#including being used by the Inquisition by proxy of him <3 not even to do what HE'D want to do with the power <3

[krshush]

Y'ever write real good parts of a fic in your brain while in the shower and then you get out and there's nothing left but the last line you thought about? Yeah. I hate that phenomenon.

Presently I remember the broad context, but all I actually HAVE is

[burnouts3s3]

Controversy Corner: Mass Effect Andromeda

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.

Author's Note: Controversy Corner is a series of articles that concentrates on the cultural aspects and whatever explicit or implicit messages the game might have. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF THE GAME, but rather an analysis of what a game says about the world and the world around it. If you wish to read a strict review, please click on the link to read it. My reviews focus more on the purely techical aspects of the game. Also note that a game's technical analysis may or may not effect the message it may or may not tell. There are bad games with good messages. There are good games with bad messages and so on and so forth. Thank you.

Additional Note: Okay, I originally wanted to do this a while back, but couldn't because I had to work and never found the time. So, better late than never, I suppose).

Controversy Corner: Mass Effect Andromeda

Controversy #1: The Uncanny Valley Effect (or Facing Controversy) (or How I learned to stop worrying and love Mass Effect Andromeda's goofy facial animations)

One thing was apparent in Mass Effect: Andromeda. The facial animation was really, really terrible.

Granted, Bioware always had trouble animating faces even going so far back as the original Mass Effect (the “dead eye” syndrome never really went away), but Andromeda makes Dragon Age: Inquisition look like the Witcher 3. Frankly, these are some of the WORST facial animations I’ve seen, I thought I was watching that creepy commercial for Disneyland’s Pandora and that animatronic robot was on. I’ll take the cartoon effects of Dragon Age 2 and SW:TOR any day over this.

Look, I won’t say Bioware was outright dishonest or lying to their customers, but it does raise the question of why they thought this game in this state should be ready for release at a 60 dollar price range.

The “Day 1 Patch” mentality has really got to go. I know that no game is perfect and has its fair amount of glitches, but Mass Effect: Andromeda’s glitches were so prevalent, you have to wonder what was going down in quality assurance.

The fact of the matter is that the facial animations are an objective measure. They can be compared and should be to other games.

There's always some argument to be had between using a technical rule measure to judge a game's worth. After all, we don't judge the quality of a book or a film by how long it is or how much content it has.

Then again, games are an interactive medium. You actively consume it rather than passively consume it.

I can no more ignore the facial animations here any more than I can ignore how beautiful the backgrounds are.

Even if ‘all’ the glitches and bugs were to be removed by next patches (they won’t), the fact of the matter is that Bioware thought to release a clearly buggy game and asking its fans, customers and newcomers to shell out 60 USD just for the privilege of playing their game. (A privilege they can easily revoke if you own a digital only copy).

Where I draw the line in the sand is when the game asks me to meet a certain level of requirements for the simple act of consuming said game. If Bioware and Mass Effect asks me to upgrade my Personal Computer to run a current generation Graphics Card as well as a high end processor as well as 60 USD for the privilege of simply playing their game, then I must ask them to meet me halfway and deliver an experience worth that price of money.

The Witcher 3, while graphically demanding, made up for it with a smooth optimization experience that more than made up for it. Indie titles such as Life is Strange or Dreamfall: Chapters, aren't as pretty but make up for it by having an aesthetic choice as well as low entry barriers both in specs and pricing. Even Dragon Age: Inquisition (which I'll remind you came out in 2014) made up for its graphical demands with a certain degree of polish. Mass Effect: Andromeda is too high end for indie games but not polished enough to meet with current standards. Standard pricing for AAA games requires standard AAA polish.

Since then, Bioware has released Patch 1.5, dramatically fixing the facial animations (as well as a number of other glaring issues) surrounding the game. Having played it, yes, much of the technical issues have been improved. You have the ability to skip the 20 second transition between planets, a majority of the facial animations have improved and the default Sara Ryder no longer looks like an inhuman muppet.

The technical fixes are only part of the problem. Fixing the facial animations isn’t going to make Cora or Liam any more than dull mannequins, both in appearance and in personality. Giving an option to remove the 20 second transitions from planet to planet isn’t going to make scanning planets any less tedious (and pointless as you can just use the companion app to get materials, research data and weapons without having to needlessly grind).

These aren’t “fix these with a patch” problems. These are “we thought this was a good design idea” problem and frankly it’s epidemic of what else goes on in the game.

Controversy #2: #MakeJaalBi

Bioware has, for better or worse, earned themselves a reputation of being a queer friendly company. So much so, they're willing to include gay characters for the sake of inclusion. This has caused a lot of controversy amongst the gaming community.

As such, it's hard not to imagine that the attacks on Mass Effect: Andromeda as an attack on LGBT characters in video games.

For those struggling to do the math, that means Female Ryders get 2 romancable males and 3 romancable females while Male Ryders get 3 romancable females and 1 romancable male. (There’s also Reyes, an NPC found on Kadera that’s romancable to both Ryders, but honestly he’s so peripheral, I forgot about him).

http://archive.is/84h95

There was a rumor going around that either Liam or Jaal was going to be bisexual and romancable to both genders. (Even Mass Effect General on 4chan's video game generals board had speculated that Jaal was bi).

Look, I never liked this idea of making ratios and quantifying how many companions are this romancable or that romancable (one because I think quantifying art takes away from the art).

The problem isn't that Bioware is making a lack of gay romancable options; it's that they're the only ones in the industry making gay options (at least when referring to the industry that still holds consoles and AAA gaming relevant).

There's clearly a demand and a benefit to having characters play minority characters in video games. The question is, why is only 1 AAA developer the only one who's willing to risk that?

Since then, Bioware has released Patch 1.08. Among other things, it makes the companion character, Jaal, romancable by either a male or female Ryder. And while I'm glad the LGBT community has another Bisexual individual to look up to, there's a nagging feeling on the back of my head that we may have opened Pandora's Box here.

The danger in making a straight character such as Jaal bisexual (again, however it was intended in the original programming and again, however progressive and forward thinking), is that it, intentionally or not, opens the door for erasing other black, female, gay or trans character in fiction. I would oppose a #MakeJaalBi hashtag the same way I would oppose a #MakeViviennewhite or #MakeDorianStraight Hashtag. I would oppose making Jaal bisexual as I would making Liam white, Suvi straight or Cassandra Bisexual.

(Also noted, this is not the first time Bioware has done this as they've taken presumably straight characters such as Kaidan Alenko and Anders and made them bisexual).

https://twitter.com/BioFanOfficial/status/872178905536495616

http://archive.is/XcoOe

These are the potential disasters that could happen if we’re careless about this.

But the hashtag itself raises a very important question, in a sea of video game genres, swimming with big budgets, there is a demand to see more queer representation in video games. So comes the question:

Why is it on Bioware to fulfill this need?

Even with female led games, how many of them actually have the main character, aka the female, initiate the romance if there is a romance at all? Not many, I imagine. Most of the AAA games like Tomb Raider or Horizon: Zero Dawn usually have leads who don’t pursue romantic relationships. Even in smaller indie titles, such as Life is Strange, only really has the ability to pursue romances as an option.

The problem isn’t that Bioware is making a lack of gay or queer characters. It’s that in the AAA video game industry with console exclusives where big budgeted games are rivaling the budgets of Hollywood movies, Bioware is the only developer that’s making any sort of these romances.

Clearly, there’s an audience for this sort of thing, even if they are, yes, gay dating sims, and the question remains why is one developer (again in the AAA, big budgeted sense and within Western Developers), the only one willing to do this. Even recent changes like in Fallout 4 pale in comparison to the numerous amounts of gay characters and the images of men kissing men or women as the player characters kissing men.

There's a phrase I want to mention called “Selling tainted water in the desert”. It dictates that when someone is so desperate for water, someone will sell them bad water to them. And just like Tyler Perry gives black audiences bad films or Stephanie Meyer gives young women cheesey romance novels, Bioware gives those wanting more queer representation 60 dollar games with expensive microtransactions and lots of glitches.

Electronic Arts (and by proxy, Bioware) knows this and promotes this by their marketing. “Buy our products to show you want more LGBT representation in the industry.”

Propping up one developer, no matter how progressive or forward thinking, as THE sole developer is not good business. And while I’ll gladly support the cause to support more representation, the fact of the matter is that all facets of the industry have done a poor job of this. Consumers need to be willing to buy the products. Developers need to be willing to make the products. And Journalists, bloggers, commentators, whatever, have to be willing to report on the product (Yes, even if it is a smaller title and you won’t get as many clicks or views by reporting on it).

So desperate, they were willing to shell out 60 USD for a really buggy mess of a game with intrusive Digital Rights Management laws.

The fact of the matter is that all other forms of media, television, books, radio and movies, all have different products marketed to different audiences. Don’t like Harry Potter? No sweat; there’s a dozen or other forms of books to get that. There are sections aimed for black audiences, female audiences and yes, queer audiences as well.

Don’t you think it’s a bit odd that some of the only forms of queer representation can come from obscure indie titles you actively have to search for or big budgeted AAA games as a peripheral element?

The fact of the matter is that Bioware is providing something to a particular audience, even if said role is to be the cheesy romance novel of the industry.

But what Irks me about the Jaal controversy, isn't the elimination of straight characters, or the potential Pandora's Box waiting to be opened, or the "Release now, Patch Later" mentality or the "Boycott until this one developer gives me what i want" school of thought (though those are some of my pet peeves). It's that for those smaller, more obscure developers that do try to promote LGBT rights are going to get overshadowed.

Before, it used to be that if someone didn't give you what you wanted, you could simply buy another item to show your support. But, thanks to the rise of Social Media and Hashtag campaigns, it's become far too easy to start a Twitter campaign, complain about an issue before said wrongdoer succumbs to your needs. That really hurts the smaller companies that DO provide lots of bisexual options and want to get in good with you.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is far from a perfect game. Far, far from it. However, there is a value in said game that does allow women characters, gay characters and persons of color to be in control. The question is, how long can audiences tolerate poor products for their representation?

[blackwatchmase]

Knowledge versus faith Bible: Allegorical Literature The Bible – Allegorical Literature bullet #1 Constantine I – Invaded Egypt; legalized Christianity, and formulated/plagiarized the Bible using Pyramid Texts bullet #2 European Pharaohs (Ptolemy) Occupied EgyptAdam – Origin of European mankind bullet #3 Abraham - First Jew – No mention of bloodline or genealogy in Bible texts. bullet #4 Russian Jews – Khazar (No bloodline to Abraham); didn’t come into existence until 6th century AD bullet #5 German Jews – Ashkenazim (No bloodline to Abraham); didn’t come into existence until 6th Century AD. bullet #6 Old Testament – Wrote Jews into existence (Testaments written in Hieroglyphic Language) bullet The Book of Exodus was written before the Book of Genesis – Abraham was not born yet? Did the Exodus of the Jewish people take place? bullet #7 Christianity – European Imperialism Founded bullet #8 Manifest Destiny - Remaking and Redeeming the world in the image of Europe bullet #9 Bible (King James Version) 1611 bullet #10 England’s King James I ordered and financed the now most-widely read version of the Bible. Before James came Mary Stuart, King Henry III, II, I, King John (signer of the Magna Carta) and back to the Plantagenet and Habsburg dynasties under the Roman Empire. bullet #11 Serapis Christus 135 BCE – Greco-Roman (Jesus Christ) bullet #12 Original New Testament written by the Piso Family of Rome (Written in Greek) bullet #13 Genetic Roots of the Ashkenazi Jews Most Ashkenazi Jews are maternally descended from prehistoric Europeans and not descended from the ancient tribes of Israel. The first five chapters of the Bible are called Book of Moses (Pentateuch), but Jews didn’t come into existence until 861 AD. Bulan Sabriel was the first Khazar King. He led the conversion of Khazars to Judaism. He adopted Judaism for the Jews. How can the first five books of the Old Testament be called the “Books of Moses” when Moses was born 147 years after the writing of these books? European Jews do not show up until the sixth century AD, but in the Bible supposedly written from the Pyramid Texts dating c. 2400-2300 BC – Genesis - Chapter 10: Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. 10:03: And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah (4000 years ago). How is that possible? The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic empire based in Egypt creating Greek cities and nations in Asia and Africa. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was founded in 305 BCE by Ptolemy I Soter. He declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt and created a powerful European dynasty that ruled an area stretching from southern Syria to Cyrene and south to Nubia. Alexandria became the capital city and a major center of Greek culture and trade. To gain recognition by the indigenous Egyptian populace, the Ptolemy named themselves successors to the Pharaohs. The later Ptolemy’s took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life. Ptolemy I Soter I (the Savior), also known as Ptolemy c. 367 BC – 283 BC was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great who became ruler of Egypt (323–283 BC) and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty and demanded the title “pharaoh.” Arius of Libya (256-336 AD) was a popular preacher from Alexandria, Egypt who taught that Christ was not divine but created which made him a primary topic of the First Council of Nicea convened by Roman Emperor Constantine in AD 325. Alexander assembled a council of Egyptian bishops in 320 and toppled Arius for heresy. Arius fought back and went to Palestine canvassing support from other Eastern bishops. Arius' theology taught there was a time before the Son of God, when only God the Father existed. the debate over the Son’s precise relationship to the Father. The Arian (Arius) concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist, but was created by—and is therefore distinct from—God the Father. This belief is grounded in the Gospel of John (14:28): "You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." The patriarch of the Hebrew Jews is Amenemhet the first and that his biblical name is Abraham. Egyptology experts interpret this as factual evidence the biblical Jacob and the hyksos King Yakubher were one of the same. Moses closely matches Thutmosis the third, even the names Moses and Thutmosis are almost identical. The resulting shortened chronology identifies Pharaoh Hatshepsut as the Queen of Sheba, while her sister Neferbity was probably the daughter of Pharaoh (Thutmosis I) whom King Solomon married. The great pharaoh Thutmosis III would have been the pharaoh named in the Bible as Shishak who looted Jerusalem. Pharaoh Amenhotep II was probably the king named in the Bible as Zerah, the Ethiopian who fought against King Solomon’s great grandson, King Asa. Pharaoh Sesostris I is identified as the pharaoh who appointed Joseph over Egypt, with Joseph himself possibly being identified as Mentuhotep, Sesostris’ vizier or prime minister. Sesostris III would have been the pharaoh who oppressed the Israelite slaves, and Sobekneferu, the daughter of Amenemhet III, was the princess who rescued Moses from the Nile. Neferhotep I was the pharaoh who refused to let the Israelites go and who subsequently drowned in the Red Sea with his army. The Amalekites were the mysterious Hyksos who invaded Egypt after the Egyptian army was destroyed. Going further back in history, Khufu was probably the pharaoh that Abraham met when he visited Egypt. Biblical Characters are based on Egyptian Pharaohs (Jacob: 1758 – 1611 BC, King Yakubher reign: 1655 – 1646 BC) (King David reign: 1012 – 962 BC, Psusennes reign: 1039-991 BC) (Moses: 1527 – 1407 BC, Thutmose the third reign: 1479 - 1425 BC) (Abraham: 2055 – 1880 BC, Amenemhet the first reign: 1991 – 1962 BC) (King Solomon reign: 970 – 931 BC, Siamun reign: 978 – 959 BC) One common link in this bloodline is Philip of Macedonia (382-336BC), who married Olympias, and their son was Alexander the Great (356-323BC), who plundered that key region of Greece, Persia, Syria, Phoenicia, Egypt, Babylon, the former lands of Sumer, and across into India before dying in Babylon at the age of 33. During his rule of Egypt he founded the city of Alexandria, one the greatest centers for esoteric knowledge in the ancient world. The bloodline and the hidden advanced knowledge have always gone together. This key bloodline comes down through the most famous Egyptian queen, Cleopatra (60-30BC), who married the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, and bore him a son, who became Ptolemy XIV. She also bore twins with Mark Anthony, who has his own connections to this line and its many offshoots; this bloodline connects to Herod the Great, the "Herod" of the Jesus stories, and continues to the Roman Piso family who, as wrote the Gospel stories and invented the mythical figure called Jesus!!; the same bloodline includes Constantine the Great, the Roman Emperor who, in 325AD, turned Christianity, based on his ancestors' stories, into the religion we know today, and King Ferdinand of Spain and Queen Isabella of Castile, the sponsors of Christopher Columbus, who instigated the horrific Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834) in which people were tortured and burned at the stake for in any way questioning the basis of the religion their various ancestors had created. The most used version of the Bible (King James Bible) was commissioned and sponsored by another strand in the same bloodline, King James 1st of England. Just a coincidence? The line of James, according to genealogy sources listed below, can be traced back to 1550 BC and beyond and includes many Egyptian pharaohs, including Rameses II and currently every American President. This bloodline also includes the Habsburgs, the most powerful family in Europe under the Holy Roman Empire; Geoffrey Plantagenet. The royal Plantagenet dynasty in England; King John signed the Magna Carta, King Henry I, II and III, which was extremely close to the Tempelknäktarna (Knights Templar) and King John, Mary Stuart and the Stuart Dynasty, including King James I of England, was the sponsor the King James Bible version, King George I, II and III, Edward I, II and III, Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V and VI, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and Elizabeth's other offspring, Anne, Andrew and Edward, Princes William and Harry from Charles' marriage to Princess Diana. Findings from The Scientist (2012) contradict previous assertions that Ashkenazi mitochondrial lineages originated in the Near East. It also refutes the notion lineages originated from mass conversions to Judaism in the Khazar Kingdom which is an empire in the north Caucasus region between Europe and Asia lasting from the 7th century to the 11th century whose leaders adopted Judaism. The findings were that most of the maternal lineages don’t trace to the north Caucasus, which would be a proxy for the Khazariam, or to the Near East, but most of them emanate from Europe. 22 Books mentioned in the Bible that are not part of the "Today's Bible": bullet 1. Book of the Covenant - Exodus 24:7 bullet 2. Book of the Wars of the Lord - Numbers 21:14 bullet 3. Book of Jasher - Joshua 10:13 & 2 Samuel 1:18 bullet 4. The Manner of the Kingdom / Book of Statutes - 1 Samuel 10:25 bullet 5. Book of Samuel the Seer - 1 Chronicles 29:29 bullet 6. Nathan the Prophet - 1 Chronicles 29:29 & 2 Chronicles 9:29 bullet 7. Acts of Solomon - 1 Kings 11:41 bullet 8. Shemaiah the Prophet - 2 Chronicles 12:15 bullet 9. Prophecy of Abijah - 2 Chronicles 9:29 bullet 1 Story of Prophet Iddo - 2 Chronicles 13:22 bullet 1 Visions of Iddo the Seer - 2 Chronicles 9:29 bullet 1 Iddo Genealogies - 2 Chronicles 12:15 bullet 1 Book of Jehu - 2 Chronicles 20:34 bullet 1 Sayings of the Seers - 2 Chronicles 33:19 bullet 1 Book of Enoch - Jude 1:14 bullet 1 Book of Gad the Seer - 1 Chronicles 29:29 bullet 1 Epistle to Corinth - 1 Corinthians 5:9 bullet 1 Epistle to the Ephesians - Ephesians 3:3 bullet 1 Epistle from Laodicea to the Colossians - Colossians 4:16 bullet 2 Nazarene Prophecy Source - Matthew 2:23 bullet 2 Acts of Uziah - 2 Chronicles 26:22 bullet The Annals of King David - 1 Chronicles 27:24 bullet 2 Jude, the Missing Epistle - Jude 1:3 References http://www.answering-christianity.com/lost_books.htm http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37821/title/Genetic-Roots-of-the-Ashkenazi-Jews/