#it's very bethesda of course

[mostlygibberish]

I got Starfield for a single Australian dollar and I've played about ten hours of it now and still have no idea what I think of it.

[violet-dragongirl]

I dunno I think story pacing is going to be a bit odd and too long in Starfield

[artbyblastweave]

The Fallout 3 Numbers Station Creepypasta is interesting to me, because it swings wildly from being fairly effective to cartoonishly inept, for reasons that are both easy and illustrative to pinpoint.

(For those unfamiliar, the premise is that through an opaque and poorly documented series of in-game actions, it's possible to turn the in-game radio in Fallout 3 into a numbers station; analysis of the numbers produced by that station reveal dated snippets of information about events yet to come, with an abrupt cutoff point for the dates that implies something apocalyptically bad is coming down the tubes.)

The setup of the thing is actually very effective, because it's written with intimate knowledge of the two relevant idioms- the online fallout fandom, and conventions of online walkthroughs. Part of it is that a numbers station of any kind is extremely compatible with the apocalyptic tone and tenor of Fallout 3 in particular, which already uses abandoned, looping broadcasts as exploration hooks at multiple points, so something like this being buried or dummied out is at least somewhat plausible. There's further verisimilitude in that the supposed triggers for the broadcast station involves killing fan-favorite NPCs and bypassing content in a way that harkens to the banging-rocks-together mode of experimentation that players do in bethesda sandboxes when they've gotten bored. The information about how to trigger the worldstate is written with the familiar cautious uncertainty of someone who's been crowdsourcing information from an online community- certain and uncertain triggers, a difficulty distinguishing between intended steps in the process, unintended bugthesda jank, and normal game states that only seem relevant because you're currently over-scrutinizing everything. All-in-all, written from a place of clear familiarity with how these kinds of easter egg hunts tend to go.

Where it fucks the dog, of course, is that the decoded messages about future events are entirely too on the nose, tip their hands too readily that the world is going to end, and generally don't in any way resemble actual human communications. The only remotely effective component is the closing detail about how there appears to be a specific cutoff date past which there are no new communications to pick up on. The potential tension of which is taken out back and shot by the fact that one of the decoded transmissions involves someone staring into the camera and exposition dumping about how scientists fucked up and the universe is unravelling. It's also delivered in a different register from the front half of the piece- they don't stick the landing on marrying the more believable GameFAQs-speak with the clunkier narrative descriptions of the decoded messages.

All this to demonstrate that being able to construct a framing device with verisimilitude is actually a largely different skill than being able to give whatever's behind the curtain verisimilitude. DrB0sch is an example of a project that sticks the landing much more effectively, initially presented within the familiar idiom of low-rent early-oughts youtube walkthroughs about idiosyncrasies that are almost plausible before spiraling into deepcut creepypasta insanity that's nonetheless in strong conversation with the source material. It probably helps that it's got no prose to trip up on

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I kind of love this unexpectedly moody 2013 mansion in Bethesda, MD. It has pops of white and gray rooms interspersed with the black, but it's very well done. 6bds, 11ba, only $23.5M. I wonder if millionaires will like it- it's coming to the market June 23rd and they haven't painted it light gray or white. Yet.

I don't mind that it's black, b/c it's beautiful and it's new, so they haven't ruined anything.

Check out the grand staircase. Love the black runner against the white stairs.

I love how the colors of the art match and give off a golden glow.

Gotta have that black baby grand piano. This room has gray wallpaper and wainscoting, but it features a creamy leather Chesterfield sofa and pops of white.

Gorgeous den. They provided a closeup of the heavily veined marble fireplace. Nice.

The books even coordinate and I wish they would've made the gold ceiling more coppery. (Not that it matters what I think.) Did you know that designers actually buy old books to match clients decor?

The kitchen's white with a big black island and white hanging lamps. It's nice, b/c the black & white theme can be carried thru, or it can be given pops of color.

Lovely every day dining area is bright and has a view.

An intimate little sun room with a great view.

Love the little library and it has a terrace for going outside to read.

Stairs to the lower level. Note the griege walls- an HGTV new standard in decor. Interesting light fixture- it looks like a starfish.

These stairs look like they come out of nowhere.

The large entertaining space consists of an extensive bar, seating, plus tables & chairs.

And, of course, there's the wine cellar/tasting room. This is one mansion that I actually like.

Outside, there's a wonderful infinity pool with a bridge.

Blue lights in the pool coordinate with the chaises.

Look at the waterfall.

She's beautiful inside and out.

That's the historic Potomac River going by.

1.93 Acre lot, so it's almost 2 acres.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6699-Macarthur-Blvd-Bethesda-MD-20816/37166434_zpid/

[tleeaves]

Folks going "WHAT they made a show about the Fallout franchise?? I've been hearing people say Bethesda messed it up, but I haven't watched it myself, so I'm going to trust the word of other people -- some of which also haven't finished watching it" is driving me insane.

Being a hard core fan of something obviously brings with it a lot of passionate feelings when adaptations come into play. Of course, there's going to be people going "but in 8 episodes of the first ever season they made, they didn't explore Theme C or D, didn't introduce factions E and F and G, and because the source company is notorious for its scams, we and everyone else who's a TRUE fan should hate it".

The Amazon Original series Fallout follows the videogame franchise of the same name. It is a labour of love and you can tell by the attention to detail, the writing, the sets, and YES THE THEMES ARGUE WITH THE WALL. It's clearly fan service. I mean, the very characterisation of Lucy is a deadringer for someone playing a Fallout game for the first time. She embodies the innocent player whose expectations drastically change in a game that breaks your heart over and over again. Of course, she's also the vessel through which we explore a lot of themes, but I'll get to that.

There're some folks arguing that the show retcons the games, and I gotta say... for a website practically built on fandom culture, why are we so violently against the idea of someone basing an adaptation on a franchise that so easily lends itself to new and interesting interpretations? But to be frank, a lot of what AO's Fallout is not that new. We have: naive Vault dweller, sexy traumatised ghoul that people who aren't cowards will thirst over, and pathetic guy from a militaristic faction. We also have: total atomic annihilation, and literally in-world references to the games' lore and worldbuilding constantly (the way I was shaking my sister over seeing Grognark the Barbarian, Sugar Bombs, Cram, Stimpaks, and bags of RadAway was ridiculous). Oh, and the Red Rocket?? Best pal Dogmeat? I'm definitely outing myself as specifically a Fallout 4 player, but that's not the point you should be taking away from this.

The details, the references, and the new characters -- this show is practically SCREAMING "hey look, we did this for the fans, we hope you love it as much as we do". Who cares that the characters are new, they still hold the essence of ones we used to know! And they're still interesting, so goddamn bloody interesting. Their arcs mean so much to the story, and they're told in a genuinely intriguing way. This isn't just any videogame adaptation, this was gold. This sits near Netflix's Arcane: League of Legends level in videogame adaptation. Both series create new plots out of familiar worlds.

Of course, those who've done the work have already figured out AO's Fallout is not a retcon anyway. But even if it was, that shouldn't take away from the fact that this show is actually good. Not even just good, it's great.

Were some references a little shoe-horned in to the themes by the end of the show, such as with "War never changes"? Yes, I thought so. But I love how even with a new plot and characters, they're actually still exploring the same themes and staying true to the games. I've seen folks argue otherwise, but I truly disagree. The way capitalism poisons our world, represented primarily through The American Dream and the atomic age of the 45-50s that promoted the nuclear family dynamic -- it's there. If you think it's glorifying it by leaning so heavily into in the adaptation, I feel like you're not seeing it from the right angle. It's like saying Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck glorifies the American Dream, when both this book and the Fallout franchise are criticisms of it. If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is a graveyard to the American Dream. This criticism comes from the plots that are built into every Fallout story that I know of. The Vaults are literally constructed to be their own horror story just by their mere existence, what they stand for, what happens in each of them. The whole entire show is about the preservation of the wrong things leading to fucked up worlds and people. The missions of the Vaults are time and again proven to be fruitless, unethical, plain wrong. Lucy is our brainwashed character who believed in the veritable cult she lived in before she found out the truth.

So then consider the Brotherhood of Steel. I really don't think it exists in the story to glorify the military. We see just how much the Brotherhood has brainwashed people like Max (also, anything ominously named something like "the Brotherhood" should raise eyebrows). Personally, I don't like Max, but I am intrigued by his characterisation. I thought the end of his arc was rushed the way he "came good" basically, but [SPOILERS] having him embraced as a knight in the Brotherhood at the end against his will -- finally getting something he always wanted -- and him grimly accepting it from all that we can tell? Him having that destiny forced upon him now that he's swaying? After he defected? If his storyline is meant to be a tragedy, it wouldn't surprise me, because Fallout is rife with tragedies anyway. And a tragedy would also be a criticism of the military. That's what Max's entire arc is. It goes from the microcosm focusing on the cycle of bullying between soldiers to the macro-environment where Max is being forced to continue a cycle of violence against humanity he doesn't want to anymore because a world driven to extremes forces him to choose it to survive (not to mention what a cult and no family would do to his psyche). Let's not forget what the Brotherhood's rules are: humankind is supreme. Mutants, ghouls, synths, and robots are abominations to be hated and destroyed. If you can't draw the parallels to the real world, you need to retake history and literature classes. The Brotherhood is also about preserving the wrong things, like the Vaults (like the Enclave, really). They just came about through different method. The Enclave is capitalism and twisted greed in a world where money barely exists anymore. The Brotherhood is, well, fascism plain and simple.

Are these the only factions in the Fallout franchise? Hell no. But if you're mad about that -- that they're the main ones explored, apart from the NCR -- I think you're missing the point. These themes, these reminders, are highly relevant in the current climate. In fact, I almost think they always will be relevant unless we undergo drastic change. On the surface-level, Fallout seems like the American ideal complete with guns blazing that guys in their basements jerk off to. Under that surface, is a mind-fuck story about almost the entire opposite: it's a deconstruction of American ideals that are held so closely by some, and the way that key notion of freedom gets twisted, and you're shooting a guy in-game because it's more merciful than what the world had in store for him.

I mean, the ghoul's a fucking cowboy from the wild west character he used to play in Hollywood glam and his wife was one of the people who helped blow up America in the name of capitalism and "peace". There are so many layers of this to explore, I'd need several days to try and keep track and go through it all.

The Amazon Prime show is a testament to the Fallout franchise. The message, the themes? They were not messed up or muddled or anything of the sort, in my opinion.

As for Todd Howard, that Bethesda guy, I'm sure there's perfectly valid reasons to hate him. I mean, I've hated people for a lot less valid reasons, and that's valid. We all got our feelings. But the show is about more than just him. My advice is to keep that in mind when you're judging it.

[ghoulfuckersincorporated]

Girl if you’re hanging onto anymore Deegan thoughts Please share the tap’s run dry & the spigot’s been broken for weeks… if you’re running around in fo4 right now hang around Cabot’s, I’ll never get over the Idle Pose of his in the kitchen downstairs where he’s sorta leaning/bent over the counter in there. Casually. The ppl @ Bethesda knew wtf they were doing giving him that much ass + thick as FUCK thighs. They wanted to gift me a very special pair of scarified + Greek God muscled earmuffs obviously… ^^<3

PLEASE don't get me started on Edward Deegan...I seriously have a problem...

Personally, if you made me choose a ghoul that I found the most attractive overall, I'd put him in that spot with a high amount of confidence. As much as I love Cooper Howard, I've spoken before about how I was a little disappointed that they didn't make him grosser physically (he's a ghoul!), so he's disqualified for being too obvious a choice. John Hancock is unironically one of my favorite video game romances ever, and he's super fuckable, but I really like me a Big Man who can smoosh me a little. Or manhandle me a lot, whatever. The thigh comment is deeply felt! When I first came across Edward, I spent like ten solid minutes just hanging around and eyeballing him.

If you're not that into or familiar with him, my vision of him as a super-smooth player-type may seem like nothing but self-indulgence. And maybe it is a little bit. But hear me out! Edward, in my mind, has a major advantage in terms of dating and hooking up that most people don't have anymore: he remembers what it's like to take someone on a date. A real date, not a pretty walk along the irradiated water full of junk to look at the sunset, never truly able to relax because you're both inherently ready for a firefight or some other emergency to break out at the drop of a hat (which is what the standard for a "date" has sort of become, that or going to whatever the nearest watering hole is to drink until you're ready to screw). He'll cook for you, bring you flowers, take you dancing. Gets nice and cleaned up to see you. Smells good. Compared to the average post-apocalypse guy, he's basically Prince Charming when it comes to wooing someone. Funnily enough, Nick Valentine is also incredibly smooth when he wants to be for this exact reason.

He also maintains a pretty decent veneer of chivalry, which I cannot call real chivalry in good faith because he mostly uses it as a way to get you to let him shove his face in your ass. Is he polite? Of course. But if he's laying it on thicker than you usually see from folks who aren't pre-war, he's just trying to get you naked.

I've spoken before in my first headcanon post on him about how I think he's a massive poon hound/boypoon hound, and how I believe he's quite practiced in talking people out of their drawers when he wants to, but I think he wouldn't be above pulling out some romance for a simple hook-up. I mean, if you do it right, you can have someone begging you to fuck them before you've even touched them or made an inappropriate remark. Makes the sex mindblowing even if you're not really all that into one another outside of the physical aspect. The people of the modern era want to feel special and they yearn for romance; it makes them wanna throw ass. It also makes for repeat customers (if he invites you over to use that hot shower, you're gonna want to come back, no ifs, ands, or buts), which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. This man has definitely had a few romantically-motivated stalkers in his time from overplaying his hand.

If he really likes you, though, if he's serious enough about you that he thinks maybe he could marry you, you may notice that he pulls that slick side of him back a little. With someone he sees himself spending his time with long-term, I imagine he'd lean at least a little more towards a traditional "courting" period. "Multiple dates with nothing but chaste pecks on the lips and hand-holding" sort of stuff. Don't get me wrong; he still wants you like crazy, and it's sort of torturous for him to not be able to openly worship you physically like he wants to. But he also wants you to feel respected and cherished for reasons other than your physical features. If he loves you, he wants you to know that he loves you wholly, not just for what you can give him, in bed or otherwise. He doesn't want you to write him off as only looking for sex, because he knows in his heart of hearts that he would be an amazing husband to the right person.

Besides, it's also an investment of patience. Put off getting laid for a little while now to bank some Good Guy Points and get super laid later, but with the added benefit of established trust and love.

BUT ALSO: hello, sugar daddy vibes??? Who do you think is gonna be left with that big-ass intact mansion and all the still-working stuff in it when the Cabots die? Who has spent centuries running rich people's errands and undoubtedly has very important connections? Edward's a simple man with a blue-collar background, but spending literal centuries working for insane wealth is liable to give you at least some champagne tastes, and he's in a perfect place to maintain a fairly high level of comfort and luxury (well, comparative luxury) while still appreciating what he has. Sensible, but not stingy. Strikes me as an amazingly thoughtful gift-giver.

He's been taking care of that house and everything in it forever, so it's well maintained for the future. You're crazy if you don't think he's sat in his room at night planning out what he's gonna do with the place once they're all gone. Because they allowed him to become what he is, he'll be the only one left standing. He considers it his final bonus for all the years of headaches and seeing him as lesser, which they all do in their own way.

Now all he needs is someone to share it with, to build that future with. Maybe even have a few children if he's lucky enough.

I'm absolutely going to be writing more about him in the future, maybe some more NSFW headcanons sooner than later. I have a one-shot featuring him that I started years ago, but there's a line of other longer-form projects and requests that have precedence as of right now. Maybe a blurb if I can come up with an idea that I can keep short!

And yes, I will be going to Cabot House to loiter around and harass him. I went to the Third Rail to do the initial meet with him. Screenshots to be taken...

[seththepotate]

I dunno, I feel like people saying the Fallout show retconned New Vegas are making a *lot* of assumptions based on a few tiny pieces of info.

It's a very self-contained story. We did not learn much of anything regarding the outside world of the current West Coast besides what was important to our characters. Our main characters are a Vault Dweller who of course knows nothing, an apathetic Ghoul who if you don't remember, spent a lot of time prior to this season imprisoned in a casket underground, and a BoS initiate who was plucked out of Shady Sands as a child. Three people who either do not know or do not particularly care about the NCR or its dealings.

*Shady Sands* fell. Not the NCR as a whole. Also it's implied that Shady Sands maybe was not the capitol when it fell ("the FIRST capitol of the NCR). But yes I will agree that the fact of it getting destroyed by Vault Tec bullshit kinda sucks.

I've seen people say New Vegas looks like a ruin? And yeah sure it doesn't look perfect but:

For one it's a wide shot from very very far away and let's be real, NV never looked amazing aside from the casinos. It is very very weird that the surrounding area (camp McCarren, the outer vegas ruins, etc) aren't really present but also let's remember the reason so many big locations were so close were due to map limitations with the game. In the show the scale of these places is much more in line with real life.

For two, even if it is a ruin, Fallout: New Vegas *itself* gave many potential near future issues that could plague the city. Divide Storms, the Cloud, Tunnellers, continued problems with Fiends, hell even the Legion could have still caused problems depending on what ending ends up being canonized. We just don't know yet. And I'm sure we'll find out.

This series so far seems to be really leaning into accepting the past non-Bethesda Fallouts (really liked seeing the original 10mm) and I'm sure we will see some really great shit in the future seasons.

Just my two cents. Maybe season 2 will come out in three years and prove me wrong but I think some people are jumping the gun on their outrage.

[arsene-ee]

Can we talk about how both Preston Garvey and Wyll Ravengard are pretty much the characters that get treated the worst by their respective fandom? (Also Ik I'm being incredibly Biased here because I love both of them dearly)

Cuz like both tend to be called incredibly bland and are often times just overlooked. While both of them are incredibly complex character (as complex as a bethesda character can get in Preston's case)

Preston is consitently the butt of the same boring ass Joke. "hAhA aNoThEr SeTtLeMeNt NeEdS yOuR hElP, hAhA sO FuNnY" and yes I get it the line is incredibly repetitive, but every characters' dialouge gets repetitive with time as well. The reason this line is so repetitive is that Preston is pretty much the only Questgiver for the Minutemen for a huge part of the game, while other factions like the Railroad (and I assume the BoS) have multiple characters that give you quests. Lorewise Preston being the only quest giver for the minutemen makes sense due to him being like one of the few survivors and all (and the other characters wouldn't really make sense as quest givers, well maybe sturges but he's busy hammering the walls).

Preston has so much interesting lore if you take the time to listen to him, He feels so much survivor's guilt about what happened in Quincy. HE BELIVES HE DESERVES DEATH FOR GODS SAKE.

And I'm still so upset about how he's treated by the fandom, although I do mainly blame bethesda's lazy ass writing. (Also let's not forget that X6-88 is often completely ignored)

Now to Wyll, the love of my life, my babygirl. Wyll was extremly neglected by Larian's writing with him only having about 8.5h of content according to this reddit post. which probably has a lot to do with the fact that he was rewritten very close to release. Wyll is not boring, Wyll is not bland, Larian just didn't want to do him justice compared to other characters (Cough Cough Astarion Cough Cough 12.75h of Content Cough Cough) due to the response to him in EA being low. And let's not forget that up until Patch 7 his dialouge was bugged (apparently), it shouldn't have taken this long to fix it, but Larian was probably busy Animating the 1000000th Astarion cutscene (And don't even get me started on the racist white guy). Wyll didn't even get his own outfit like the rest of the Party (well Lae'zel is wearing Typical gith armor but you rarely encounter them, I recall like 3 or 4 times you actually wearing that armor) Wyll got the basic ass Warlock outfit, and yes it might make sense if you put it as "Well Wyll doesn't have anything anymore, he probably bought or got what was quickly available" well yes but then Astarion should wear some rags or something or at least more plain clothes cuz Cazador most likely would not pay for his clothes to get fixed or get fancy clothes for him, it was just Larian neglecting Wyll again.

And just like Preston Wyll is an incredibly complex character if you take your time to get to know him. His pact causes him pain (mostly mentally n all that) it got him disowned yet he doesn't regret taking it. Wyll was a menace of a Child, almost accidentally robbing a bank, reading smut when he was too young to read such content and then during the game reciting that shit in public. He is incredibly corny and he is proud of that and he fucking fangirls over Minsc. Wyll doesn't even hate his father for disowning him (I'm not saying Wyll should hate or forgive his father, I believe their relationship is incredibly complex), he only speaks rather fondly of him. (also if I see one more person stating Wyll is a Tiefling/Modding Wyll to look like a tiefling I wyll throw hands, he is not a tiefling he is touched by the hells. Same goes for the damn bloodstone eye mod, it's not supposed to be a bloodstone bbg lies about it). Wyll has been under Mizora's close watch for 7 years of course he wants to take romance slow.

Unfortunatley in both offical art and fanwork Wyll tends to be replaced by Halsin or straight up forgotten and in the offical art he does appear in he is often just glued to Mizora (yes I get that a Warlock pact is Binding blah blah) like in the offical art book where every character's alternate design is shown, just not Wyll instead it's Mizora. And I hate it, yes someone may percieve him as bland/boring when they just put him in camp and just don't interact with him, hell if that was a reason to call a character boring I could call Astarion boring but I'm not.

I understand that "good" characters might not be everyone's cup of tea but holy fuck it sucks so much that all the characters I like are just ignored.

The main difference between Preston Garvey and Wyll is that Prestion is the butt of a lame joke and at least is somewhat acknowledged within the fandom, while Wyll just tends to fall behind (Just like X6-88). Both of them are overshadowed by other characters in the game. Preston, Wyll and X6-88 are all pocs and all of them are overshadowed by/less popular than white/white read characters. it's honestly exhausting to see, especially for Baldur's Gate 3, when I see that Larian does indeed respond to fan complains in their content ("Fixing" Tav's expressions for Abuser Astarion kisses...dark romance has ruined fandom).

There is nothing much there can be done about Preston's lazy writing since fallout 4 is pretty much ancient by now (it's like 8 years old so almost a decade). But Baldur's Gate 3 has only turned one (1) year old recently and modern games get consistently updated, it would not be hard for Larian to just add more content for the characters that have less content and make the amount of content each character has kind of equal, hell I would write them the Wyll content for fucking free.

This casual racsim in fandom spaces, whether it's intended or not, is scary to see especially with the curent rise of right wing extremism in western countries (I'm mainly talking about germany here since that's what I can talk about, actually being from such a right wing extremist state).

[dykedvonte]

why do you hate Joshua Graham or Honest Hearts so much?

This DLC and character represents a bigger issue with fandom spaces I have but particularly fallout fandom in general.

Fallout tends to tackle a lot of topics controversial and not. The first two games it’s heavy cause they are the most satirical and direct with how anti-war, nationalism and etc… they are. 3 loses this as it’s very clear once you play or learn about all the games that Todd and a bunch of guys at Bethesda just liked the 50s post apocalyptic aesthetic and refuse to actually critique the ideals of the time period like the earlier titles.

New Vegas is the game that really gets back into it a degree it almost seems like it’s taking too much on. There are things done exceedingly well while other things are done horribly wrong . I’ve made posts about it before and plan to make a big series of posts (it’s a lot of writing) but my biggest gripe is with Honest Hearts and all the gross and white savior esque depictions it has of indigenous peoples. The entirety if FNV does not do the injustices faced by indigenous people correctly on any count. My two biggest complaints are with the Khans and the tribes in Zion but I’ll talk about the former on a different post.

Both characters of Daniel and Joshua are the most accurate depiction of white saviors I’ve seen and I hate how the DLC tries to justify and defend them. The DLC treats Joshua like this man who has repented for his past actions when he is just retracing his steps after his cruelty bit him in the ass. He was one of the worst parts of the Legion and it is all but explicitly stated that if you don’t force him to be non-violent he will turn the tribes of Zion into the legion 2.0. The Dead Horses and the Sorrows are horribly infantilized by both Daniel and Joshua who both use them for self serving purposes guised by religious duty. The White Legs are the horrible stereotype of violent and savage indigenous and I personally think a lot of their interlinking with Ulysses, his hair and Ulysses character in general are distasteful and very telling of how BIPOC or POC where involved.

But outside of the game it’s the weird obsession people have with these characters ideologies and trying to make them seem more interesting/philosophical than they are. Tumblr is an echo chamber and many fans of Fallout are not the people on this site. Many people are not educated in the issues these characters convey and how poorly they do or used these characters as a poor introduction for their takes. Contrary to what a lot of people believe in, fallout has a prediomeny white cis male fanbase. More importantly a large portion of the fanbase is white.

You can joke how FNV made you trans or see the numbers on post/fics or diverse headcanons but these are kiddy numbers compared to the millions that consume the franchise and aren’t in those more aware spaces or don’t engage in the spaces the same way someone like me does/has to. Their views shape a lot more than people realize and it’s exhausting to be in a space where people don’t correct the more subtle yet toxic aspects of it but also adopt them into some weird quirky view point on the characters or issues. Some people don’t realize and some people don’t care.

My main issue is just the idolizing of these sort of thing in this fandom space and people try to acts like a game like fallout whose tagline is “War never changes” and has never had a game not revolve around political or militaristic factions issues isn’t that deep or doesn’t relate to real issues. I think it’s mainly caused by how over powered you can become and how you can strong arm your way past these learning moments as majority of people who play this game do play it as a power fantasy where they can do so as they please (which of course, go ahead it’s fun) but never take in parallels or lessons in the story as if it was just another first person shooter.

Also like another personal gripe is Cazadores spawn like hell whenever I’m there and I have not found a mod that works to mod them out so I have to play Indigenous Racism the DLC while getting jumped by giant wasps WHILE helping Mormons. Like I cannot catch a break.

[malwaredykes]

I know you mostly post about fnv but I'm curious to know whats your opinion on the other fallouts?

fallout - really Really REALLY good. unforgiving, yes, takes some time getting used to. not without its flaws of course. for example i couldnt for the life of me figure out some very basic shit at first because the UI was designed by rodents i think. very Very engaging once you get past all of that. phenomenal first entry in the series. music, plot, worldbuilding, themes, major characters, mwah. mwah. They Dont Make Em Like That Anymore and there are many good reasons for it but time passed doesnt disappear so you can always play classic fallout.

fallout 2 - thing get weird. some of the highest highs, some of the lowest lows. the highs are really high though. unfortunately has a particular kind of needless edginess to it that gets extremely tiresome. "heeheehhee SECKS *begins to warp violently* heeiiuhehyehye" type. bizarrely racist and misogynistic at many points. contains some of the best voice acting moments in video game history. at many points its just very very tedious, like if with fo1 at some points i was like Well this is kinda rough, with fo2 there were stretches of the game where i was like What the hell am i even doing here Who are these people what is this crap. the enclave as this games evil fucked up faction is so great i love how theyre gradually introduced and then shit hits the fan. has a lot of texture to its worldbuilding and some really good fun moments but again it goes off the rails so much. i rly need to replay it but every time im like God do i really have time for this. i love that you drive a car

fallout 3 - weird fucking game. some truly unjustifiable design and worldbuilding decisions despite having also introduced a lot of rly good things. fun gameplay i mean its that classic falloublivionrim buggy grimy versatile ps3 pure brick ass gravel gamebryo bethesda. VERY funny to have so much of the games plot be like I Gotta Find My Dad like girl i dont care about my dad he can go die. oh wait he does. it has what i call The Martin Septim Problem and i think its kind of self explanatory. fawkes best boy hes my little birthday boy. fun to explore and do your own thing and discover whatevers going on out there. i HATE the brotherhood of steel in fallout the third. i HATE the enclave in fallout the third but i dont think it even comes close to how much i hate the brotherhood of steel in this game and what precedent it set for the rest of bethesda fallout. these creeps. im supposed to find any of this awesome? fuck no. oh also im ENDLESSLY amused by the prologue its like a nightmare sequence akskfnckxjnc. im being BORN?? ive just slid out of my mothers WOMB and CERVIX and VAGINA and theyre bringing up a screen to show her what an ugly monstrosity im gonna be when i grow up and shes like Waoww and she dies??? im a TODDLER? Release Me. Unhand Me You Fool. oh also that sequence where youre in a CRAZY SCIENTISTS SIMULATION is so stupid i love it

fallout 4 - havent played it for longer than 15 minutes (made me barfy). everything i learn about it is bizarre. like WHAT the fuck happens in that game. your old wrinkly son tells you youre stupid and dont need to know anything hes doing and then is like im dying can you take over for me??? also the intro is truly something i mean i dont mind having Some backstory to my character but youre saying i had to be straight married with a baby and living in a nice suburb, with a robot house servant? fuck no

everything else i havent played and have no real Thoughts about

[crazycurly-77]

A beautiful day - pt. 2

"...maybe I can be your family...if you want?"

These were his words. You stood there and just looked at him. That couldn't be, you had to be dead or laying in bed dreaming. Or your mind and ears were just playing tricks on you.

Then suddenly everything around you went black and you fainted. Gibbs was just able to catch you as you collapsed. He picked you up and carried you quickly to the ambulance.

"Paramedics! Quick! She just collapsed and is unconscious!" Gibbs called to them and laid you on the stretcher outside of the ambulance.

They examined you as best they could and then told the worriedly waiting team Gibbs that everything was okay. It seemed to be just a reaction to the pressure wave. Nevertheless, they took you to the Bethesda Hospital for further examinations and observation.

When you arrived at the hospital, you were immediately taken to the examination room and doctors rushed over, but after a short time the head doctor came to your colleagues who were waiting in the corridor and told them that everything was okay.

“We have treated her wounds, which are fortunately only superficial. The pressure wave must have hit her hard, which is why she became unconscious, but she will probably come to soon.”

The doctor put his hand on Tony's shoulder, who was standing next to him, and smiled “don't worry, everything's fine.”

That was good to hear, but there was someone who needed the comfort more than Tony. This someone was none other than Gibbs, who nearly stood beside himself, because of worry for you. So the team leader asked “Can we go to her?”

“Yes, of course. Down the corridor on the left, last room.”

While the doctor was answering Gibbs' question, your boss was already running towards your room. He absolutely had to see for himself that you were really okay.

The team shared his wish and ran after him.

You were pale and partially bandaged, but otherwise you seemed fine. There were no monitors or tubes connected to you. That was a good sign and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that they were all convinced that you were fine, everyone headed home until only Ducky and Gibbs were left.

“Don't you want to go home, too? She's in the best hands,” Ducky asked his old friend and gently placed his hand on his shoulder.

Gibbs just shook his head “I can't, Duck. I have to stay with her.”

Doctor Mallard nodded understandingly and also went home.

Now you two were alone in your room. Gibbs pulled up a chair next to your bed, sat down on it with a deep sigh, took your hand in his and began keeping watch at your side.

He would have sat next to you as long as necessary, but luckily you woke up again after 3 hours.

You looked around and realized that you were in the hospital and Gibbs was sitting next to your bed, holding your hand and sleeping.

You had never seen him so relaxed. Sleeping, he seemed somehow sweet and peaceful. At this thought, you couldn't help but laugh quietly.

If he knew that you had just called him sweet in your thoughts...

... he would be very happy about it, but you didn't know that. At least not yet. 

You gently squeezed his hand to wake him up - and it worked.

He was awake immediately and your eyes met.

"I didn't want to shock you so much that you fainted," he explained immediately with a good-natured wink.

To which you replied with a broad grin and a "You're simply stunning," always holding his gaze.

That was your thing, your dynamic. Stick together and tease each other like two good old friends who have been through a lot together.

The two of you burst into loud laughter at your joke, which the doctor in the hallway heard. He came in, asked how you were and told you that you could go home the next day.

That was very good news. You were allowed to work too, but only at your desk. And there was no other option, because as soon as you entered the bullpen the next day, Gibbs held your transfer papers under your nose and said with satisfaction, "You're now working for me as an explosives expert. Advisory work, no more defusing."

You could only stare at him, because you hadn't expected that a transfer would be possible so quickly. But hey, he was Jethro Gibbs after all, he could make a lot of things possible.

But as you were about to go to the only empty desk in the room with the papers in your hand, Abby came running and called excitedly: “Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs! I found something very interesting!”

He turned to her and asked: “What, Abs?”

“There was baking powder on the bomb!”

Surprised, you went to her “Baking powder? Are you sure?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

Concerned, you turned to the boss: “I think I know the builder of the bomb.”

Immediately his analyzing blue eyes turned to you with the silent request to continue.

“During my training there was a student who always used baking powder. He had a thing for the TV series MacGyver from the 80s.”

“So what?” Gibbs wanted to know.

“He went crazy during his training and preferred to build bombs rather than defuse them, which is why he was sent to a psychiatric hospital. But by the looks of things he is probably free again,” you informed him worriedly.

That was apparently the last clue Gibbs needed: “His name?” he asked immediately.

“Adrian Turner”

“McGee, address!” he asked him immediately to research it.

Tim did a quick search on the computer, found the suspect, and Gibbs and Tony were on their way to arrest him, while you stayed in the office and Tim had to look after you.

(To be continued...in the last chapter 3)

--------------------------------------------

Here you will find the other chapters of this story.

Masterlist stories - Part 1

Masterlist stories - Part 2

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Tags: @ilovemark1951, @hobby27

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[stevetonyweekly]

SteveTony Weekly - July 21 - Week 29

Welcome back, friends! I’ve got some fun recs for you this week but first--tomorrow kicks off @cap-ironman Rec Week! If you haven’t seen the prompt list, it’s HERE and you should 100% be following along and making recs over the next week. I’m gonna try to post a title or two every day for rec week, if my schedule allows. 

Ok, now this week’s recs! Enjoy and be sure to let your authors know how much you liked their stories! 

~

Tony Stark in Grocery Lists by dizzydreamer

Tony Stark is all busy and bright and future, and Steve Rogers is still shaking, still tired.

There is still water in his lungs, and they rattle when he yells, "big man in a suit of armor. Take that off and what are you."

Steve hasn’t quite figured that out yet.

So he keeps a list. '101 things that make Tony Stark tick.'

Only, he guesses he ought to change it. These days '1000 Reasons I'm in Love with Tony Stark' has a much better ring to it.

Or, Steve is confused about the future. He figures Tony Stark is a good place to start.

my thoughts: oh my god. I had to stop reading and sit with this several times throughout and it was so short?? It’s gorgeous, and the way that Steve falls in love is just so gentle and right. 

the groundwork of disapprobation by haemodye

Steve and Tony don't touch skin to skin until their first handshake at Bethesda Fountain. There, in front of Bruce and SHIELD and everyone, they discover that they're soulmates.

Neither of them quite know how to feel about this development.

my thoughts: ok, so i read this entire series and you should too. It’s built on miscommunication and the differences in dynamics between the 40s and when Steve is revived, and it’s just super well done--and Steve is so very gone on Tony, I just cannot. 

Administrative Access Only by FrankTheSnek

Ever since Tony had called him to the workshop and shown off his shiny new suit with all its pretty gold panels and fancy new features, Steve couldn't stop thinking about it. Being attracted to the Iron Man armor was nothing new to Steve. It was a fantasy he kept in his back pocket for when he was alone and horny and desperate to come. But he had never acted on it... until now.

my thoughts: armor fucker Steve Rogers will never not be my jam. That’s all this is--pure filth and Steve indulging in his favorite kink. 

Catching Lightning in a Bottle by sabrecmc 

College student Tony meets janitor Steve at MIT and they fall blissfully in love, until Howard happens and things fall apart. One divorce paperwork snafu courtesy of the ever-helpful Jarvis, and ten years later, Tony has to get re-divorced from Steve.

This does not go as he imagines.

Or, the Sweet Home Alabama AU that no one--well, okay, a few of you--asked for.

Fanart included.

my thoughts: i’ve read this before, of course, but it’s been a while. I adore how utterly committed Tony is when he realizes there’s even a tiny bit of hope. Plus, the Jameses are perfection--I love it. 

a final dream of bells by haemodye

Steve never thought he'd get to have domestic bliss like this. He has a family, a job he loves, and a strong bond to an alpha who adores him.

If only it wasn't all built on a lie.

my thoughts: i really loved the way that haemodye played with dynamics and expectations, and also it was just filthy and hot. 

[artbyblastweave]

Whatever else I may say about the writing of Fallout 3, Oasis is excellent on every level. Genuinely totally siloed from the main quest and the rest of the game world's communities, isolated from any area of the game world that you'd be likely to pass through on your way to another quest objective (maybe Fort Constantine, but you'd still have to detour pretty heavily.) Despite that, allusions to the place are seeded throughout the game- Three Dog talking about it on the radio as an urban legend, a single insane wastelander ranting about it before dropping dead in front of you. One of your rewards for completing the Arefu quest is that you'll have a cluster of locations in Arefu's general area marked on your map if you hadn't found them already; one of those locations contains an exiled, berserk Treeminder with coordinates to Oasis on his person, albeit without any explanation of what Oasis actually is. Actually finding the place is a very self-directed activity even if they hand you everything you'd need to get there. I feel as though there's a level of restraint on display from Bethesda here that you wouldn't get for settlement with a named quest these days- an asset as visually unique as Harold would absolutely end up with top billing in the main quest, you wouldn't be allowed to miss him. And anyway, once you get there, I dunno, there are interesting parallels. Inasmuch as Fallout 3 has any kind of actual deliberate theme, I'd argue that the theme is that you can't run from your problems, and you can't stick your head in the sand. A lot of the settlements you visit over the course of the game have the vibe of a whole bunch of people who are just sort of holed up and waiting to die, even the outwardly successful ones like Megaton and RIvet City. The entire main plot is triggered by James deciding to try and do something about the state of the world instead of just waiting to die of inbreeding along with everyone else under the Overseer's thumb. Everywhere you visit is experiencing some kind of watershed moment- something's gotta give. And then you get to this place that's outwardly a pretty sweet setup, but only because they're obscure- and that's not sustainable. You found this place, other people are going to, the only actual choice on the table is on what terms they're going to come into contact with the outside world and on what timetable. The possibility of reforestation is complementary to Project Purity; they make a big point of the fact that Harold can't do jack about the irradiated water even if the restoration of greenery would still be a major net positive. And it's not hard to draw a connection between the ending where you convince Harold to keep living because the Treeminders are dependent on him, and the whole "abandonment issues" beat that the Lone Wanderer is given room to have with their own father- you don't get to duck out on the world that easy, James Number 2. Lots of interesting little parallels swirling around in there, if you're an overly charitable apophenic such as myself

[what-even-is-thiss]

I’m thinking about starfield again because I haven’t had the desire to redownload it and try another playthrough. And that’s weird. Because I replay games to death. That’s basically how I consume video games. I only play a few and I replay them until I know them inside and out and then put them down until I pick them up again a few weeks or months later. It’s very rare that I don’t want to replay a game that I’ve spent a lot of time with.

I think reflecting on it if they ever make a sequel to starfield they need to commit to one thing. Just any one thing. Just pick a thing to commit to. Commit to something.

It’s like starfield doesn’t want to commit and go all the way with any one thing. Starfield isn’t saying anything. Like even more so than usual with Bethesda games.

Like why am I collecting all of these artifacts? Why am I going to the next universe? Why am I helping any of these people in this city with very few named NPCs? Why am I cataloguing all of these plants and animals? Why are these gigantic procedurally generated environments here if there’s nothing to do in them?

Bethesda was trying to make it no man’s sky and a Bethesda game and not be weird or controversial in any way. What? This is the same studio that made giant radioactive bipedal alligators native only to one amusement park.

You know the terror of coming across Swan emerging from the lake for the first time in Fallout 4? You know that oh crap moment when you realize you can kill Astrid in Skyrim? I had zero moments like that playing starfield.

They should’ve done way more with the faction they created that was a bunch of murderous zealots worshiping a giant snake. Freaky fictional cults are Bethesda’s bread and butter. They’re very good at making comically evil cults and parodies of religious extremists.

Where’s the famous lines everyone is quoting from starfield? I’ve found none. No “I used to be an adventurer like you then I took an arrow in the knee” no “I’ve fought mudcrabs more fearsome than you” no “war never changes”

Perhaps the most memorable NPC interaction in Starfield is a) optional based on a box you check at the beginning of the game and b) Is a freaking reference to Oblivion. A game from 2006 with better writing. I’m of course talking about the adoring fan. That entire thing is a tribute to and almost carbon copy of the oblivion character and it’s the only fun NPC interaction I can remember from Starfield.

Like starfield doesn’t say anything. It doesn’t add anything. It’s not even uniquely bad. It’s just there. It’s not even an exploration game. Everywhere you go has already been settled. There’s random abandoned research stations and pirate outposts everywhere. Constellation aren’t explorers. The cataloguing you do with your scanner means nothing.

Starfield needs a direction. It needs to commit. It needs something on par with deathclaws. It needs to establish an antagonist that’s worth revisiting or being a major world event in the history of this world. The star born are just stupid to me. Just people trying to collect a bunch of rocks and go to another universe again and again and again so they can get dragon shouts or something. They’re lame. They’re disorganized. Picking sides between their different philosophies has no tangible impact on the world.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Sony wants to buy Kadokawa, what does this mean?

So this is a post I didn't think I'd ever have to make, but I guess I will because it concerns two things I'm invested in: anime and video games. And it concerns how we may potentially be seeing those industries get even more consolidated.

Yesterday on November 19th Reuters reported that Sony was in talks to acquire the massive Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa. As of November 20th, we see that Sony has indeed sent a letter of intent for an acquisition.

Now look, I know we all tend to see Sony as a video game and technology company first and foremost, and I think that has led to a tendency for reports on this story to frame this story as "Sony wants to buy the parent company of FromSoft, what does this mean for Armor Core and Souls games going forward?" Now I don't necessarily blame gamers from focusing on the game aspect of this purchase, but its massively underselling that Sony is a multimedia entertainment company with plans outside of video games and Kadokawa's holding on other forms of media. For just a taste, here is just what Wikipedia lists as some of the subsidiaries of the Kadokawa Corporation.

As you can see, numerous light novel and manga magazine publishers, anime studios, and even news sites like Anime News Network fall under the umbrella of Kadokawa owned operations. And Sony themselves have been no slouches in the anime industry either. Having bought Aniplex, Funimation, Crunchyroll, RightStuff and more Sony has had a foothold on the distribution of anime outside Japan for quite a while. If this acquisition goes through there is no doubt that this will make their grip even tighter on the anime industry. Basically now controlling all the means of taking a work from the page to the screen to overseas to the merch to follow.

Obviously, I don't necessarily blame video game journalists and personalities for not going this deep into it, video games and anime fans may have overlap, but it's pretty clear there's a level of separation between the two in the same space. However, this focus on FromSoft honestly reminds me of the Microsoft-Bethesda purchase where most people talked about it like Microsoft only bought Bethesda. No, they bought Bethesda's parent company, Zenimax Media, which owns Bethesda and also numerous other studios like Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Obsidian, Roundhouse Studios, and Alpha Dog Games. Note that all those studios except Obsidian saw a closer this year. When dealing with a massive merger/acquisition like this its important to keep in mind the full scope of it.

Kadokawa and its video game sector which includes FromSoft, Spike Chunsoft and recent acquisition of Acquire being purchased by Sony would be pretty rough. Particularly Spike who have made a reputation for themselves as one of the still AA studios that are into developing and publishing niche games like Ai The Somnium Files, Master Detective Raincode, and Mystery Dungeon. So having Sony, who have spent basically the last decade and a half moving towards huge blockbuster AAA games and who have just incurred a massive loss and shuttered a studio like Firewalk after one disastrous game, makes me fear for a lot of the safety of any new company being brought on.

And of course, there's the very real possibility that one acquired Sony will make many of these games these studios make exclusive to their Playstation platform. Or at the very least require a PSN account to access these titles on things like the PC. I know there's a lot of people who like to turn stories of Sony and Microsoft acquiring companies into pissing matches for whoever's team is "winning" by buying up more, but setting aside the console wars nonsense, the adverse effects of the major third party publishers on the industry would be bad for all platform users.

However, even more worrisome is what will happen on the print entertainment side of things. Kadokawa isn't a small time publisher of works. When it comes to their Light Novel prints they include series like Sword Art Online, Haruhi Suzumiya, Irregular at Magic High School, Classroom of the Elite, Re:Zero, No Game No Life, and even Slayers

There's also Enterbrain, a much smaller publisher known for its cult fanbase and publishing of niche series like Delicious in Dungeon!

Now, all of these series in Japan are typically protected by much stronger creators rights laws in Japan. With the series creators owning their work and not the publishers. But it doesn't change that now Sony will essentially have ownership of their publishing outlets and a seat at everyone of their production committees I regards to adaptations of their work. And then we get into how those products might leave Japan. Yen Press and Book Walker aren't small outlets, they are a big deal in making several of these series legally accessible to non-Japanese readers. Yen Press has even taken it upon themselves to bring over series from other magazines like Oshi no Ko, which Viz Media had failed to bring over for years.

And speaking of Oshi no Ko, this acquisition would mean Sony would now own the studio that makes it, Doga Kobo. Along with Cinema Citrus, the studio behind Made in Abyss, Rise of the Shield Hero, and as I was writing this, just was announced for Star Wars Visions Vol 3. Now lets add onto the fact Sony currently owns Crunchyroll which is one of the three main players in the North American anime streaming and distribution game along with Netflix and Hi-Dive. Sony could in theory now cut out the need to bid for airing certain anime overseas and instead just have a pipeline that leads directly from Kinema Citrus all the way to Crunchyroll's servers.

And speaking of Crunchyroll, we haven't even talked about how Sony has been acting in regards to this one streaming platform. Initially, Sony had acquired Funimation and infamously we had a neck and neck streaming war with Crunchy and Funi, but eventually Crunchyroll would be sold off to Sony where they proceeded to fold Funimation into Crunchyroll's brand. Erasing years of Funimation's own identity and most egregious of all, shuttering the Funimation website which deleted loads of digital content. Especially annoying when one of the perks of purchasing a Funimation Blu-Ray was offering a free digital copy that could be used on their website. So all those purchases? Gone. Hope you saved the physical media.

Crunchyroll themselves have also been no shortage of controversies lately, from the implementations of AI subtitles that are not only inaccurate, but also a pretty transparent attempt to eventually phase out subtitle writers. Then there's the allegations by actors as recently as a few weeks ago that Crunchyroll Studios has acted unprofessionally and illegally with their treatment of staff. But I think the most controversial of all was what happened to RightStuf. RIghtStuf was an anime merchandise outlet that would be shut down after purchase by Sony and then redirected users to go to the Crunchyroll merch store. If that doesn't sound like an attempt to monopolize a hobby, I don't what does.

I know this post has been very alarmist sounding, I legit was shaken when I heard the news, but there is some small silver lining to this dark cloud. Kadokawa hasn't made any decision either which way to go with this intention to acquire. They are capable of doing they're due diligence and seeing if this acquisition is opportune for them or not. Do I think they are going to reject it? I don't know. I'd prefer to not have this go through, but its out of my hands.

Once again, we must unfortunately watch more consolidation in the animanga and video game spaces. Which in the year 2024, we've seen full display of what has happened with the shrinking AA space of developers and publishers as they've been eaten up by guys like Tencent, Embracer Group, Microsoft, and Sony. We've had so many lay-offs and shut downs in this year alone its disheartening. Combine that with how this will effect how many people outside of Japan's accessibility to the pass time that they are passionate about and how this will inch us closer to only a few big players making all the choices for the anime industry is also disheartening.

There's a very tangible future where corporations like Sony own so much of our art and entertainment.

[mimicschest]

Fallout fans are contrarians

One of the things that I have noticed is that the fallout fandom is contrarian. Whatever is the newest release is awful; that the previous release was actually the best. I began noticing this when FalloutNV came out. It immediately became my favorite. But the internet had different ideas at the time. People ragged on it for how few combat encounters there were. They didn't like how there were much less random encounters and locations to explore that you just stumbled on. They thought the narrative was too preachy, and that a lot of the quests involved too much talking.

I looked into it, and the same thing happened when fallout 3 came out. Old players didn't like how it had been converted into a 3d game with fps gameplay. They didn't like the reused enemies and factions. Thing is? Forums prior to the release of fallout 3 were often fantasizing about it becoming a 3d game, with real time combat.

Fast forward to the fallout 4 release, almost everyone is saying that falloutNV is the best game. They hate the new features; the settlement building, the faction building of the minutemen, how the focus was put more on the locations and gunplay. These are fair criticisms. What isn't is claiming that bethesda wasn't listening to the fans.

They brought in the polished companions that were in falloutNV and experimented with in skyrim (Serana). The settlement system? It was based on one of the most popular fallout mods, called Real Time Settler, by Arkoola. They added in the survival mechanics, though they botched it at first, that were popular in both modding and in fallout nv. The Automotron DLC was clearly based on the Robco Certified mod for fallout3. Additionally, one of the most popular mods for fallout 3 was Mothership Zeta Crew. A dlc sized mod based entirely around building a new faction from the ground up. What do you do with the minutemen? Build a faction from the ground up.

I think a lot of the criticism is valid. But a lot also comes from the simple fact that the fanbase is simply contrarian. They ask for features, create mods, and then they are integrated into the next release. Then the fans rebel. What was once hated becomes beloved, and what was once loved is now vilified.

For my part; I do love fallout 4. It is a fun game, and IS a proper rpg. There are a lot of ways to express your character through gameplay. I don't love the voiced protagonist, and I think the simplification of the dialogue structure was a mistake. (I dont have any problem reading dialogue. I love morrowind after all). The survival mode adds a lot of tension and fixes a lot of the narrative pacing issues by introducing a need to take things slower and more carefully. I like how you unlock in-world fast travel options by engaging in the main quest, which actually is useful since you cant do the normal fast-travel during survival mode. I like building and decorating a house. If you build up the settlements, you can take the minutemen from a footnote, to a major faction that you can call on almost anywhere on the map. I like building settlements; It can be a city, a small trading post, an industrial center, a farm, or just a small port-of-call for you to rest and recuperate from your adventures. The perk system allows you to define your character with a lot of unique builds that play extremely differently. The dialogue system supports using perks... Though it is vastly underutilized in the vanilla game.

Do I think it is a perfect game? Of course not. I have plenty of criticism for it. However, it gets shit on a lot, and often in a way that is unfair or is laser focused on a very specific part. This lacks nuance.

Also, I am not a Bethesda Fanboy. This is explicitly not about Bethesda, but on one of their games. Death of the Author and all that.