#not necessarily enshittification but feels like enshittification

[darkfrog24]

Not a movie, but famously Firefly.

Matt Damon explains why they don’t make movies like they used to. Pls watch.

[portmantaur]

Veilguard spoilers, general critical/negativity about BioWare, u kno how it is

I know some ppl are upset about the Major Story Beats and I am too for various reasons, but I don’t agree that this wasn’t where the story was headed — particularly, I see people complaining about the mythal/solas dynamic and im like?? Did y’all never drink of that fuckin pool of knowledge as the inquisitor? The way solas opines, “you are mythal’s creature, now” — baby that was foreshadowing that wasn’t even subtle!!! I don’t LIKE where the story has gone necessarily, especially given how the elves/dalish have been framed throughout the games, but this is DEFINITELY the story outline that was laid out by the time inquisition was over. The writing and pacing are just really bad, so these beats feel even LESS fulfilling than they otherwise would have.

Its interesting bc I’m having fun being back in the dragon age setting, but the writing/structure/pacing is such a distinct falloff, even from DAI — which I still liked, a lot even, with my main Dalish-based caveats still withstanding.

But Gaider and Weekes were ALWAYS like this re: marginalization/oppression. They ALWAYS have been. And I see some ppl being like “this wouldn’t have gone this way if daddy Gaider was here” and I’m like??? Y’all remember the Dalish origin from DAO? Remember how that ENTIRE origin revolves around the blighted eluvian that kills your best friend with the actual literal blight??? This was the plan from jump!! The writing teams were still invested and not unskilled or untalented, so it was a little less opaquely shitty, but not by much. It was ALWAYS going to be a story by white people trying to make analogous statements about real-world oppression, particularly racial oppression, that was ALWAYS going to hit with the twist of “but what if they deserved it/come from Bad People” — because, again, Weekes and Gaider are cut from the same cloth. And they’ve been very transparent about that with their behavior towards fans.

like sorry but this was always going to be the “endgame” so to speak, and my gut feeling/reading of the situation is that mostly what we got with Veilguard is a game that was originally intended to be a live-service game, and the story structure and writing and pacing were never revamped from that intention even after supposedly “rebuilding” the game from the ground up after that decision was nixed (like twice or something, no?). I mean that’s also obviously why the stylistic redesign choice is so obviously Fortnite-y — there were clear clashes with higher ups/execs on what the game was materially supposed to be (fully fledged franchise installment vs eternal cash cow), and BW has been hemorrhaging employees for a while now likely at least in part as a result of that.

Veilguard was always going to be this re: major story beats, but because of the particular development hell it went through, we’ve got a much more obvious case of enshittification across the board. as a live service game, the story structure got incredibly flattened, and no one bothered to make the decision to redo -that- aspect of the game, so we’re getting a peek behind the curtain that hasn’t been as accessible before. But I mean look at it even in comparison to Andromeda — BW has come out and said, afaik, that there are no plans for DLC or expansions at all. They’ve fully thrown in the towel on the franchise, and it would have gone this way regardless of who was in charge of writing, because the story outline, IMO, has very obviously NOT changed that much in many years. The biggest changes came at the executive level of decision making, and someone up top seems to have come to the conclusion that DA isn’t a money-making franchise anymore. Which, yeah, that’s stupid for sure, but that decision is borne of the same frame of mind that thought structuring Veilguard as a live service game in the first place was a good idea.

anyway, I do believe we’re at a crossroads where we are either witnessing BW’s uncomfortable swan song, OR there is going to be a changing of the (executive) guard again in an attempt to revitalize the company. But to revitalize DA as a franchise — while I see it as perfectly doable, even after this mess — would require such dedication and humility on the part of BW that I just don’t see it as likely.

I think the next ME is going to be what really allows us to call it, but I’m putting my bet in now that it’s the nail in the coffin. RIP BioWare, you were a beautiful and awful mess while you lasted.

[punkrockgenasiashton]

Somebody should write something about the enshittification and homogenization of AAA video games, and specifically their trailers, especially in the wake of the DA:4 Announcement trailer and the new Obsidian RPG trailer from Summer Games Fest having the same look and feel as a free to play live service game with generic fantasy paint plastered over what used to be Suicide Squad or Arkham Knights or Guardians of the Galaxy. Right down to the DA:4 trailer opening with the Inception BWAAAAAAAAAAAANG and the under pinning being a modernish cover of a classic rock song. Seriously. Expedition 33, a game from a sub studio that has NEVER MADE A GAME BEFORE, has more of a Dragon Age or Pillars of Eternity vibe than games from studios making games within those franchises.

Like, I dont necessarily Go Here in terms of either franchise, but take the DA words out of the DA4 trailer and tell me the art style, music choices, quirky glib voice over, and GAther The Team For A Heist vibe wouldnt feel out of place if it were introduced by Ubisoft pushing their next forray into Live Service.

[the-orchestrator]

that makes no sense, are we going to call every awful aspect and consequence of capitalism..."capitalism"? Price gouging? that's too glib, just call it capitalism. or better yet, "the profit motivated corporate system incentivizes companies to raise prices beyond the level they would just due to supply and demand to take advantage of a particular situation". like why would anyone do that? the point is to give a name to a specific practice or concept, there's literally nothing wrong here. why are we even going on a crusade against Doctorow's objectively...correct analysis of the situation? just because he came up with a pithy memorable soundbite? Like you could say "products are decreasing in quality because of the profit motivated economic system folks" or you could say enshittification. One definitely communicates the idea better though.

edit: I feel the need to specify that op isn't necessarily wrong...but they're not right either, hence the rant.

"enshittification" we need to start saying capitalism. the products are decreasing in quality because of the profit motivated economic system folks 😩 it's a feature it came free with capitalism