mountain village at the edge of an empire that still holds traditional values, with families of powerful water/ice magic warriors

follows a powerful young heir who begins to question his beliefs about the empire when a new boy comes to his village from the city

and his mother, a housewife who has tried to forget her youth as a warrior and vigilante in the city since she moved back home to a loveless marriage

when there’s a violent attack on their village that they’re unprepared for, everything changes, and she has to embrace her old skills to protect her family and people

[sunsetzer]

As a lover of ff6 first I'm almost offended at the crossover outfits in ever crisis bc it's like... ff7 overshadowed it entirely, and now the closest thing we have to modern renders of the cast outside of the brave exivus CGs is the cast of ff7 dressed as them 🫠

[epicwin64]

[corneille-moisie]

i love you video games that you dont need to get good at, i love you games that dont rush you, i love you games that dont require dexterity, i love you games with easy settings, i love you games with accessibility features, i love you games in which you dont die, i love you games in which the stakes arent high, i love you easy games

[izayoichan]

*wings flutter as soft feet with slightly sharper claws land on his unprotected shoulder.* "Figured I would find you here." "I'm a simple man, it's not hard." "What's on this simple man's mind?" "New adventure... new lands, a whole new part of the world." "And" "Do you think it will be a good adventure?" "Yes" "Me too."

(It's odd to have Mako without his mods, but patch day means that happens... I was just sitting there, and the idea came into my mind and here we are.)

[badolmen]

I can fix him*

*bad writing, underutilized gameplay mechanics, characters with unfulfilled potential, funded by bootlickers

[tobyfoxmademeascaly]

In which the author starts working towards earning that Graphic Depictions of Violence warning

[solradguy]

Tbh Dirge of Cerberus' actual gameplay isn't as bad as I was expecting it to be, like I'm almost 4 missions in and I still haven't died, but the gameplay getting interrupted every 5 minutes by some kind of micro cutscene is driving me up the wall. Did they really have to stop the action just to show a common model NPC walking out of scene. Was that 100% necessary

[fluffypichu876]

man fuck the pitioss ruins

[woodentrain]

Observe: this is the face of a man who does not want to spend his day selling/changing/collecting money for water filters

For the love of god woman just give me my money and stop with the water filter crap

[thegreatyin]

a collection of other nominee categories that i think are about to be a bloodbath this year

and, of course

the real battle of the fates