#that's the reason why i think devs should give you the option to play on an easier level. or maybe even to skip a fight.

[yuiyuuji]

ok i tried everything. i just can't beat him. fuck the green monster. Got the scrapped watchmen first try but this thing? even with an specter? idk. king of puppets was somehow fun and even victor was "easy" after i knew his moves. but the monster seems to have no window for a attack? he's constantly moving and I can't land a punch. for the first time i really don't enjoy this game ffs.

[anime-grimmy]

Soooo, you've probably noticed Ive been replaying HZD recently so my mind's been stuck on the franchise for a while.

I finally took the time to actually try and experience Burning Shores for the first time, this time with an unbiased opinion.

Bcs, ngl, when it came out, I was very negative towards it for a couple of reasons. It already started out with me not being able to freaking play this DLC, even though I was so excited for it, cos while HFW was on PS4, the DLC wasnt. And Im wasnt going to buy a whole ass PS5 just for a DLC.

(I will get it once I buy a PS5 for MH Wilds though).

And then, ofc, the elephant in the room - Seyka, or rather Aloy's relationship with her.

I'll preface this with, though it should be obvious with my content, I do NOT have a problem with Aloy being in a gay relationship.

What rly irked me, and honestly still irks me, is that Aloy finally gets to experience new feelings IN A FUCKING DLC. AN EXTENSION A LOT OF THE PLAYERBASE WONT PLAY.

The second reason I didnt enjoy this decision was bcs it felt so rushed. I mean, we're talking about Aloy here! Miss "I dont have time for feelings bcs I gotta save the world"! Miss "I barely just learnt to let others in"!

From what Ive heard, the DLC is over the course of a few weeks/months, so it's not like they fell in love just like that, but Ive also heard that while playing you do not get a feel for that passage of time. I'll have to experience that for myself though.

Now that Ive had some distance from the franchise though, my feelings have changed a bit

Im not going to lie and say I now loooove this decision. No, I am still miffed such enourmous character developement for Aloy is stuck IN A DLC. Not to mention that it was such a bold move to try this with a new character, cos this relationship being perceived well hinges on the player liking Seykay and that fast. Imo she's a fine character but also nothing special.

Now, I do have to say, I am really happy that Aloy has finally come so far that she allows such intimate feelings to develop, or rather, that the devs let her be this way. I know a lot of us still perceive Aloy as this single minded protag, that wont let anyone in bcs "the mission is too important", so Im glad Guerilla shows us that Aloy has undergone quite the growth.

Im also pleasantly surprised that Guerilla has the guts to include romance for Aloy, bcs they were one leg in the "strong women need no (wo)men" pit, so it's great to see they dont let Aloy fall into that trope.

Now, for the FUN part.

I actually have a conspiracy theory, ie I am gaslighting myself on why such a big thing is stuck in a DLC.

I think Guerilla is testing the waters to see how players react. I am pretty sure they can gather the data on what dialogue options players used, so Im thinking this:

Guerilla is trying to gauge the player reaction on a) Aloy developing feelings, b) players thinking Aloy is ready/willing for a relationship, c) same sex relationships. They tried killing quite a few birds with one stone.

I have seen quite a few teasing, winky face posts and replies from Guerilla staff about romance options in the third installment, so my guess (delusion) is that the relationship is hidden in the DLC so Guerilla can plan on how much and obvious to include several romance options in the last title.

I know this is all just wishful thinking, but even if Seyka is a good character, I hope to fucking god that they dont just take that relationship decision away from us, esp with a character bound to a DLC.

Guerilla gave us such a wonderful cast of characters over the last two games, and if they want to give Aloy an "end game" in the third title, I hope they do let us choose with who. Or at least I hope they dont force a relationship we cant choose onto us.

Cos as much as Aloy is her own person, it is still US that make the decisions in game. Through our individual playstyles , we give Aloy our own interpretation. Now, we cant change her core values, but still, I hope to GAIA that Guerilla will give us enough wiggle room.

(Guerilla, Im begging you, Ive already waited 8 years, please dont let my ship sink)

[ryssabrin]

this is maybe delving a little too much into apologia for veilguard’s writing but for the purpose of giving it the benefit of the doubt i don’t think it’s necessarily fair to say the lack of “mean” companions or dialogue options for rook is “sanitizing” it. ultimately they wrote a story that’s about offering kindness and seeking connection through understanding. having a big ol stinker of a character that’s difficult and challenging to engage with or having the option to play as someone who is genuinely ruthless and uncaring undermines that immensely.

like anders and vivienne work in their respective stories because their character arcs cohere to the overall thematic conflicts of the games that they are in. they were about these big issues that people have very different and relatable feelings and opinions about. so yes, i would say veilguard did pull back a lot on that as a mechanic and i understand why that makes the game feel hollow for a lot of people.

but the story they set out to write isn’t one that’s about big political issues affecting the world at large. it is at its heart a very personal story confronting the very personal emotions we have about self reflection and growth. how do you write a character offering a different view on that? “fuck personal growth and learning from your mistakes! wallow in your misery!” lol obviously there’s probably a more artful way of doing that but i understand why they didn’t go in that direction. also it would sort of end up being redundant anyways because that’s basically solas’s main character conflict.

there is a certain way to play veilguard where you do encourage less growth and reinforce the idea that we can’t escape our past, which i think turns the game into a bittersweet tragedy. played another way though it is a game that challenges your empathy and ability to overcome your own faults and see how that connects you to others.

though i do think they could have absolutely hit that theme harder with rook as the protagonist. (and there's an argument to be made ofc at how the inquisitor could have worked just as well if not better in this role, but that's also getting into sticky game dev issues and is a whole 'nother post lol.) the whole reason thedas is facing a crisis is due to something that rook did. you can offer vague lip service to them feeling responsible but it’s not a failing the game meaningfully confronts. as disastrous as solas tearing down the veil might have been, rook accidentally unleashing elgar’nan and ghilan’nain has to be just as bad if not worse due to the barely contained blight. the choices that rook is meant to be regretful over work to an extent, but it would have been so juicy to have solas point out rook’s pride in believing they knew best about dealing with solas and his ritual. it’s something he could really nail you on and i think it would make their parallels stronger.

ultimately i think what i'm seeing people feel veilguard’s main failing is is that it simply isn’t the right sequel thematically to the first three games that it should be. it’s not a bad game and the writing shows a great degree of understanding of thematic structure and internal character conflict. it doesn’t hit as hard for most because all of the problems the previous games had us grappling with aren’t present. it presents an entirely new problem that in my opinion it does! do a decent job of exploring, but it’s not the problem players expected so it feels very disconnected from the rest of the series.

[vole-mon-amour]

why I'm playing farming sims: farming, taking care of animals, decorating my house, romancing npcs.

why some developers think I play farming games: mining and combat during mining.

so far the ONLY game that made it right was Wylde Flowers. no combat whatsoever, only gems and resources! easy fishing with no annoying mini games so you can't miss! cool controls on just a mouse if you need that sort of thing (so both actions and walking can be used with just a mouse, no keyboard involved.) you can romance a werewolf. the crops don't wither because you need to change the season manually via magic so do whatever. you can easily summon a rainstorm and it doesn't cost a ridiculous amount of resources! the devs are still upgrading/supporting the game and recently added an ability to change your appearance (or is it only haircut? haven't tried it yet.) The only problem is that it couldn't keep me entertained as soon as I finished the main plot. You can make the robots do all the chores for you, so you run out of things to do and the romance isn't going anywhere once you're married.

Coral Island came close to WF, but the combat and the controls and the grind to progress in combat and mining are 😡😡😡. Not to mention they literally released the game out of early access without FIFNISHING THE MAIN DAMN PLOT. As of May 2024, the game should be in Early access still. The romance and the dialogues are full of typos and it's shallow af. I had to restart my game from scratch and lose all my resources and progress despite the devs promising that we get to keep our money only to learn that they still haven't done even half of things they promised they would. At the same time they asked the players for free promo for the game and, honestly, I'm incredibly frustrated with the devs. I like it more than SV for many reasons, but honestly, UGH! The game has tons of romanceable options and cool npcs, but it doesn't feel like romance and marriage seems to be pointless and disappointing since your spouse seems to be avoidant of you? And there's no that extra love like in SV?

I'm still giving a side eye to Stardew Valley because for some reason they couldn't make the controls on a mouse only and now everyone copies that? Again, Wylde Flowers saw SV, added magic, and made it better in many ways.

And now I'm really liking Fae Farm because the customization seems to be great, so is the farming, but the combat seems to be TERRIBLE. I haven't reached it yet & I'm not happy about what I'm hearing. Also, the romance is lacking (like 6 ppl out of the entire city? It doesn't have any depth either? Mehh)

[dash-n-step]

Not to excuse card games because yeah, unregulated lotteries that kids buy in to, but Master Duel might as well be free. Master of Faster proved that inside 30 minutes an account could have basically any deck it wanted, up to and including the most recent meta decks

Outside of digital, you don't ever have to buy packs to play any game worth it's salt. Singles are their own secondary market that directly influence how worth a game is to play.

There are arguments to be made about how exploitative the system is. Arena is pure evil almost for how greedy it is despite the free stuff it does try to give you to cover it (Master Duel gives you enough to craft full decks without needing to even open packs just for cards, Arena isn't even close) and Marvel Snap of all things has a monetization so morally bankrupt I think you get your credit card taken off of you if you buy their $100 for a single card art transactions. However, it's more casino than it is gacha. The distinction matters cause a gacha in theory really never offers you more than experience and that high of a potential win whereas casinos (whether or not they should exist is a moral judgment you can make but society has accepted in most places) the win has actual value relative to the money you put in. It's the difference between gambling with vouchers the house gave you and gambling with your wallet, the problem is obviously gambling at all but people want to do it and I know which I'd prefer to see em do given the options.

Yeah, the thing about bringing up master duel is that the pros and cons are kind of harder to just go through in a couple of tags because, like, on its own it does kind of stand for a perfectly serviceable single player experience that you never have and aren't too pressured to spend money on, if at all, unless you're SUPER into the card game and are trying to try out literally anything, which wouldn't be reasonably feasible with the physical game either

I suppose the argument with the casino logic, though, is that at least with those the you can theoretically get actual money out of it, which could then be countered with how some of these card games end up having actual cash prizes (or physical prizes in yugioh cases, as people critique)

It's kind of just what happens when the "thrill of the chance" is part of what makes the game, the excitement of pulling something good, it's predatory to take advantage of that, but in a controlled and healthy environment it is something people like, it's why *some* people play games

A while ago I half-jokingly likened Balatro to gambling and how a mobile version of that game could potentially be hazardous, and got shot back with how it's not really gambling because it doesn't involve *real money*, but it is still a (albeit whimsical and nigh incoherent) version of poker. You still roll for power ups and play against or manipulate to your favor odds, and you're shooting for that high of making it big and getting crushed if you fumble the ball, and if you've seen anybody playing it, it's highly addicting and just fun.

Ironically, while making this post, a mobile version got announced

The main difference is that most games with these elements are (or at least used to largely be) simulated environments with no real world consequence and the dev of balatro even saw how potentially toxic this would be if it were monetized or tied to actual casinos, and outright made it so that the game couldn't be used by that way through their will, saying he doesn't want this to be real gambling.

Which is kind of just any game with any amount of RNG, they're all a gamble in some way (which I suppose goes into semantics), and in healthy amounts people *like* that. But evil companies going to evil company.

If card games were nails picking at the wall of "people enjoy a little bit of gambling when it comes with their game" and companies tying to that spending real money, mobile games were rail spikes, with the digital etherealness of handling money through credit cards and accounts and the smokescreens about how much money is spent being a fallout railway rifle

[edgepunk]

Cyberpunk 2077 Question(s) cos I've played it about 7 times already and I wanna hear your thoughts on stuff:

So...I hope I'm not the only one who may have noticed this but like...doesn't it seem odd that V, despite all that they can do and develop to, and all that they are capable of, through whichever lifepath the player chooses that like...V doesn't have the full character agency that they should have?

Like instead of "they wouldn't not say that", V actually would...and it's just...not there? For example: there's some dialogue choices that are in line with how V is, but it feels like...some of those choices and the way they're worded like...could've been more, or like...where V would've really said something that like...would've been like "Yes! They would say That! Why aren't they saying that?" And I'm not talking about like getting really aggressive, both physically and verbally (though there's moments where I would rather see that happening), but like... there's times where I feel like V should've used their background on the topic to resolve of what they need even if it still the answer or reciprocation of what V said turned up useless.

I widely generally know there was a lot cut from the game, but like...with 2.0+ showing what the devs wanted out the game...I kinda wished the dialogue was something they'd flesh out even more, for better or worse for V's predicament with the Inevitable.

Thoughts?

If I understand this right, you'd want more dialogue options for better role-play? Because I agree.

While I think the writing is one of the strongest aspects of this game (not free of criticism, of course) the role-playing part is very limited. Similarly to Mass Effect, choosing your background has little impact on your character besides a couple of extra dialogue options and some side quests. I feel like V's background should've opened up more unique dialogue options that could've lead to certain quests ending up slightly differently. I dunno, I felt little difference between playing a Nomad and a Street Kid. Ironically, I noticed that Corpo has the most dialogue options that do make small differences and can even benefit you during certain quests.

I think some of the skills should also have more impact on the dialogue options. I'm currently playing a Netrunner build with maxed Tech and Intelligence, and sometimes V doesn't get the option to say "yeah I know how this works" instead I'm given dialogue options that make V seem like they've never touched a computer. It's kinda sad.

And I get it's difficult to write a character with so many dialogue options, especially when it's a voiced character, which comes with a heap of limitations because time and money. You get much more freedom with silent protagonists like The Courier from Fallout: New Vegas, which gives you an insane amount of freedom in terms of role-playing, and the majority of your skills unlock brand new dialogue options that can drastically change how a quest ends or how characters respond to you.

It might also come to the fact that CDPR isn't used to writing a fully customizable character, and didn't know how exactly to approach V compared to Geralt who already has an established history and personality. Though, I'd be lying if I said that game Geralt is 100% in character with book Geralt. They had to take some liberties with him for role-playing reasons, which is why some of the choices are very OOC for book Geralt. But the point is that they don't seem to have enough experience with a customizable protagonist, or perhaps it can also be chalked up to the horrid working conditions and impossible deadlines. Maybe if the execs weren't putting so much pressure on them, they could've had more time to develop a story with more paths and branching storylines.

[semi-imaginary-place]

ffxiv 5.0 tangents

it's dooming the world and all buy everlasting light is very pretty in ill mheg and lakeland

welp we're turning into a sin eater and being consumed by the light or whatever but time to do every shadowbringers job quest from culinarian to dancer.

phy dps: huh so ardbert's whole team turned into sin eaters. i thought they joined minfilia in stopping the flood, in the cutscene they joined the light or something? huh and she kept her original form too. as for lue-reeq uh rich and eats a lot. huh his parents are in eulmore? but for someone to become a free citizen of eulmore they have to relinquish all material belongings and wealth to the state (vauthy) so how does lue-reeq and his family still have money? ah who am i kidding rich people always find loopholes, set up a non-profit as a tax haven. aw reeq you're cute but a contract is a contract. wow didn't think of using daddy's money to lift her out of poverty? and they were co-tanks <3. huh how is cylva still alive. soo reeq throws a fit because we missed an opportunity to attack and now wants forgiveness i mean it's immature to take your frustration out on someone else but i don't get why everyone hates his guts so much you'd think he murdered their grandma. The most important thing learned here are that the stripes of female miqote character models are face paint

healer: ah a alcoholic dwarf haven't heard that one before. lamitt literally scraped ardbert off the ground. huh so lamitt's ardbert's first party member. it's nice to see the wod party slowly leveling up. cylva main tank hype. ah damn it i actually have to heal in this quest line and then i wiped teehee this is why i dont play healer very easy mode save me! so the questions remain why didn't cylva travel to the source with the other wod, why she wasn't all the wall with minfilia and how she's still alive 100 years later. ok so each of the party members got a glowy crystal after killing a boss. that's very similar to the wol collecting hydaelyn elemental crystals in arr. ah i forgot i need to be level 80 for the last quest... ug i don't want to heal. YOU'RE MAKING ME USE REPOSE I DON'T EVEN HAVE THAT ON MY HOTBAR. yeah another crystal

magic: huh this better not be un..hai.. kl???? triad boy. el..lidibus?'s "apprentice"? huh nyelbert's fellow childhood apprentice. there's a surprising number fo pre flood people hanigng around. nope not him. surprised they ddin't reuse the assets from copperbell mines for this one instance. hey lookie another crystal collected. dahm taynor gets 3 costumes that's more than most of the scions. seriously what is up with those crystals.

tank: this questline aint big enough for 2 dark knights. he's going to be angsty isn't he. killed his fiance who turned into a sin eater and self harm yeah yeah that'all do. I really can't tell if this is another case of the writers not communicating so one writer is like you have to give up all worldly possessions to get into eulmore as free citizens. and another is like nah they have hella money. or option 2 it that the free citizens blatantly just ignore the rule and continue accumulating wealth. well rip that gal's husband. granson is so depressed, he fits in perfectly. why are all dark knight like this so broody (the answer is love! it's love!). wow in the face of some rando hume trying to sneak out of a deal and threatening them sul oul is very patient. i wish i had a 3 tank party. and another crystal. this is definitely the dark knight writer. if granson's only been fighting professionally a year he's gotten pretty good pretty fast.

well that was all the combat role quests. on to hand and land. I like the magic dps and tank ones best but all were decent stories. I'll do the job specific quests later.

dwarf quests. why ostall imperative?? wouldn't it be better to have production and industry centralized? (real reason is devs didn't want everything in the same spot same reason why poetics are in eulmore.). they should make more beard options for lalafell. or why isn't this in kholusia. all the workers are dwarfs so you're importing the entire workforce, it'd be more efficient to build a base in kholusia where all the dwarves and mining are, build up the local industry and then export products.

oh these are custom deliveries. i hate the custom delivery system. guess I won't be doing these quests. how did an alchemist end up in charge of carpenter, weaver, leatherworker quests. and of course fisher is too special to be lumped into the other gathering jobs. crystarium people are fish oil deficient.

welp back to msq but first gotta glam

[pumsavic]

Mojang.

I personally love the trials update. So many things that were definitely needed were added, and ultimately it makes for a fun experience.

3 problems. One, the more you add to the mid game the less new players want to start playing Minecraft. two, you're challenging the wrong people. Finally three, you're not listening to your fan base.

Problem one: I've spoken to many people who have not played Minecraft, or players that haven't played Minecraft in years, and they give me the same responses when I ask them if they'd like to play. "There's so much added to the game I'm not even sure if it's beginner friendly." The problem is you're making it harder to get from point A to point B in the game. For everything. The old way of getting netherite was simple. A little out there sure, but simple enough. Craft netherite ingots, put it on your diamond stuff, easy. With the upgrade thing, while I'm fine with it, new players won't know what to do, and they'll be forced into going to a bastion. Some new players don't even know wearing gold makes piglins passive, yet you think they're capable of not rage quitting on the journey to even get to a bastion let alone going in to one. Again, as a player that's keeping up with the updates, this process isn't much of anything new to me, in fact I think it's cool. But my non gamer friends who just want to play the game, don't have that luxury. The trials update was the first update in years that has the attention of new players, and it's not all that hard. A simple way to get good gear early Into a world. However, making the game harder to get to Point B isn't a fun way to play the game. Tedium isn't fun.

Problem two: your fan base wants to be challenged with new stuff and what your doing is making it seem like patience is challenging. We've been asking for years, "can we have a new boss? A new dimension? Can we have more challenges post game? How about new fantastical biomes? Why don't we add stuff from dungeons" all valid questions. The challenge in finding new players revolves around making the game easy to understand, while the challenge in maintaining all players new and old have to deal with having brand new stuff to explore without making the whole thing seem so... Forced. That's where a lot of the content from dungeons would be fantastic. Structures, biomes, weapons, bosses. All of which are licensed Minecraft stuff. Just because someone has a Minecraft dungeons mod doesn't mean you're copying anyone. And if it does then let's think about pistons, which were quite literally copied from someones mod. Adding more Minecraft dungeons content doesn't make the game more or less like dungeons, what it does is make both types of games, equally better. If you're struggling to think of ways to make the game more like Minecraft and less like dungeons, than make more Minecraft. Take out the puzzles, and large structure designs and make smaller ones. Make the bosses ever so slightly more Minecrafty and tone down their bullet-hell type moves. This also won't make getting to point B harder because this isn't required in order to do anything. It's optional, just like the trials. Some loot, a good weapon or something. Easy. Challenge should come from risk and reward, not from tedium. It would make old players excited for change, while not forcing new stuff down the throat of new players.

Problem three: you're not listening to your fan base. Mob votes. There was a supposed boycott for the recent mob vote. The only reason you "had more votes then others previous" is because you opened up the mob vote for bedrock players. I.e. the players that didn't know there was a boycott, and the players that play casually. Personally I'm fine with this, as majority vote whatever, but my point is there was a large group of people who just wanted more. From a players pov, you should feel greatful we love the content you make for us so much. From a game dev pov, I don't even see how this could be hard to do. Buggy mobs? Good, that's how we got the creeper; quite literally the most iconic fantasy animal in any game ever. Another problem that the game faces is obvious art directions that make the game less consistent overall. Take the armadillo. Cute little thing, pops in and out with a cute little animation. The camel? Lays down with a slow and satisfying animation. The cow? .... The chicken?.... The pig???..... Nothing. They stand and walk. New mobs get special treatment as if it's worth neglecting old mobs. Where's the creepers hunched over creepy crawl? Wheres the zombie's lurch? Wheres the love? Finally, and take this with a grain of salt, the act of taking violence out of the game. It's subtle, not obvious enough to notice, but we've noticed a lack of animals that drop meat. In fact, we've noticed a lot of things. So much so, we're convinced vegans have taken over the dev team. Now look. I'm against veganism because of the shameless hypocrisy, but in this case it's Minecraft. It's a game. There's no such thing as animal cruelty in Minecraft, because they literally aren't animals. Making an armadillo drop meat isn't going to insight the young to rip open an armadillo the chance they see one, and players eating meat doesn't make the player a murderer. It's a game, and it's allowed to be fantastical. Finally banning guns. Why? What motive do you have for this? It's already proven that games don't make people more or less violent, and just because your game is E¹⁰+ doesn't mean little Timmy is going to pick up an AK47 just because he did so in a game. Games like call of duty is filled with players below the age of 18, and if you can't handle that then tough titmouse. Forcing servers to change, or forcing a fan base to change along with your sense of ideation isn't going to make your fans happy. Banning players because of what they say isn't an appropriate thing to do either. This is utter bulwark. It may make yourself a "safe and non hostile game" but the problem isn't with your rules, it's with the servers these kids are going on to. Most servers have anti profanity plugins, and the ones that don't are that way for good reason. My friend was part of a server where she was describing to another friend about her trauma dealing with domestic abuse and she was banned because another player reported her. Woopty doo, child endangering all because your system is flawed, and because you won't listen to your fan base.

Hear me out Mojang. Fixing these problems, sure, it's going to be hard. Shrugging them off is one way to deal with them sure, but listening to your fan base, old and new: that's the way we want to give feedback.

[viola-canadensis]

I really hate what the kinda like “dark souls bro” type people have done to like the average persons perception of fromsoft and of the games. Cause so many criticisms people have of the games arent actually problems in the actual games theyre based entirely off of how asshole elitist fans say is the “correct” way to play the games.

Contrary to what these people say, fromsoft actually doesnt hate the player, and they arent trying to make games that are just uber hard and unfair. I dont wanna get into the whole difficulty settings debate but like theres tons of things in the games that can make them easier. You can summon little dudes to help you out, you can summon real life dudes to help you out, you can get super powerful spells and weapons, most of the hardest bosses are optional. And there are some bullshit unfair things in the games, but most of the times its actually just cause fromsoft messed up and made something that way too unfair, not cause that was the intention.

Also there was one post that was talking about how you should be able to pause games (i agree) and they mentioned dark souls cause they knew some assholes were probably gonna say some stupid shit. But just to give fromsoft some credit, the reason you cant pause is cause the games are meant to be played online. And you just cant pause online games. And of course they could maybe add a pause feature if youre playing offline but you can also just log out if you want. And i saw someone saying that logging out resets progress but it doesnt. It saves your exact location and it even takes aggro off of you and resets enemy positions so you can safely log back in. The only thing it resets is that it will move you out of a boss room and reset the bosses health. But it does put you right outside the fog wall so you can fight the boss right away. And i understand why thats annoying but the intending way of fighting bosses is to die over and over while you slowly learn the fight so like youre gonna be restarting the fight multiple times anyway.

Also just wanna say that sekiro isnt multiplayer and they do let you pause whenever you want

I saw a post one time about how people should stop talking about the difficulty stuff and instead should be talking about like colourblindness settings and settings for photosensitive people and stuff and i think that was a good post.

But anyway yeah like the games arent perfect but i just dont want people thinking that the devs are being assholes on purpose just people some shitty fans have skewed their perception of the games because (especially with elden ring) it really does seem like the devs are doing their best to add things within the games for people to use to make it easier for themselves so that more people can enjoy the games.

[the-stage-manager]

I think a lot of people want to use this character to explore darker sexual fantasies like sadomasochism and CNC. These players view the massive power and balance as something consensual—hence why they're unhappy with the distressed facial animation, and why they insist that AA really loves them. The difference between kink and abuse is consent, discussion, and healthy boundaries.

Honestly? Good for them for modding the game. Baldur's Gate 3 is hands down, one of if not the greatest RPG ever released. It's set a new standard. Not just in terms of storytelling, but in game mechanics and the way the company interacts with the fan base. The sheer amount of options you have in this game put every other RPG to shame. It's not difficult to see why people who are interested in exploring this dynamic, want to do so with this game specifically. Especially considering that the devs have already provided them all the content they could possibly need on a silver platter, all they have to do is tweak some facial animations. They have every right to mod the game. They're hurting anybody by doing it, and it is their game. They bought it. They can do whatever the hell they want with it.

Of course, Larian doesn't intend for AA's story to be about an exploration of consensual kink. Just the opposite, in fact. Astarion's story is, very specifically, about non-consent and sexual abuse. That's the reason why Tav looks so frightened in that kiss animation: it's abuse. The power dynamic is not consensual, and Astarion will probably not be giving Tav aftercare when he's finished taking what he wants. Ascension is the intended bad ending because he truly because just like Cazador. Even if Tav actually is his vampire Bride and not his spawn, it doesn't change the fact that they won't be his only victim.

I've learned the hard way, though, that players rarely ever do what the DM intends. And honestly, I think that's a good thing. D&D would be such a boring game if everybody played the story exactly how the DM thinks it's supposed to go. Some of the best stuff for my campaigns has been completely improvised because my players went off and did whatever the fuck they wanted. I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't engage in discussions about red flag behaviors and abuse, we absolutely should. These are discussions that need to be had. However, I don't like the idea of making fun of an entire group of players, just because they play the game differently. Remember how awful the undertale fandom treated people who dared to play through the genocide route? Hell, remember getting literal death threats from people when I expressed my very strong dislike of sans. Of course, I don't think that the BG3 fandom is anywhere NEAR as toxic as the Undertale fandom was. I just think it's important to remember that AA fans are people too. They have feelings, and it sucks to be made fun of and belittled and getting called "delusional" for something as innocent as modding their game for something as stupid as having a different interpretation of a video game character.

The same goes for the AA fans too: you don't get to harass and bully people for having a different perspective on your favorite character. There are some people who view AA as being a genuinely abusive person. A lot of people have gotten anon hate from self-proclaimed AA fans who are frustrated by how a blog views or talks about AA. That shit isn't okay.

Ascension girlies modding the game to make A.Astarion kinder and painting over their Tavs to look less terrified during the kiss is a level of hilarious cope I haven't seen since the Secret 4th Sherlock Episode Days

[insertdisc5]

Devlog #6 - Demos and Playtests

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s devlog! If you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I’m the developer, writer, artist, main programmer, etc of the game. The game being In Stars and Time, which is the next and final game in the START AGAIN series, following START AGAIN: a prologue (available here!). You can find out more about In Stars and Time here!!!

LET’S GET TO IT

So!!! I’m very happy to announce that In Stars and Time has now reached Alpha!!! Which means the game is now playable from start to finish??? What the heck??? It’s still missing a ton of things (mostly art and intense rounds of QA), but I’m so happy??? Wowie!!!

ISAT reaching alpha means I’ve been playing the game from start to finish, to make sure the sidequests work as they should! To make sure moments hit! And y’all! This game is really good!!! I yelled multiple times while playing it!!! I’ve been having such a good time playing through it and I can’t wait for everyone to experience it.

I also did not mention this before, but now that I have gotten my business visa I can say that yes, I will actually be in person here for realsies at the Tokyo Game Show!!! If you’re in Tokyo, please come by to the In Stars and Time booth and get some small goodies, and get to play a short demo of the game!!!

The Tokyo Game Show is also hosting an award event, SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT! The general public can’t vote on it, but you CAN place your bets on which games you think will be finalists (and if you guess right you can get some prizes!), and, if you want, you should place your bet on In Stars and Time ☺️ but only if you want ☺️

To finish this month’s devlog, I have a little anecdote for you all. So, the character of Loop is mostly here to give you advice and remind you of what you should do next, but every loop you get an option to just have a chat (picked at random!). And y’all. I don’t know why but I’ve had at least three instances where something sad happens to Siffrin, and the Loop Algorithm automatically picked the most biting chat option related to whatever sad thing happened. Like Siffrin would go “waah I feel so useless :’(“ and I’d go talk to Loop and Loop would be like “so, feeling useless, huh? It’s because you ARE useless, stardust~! <3” Loop is haunting the randomness value and using it for evil

That’s all I have to say for today! Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s any aspect of the game development struggle you’d like me to talk about! See you next time!!!

AND DON’T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ON STEAM ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THAT’S THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!

[shaywrites-ifs]

for the polearm question, i think in media swords and one handed weapons just have more popularity and more versatility, hence why people trend towards those weapons. Plus in my experience in D&D, i usually play a mixed magic character and like to have one hand ‘free’ to cast magic. but i’ve recently been reading more media with spear fights (brandon sanderson’s stormlight archive series, the poppy war, etc) and they’ve been giving me more ideas of how polearm fights would happen and now i’m trying to trend towards spears as a weapon of choice in games. I think they’re super cool and i appreciate when devs and authors have the option for them in games.

I do agree with your points, i think polearms work for fights and battles that occur in wide spaces or primarily on cavalry, since they have that reach. and they do have a context of being a ‘lesser’ weapon, in that it’s more for infantry and lower ranks in military. I’m no expert unfortunately so if there are trends in warfare i’m missing that would be good to know! i think it would be cool to have polearms that can break down when not in use for easier travel, to go along with hiding weapons and swords.

I've def been meaning to read the Stormlight Archives- have heard a lot of good of that one. Have not heard of Poppy War though. Might check it out.

And thank you for your thoughts! you def brought up a point I hadn't considered.

Response under the cut, though, so it doesn't get too long. But, just to be super clear, am no expert and don't have first hand experience. Just my own research and finding cool informative things.

That is a good point on the versatility- swords can generally be one handed or two with different pros and cons for each and, especially in magic setting with rules that fit, can make it even more important to easily have one hand available. But even without, being able to go from one handed to two or such without completely (or mostly) losing control of your weapon can be important. It also allows for shields (spear and shield is also a thing, and like the shield wall you stab thru like vikings or romans- that's fucking brutal).

And I am by no means an expert either, just somebody with an interest. But spears have been around forever and generally speaking people have liked being farther from the enemys' pointy bits which makes spears great. Especially against swords or anything that isn't reach. And stabbing isn't the hardest thing to learn, which means random farmers and peasants enlisted to fill the army could reasonably use one, along with whatever knife, hatchet, or axe they brought with them. Militias were fond of spears. Spears and polearms were also incredibly useful in dealing with cavalries. So, for a military, spears were amazing. Cheap, easy to learn, were dangerous in simple formations, and could be upgraded. And I mean, that's a limited scope with limited interest in terms of a story and narrative. It's not exactly the set up for a Heroe's Quest, unless starting there and mastering the spear or whatever polearm.

Outside of a formation and battle it's a little different, of course. Outside of a big ol' formation and army you'd want to be more than just basic with the polearm- not that you need to be to still be a threat. That reach still makes them formidable assuming the other person isn't extremely skilled, compared to them. Like, most duels I've watched, one of the few ways to realistically deal with more than one enemy is to have more reach than them- and I'm a fan of Rule of Cool and beating up crowds, but it's good to consider I think.

As for bendy spears, there are a few types. More like quarterstaffs, I think. They’re basically long flails. So, also a cool and neat option! But you do lose the stab and a lot of the reach. Unless doing like that whip Soul Calibur sword that locks in place, but even then, the bends will always be the weak point. Still, just means you have a weakness, so the story should exploit it for the character to overcome later.

Polearms and spears are cool and neat. They have been thru all of history around the world and different ways to use them- PLUS the quarterstaff (which, in media, a lot of times they mix and match techniques cause... stabbing isn't as cinematic I gather) and with a bit of Rule of Cool spice, are fun. And I don't mean Dynasty Warriors level of spice. That's a lot of Rule of Cool. A whole lot. Which is fine, if that's your world, but not necessarily required I'd think, to make polearms useable for a protagonist, especially one in a fantasy setting. Which is why I just am confused why I see so little of it. Troy had a big spear duel, GOT had that one spear duel that I know of, Fate/Zero has the lancers (again, only have watched Troy myself, not the other two, just know of them and about them and too much cause fandoms are loud). Maybe I'm just in the wrong corners I guess?

[astaroth1357]

Unpacking the Angel Event (Through My Own Perspective)

Okay so uh… this was a very uncomfortable seat the Devs have offered us today and like all things that give me moral uncomfiness, I HAVE to analyze it. Blame the ethics classes. A full disclaimer, this is not spoiler-free and is pretty much entirely just me unpacking my own feelings here. What may bother or not bother me could really affect you and there is nothing wrong with that. You are entitled to your own perspective. This is just me trying to walk through all the stuff in this event that just… rubbed me the wrong way. So let's get to it.

The Costumes

So. Let's start at the beginning. Diavolo apparently had the bright idea to put everybody in magical costumes of their angel forms (or something like it in Satan's case). This is… problematic.

The reason the brothers lost their angel forms was because they fell after the Celestial War… who's greatest causality (in their eyes) was their sister, Lilith. So one could imagine that their memories as angels aren't particularly happy ones… By this point in the "continuity" (this is Post-Attic, more on that later), they would have known that Lilith didn't actually die which may soften something like this a little. I dunno, I'm not one of them and trauma is uniquely personal to the individual, but the bigger issue is that Diavolo thought this was a good idea to start with to which I say! - I'm not at all surprised by that. Hear me out.

Diavolo is heavily implied to have had a huge ass crush on Angel Lucifer. He's also uh… probably a little sheltered (as sheltered as the royalty of Hell can be) and probably not used to think of his subjects' feelings on the things he does before he just does them. This is fairly evident in other events where he'll order the brothers to do XYZ task even if they want no part in it. It doesn't surprise me at all that Diavolo would want to see them (Lucifer) as angels again and not take into account how that could affect them. I don't think that'd be malice on his part, just shortsightedness, and he likely would have apologized if any of the brothers expressed an emotional problem with it to him directly.

Do they have problems? Yes. But since the event kind of wipes them of their true selves, that's better discussed elsewhere. Moving on.

The Bangles 

Holy fuck, how do we even approach this? So Simeon, in conjunction with Michael (probably, at this point I have to wonder if he's telling the truth about this) gives the brothers jewelry, presumably to wear to the party, that would… I'm not even sure. Curb their impulses? Force them to be mannered? The important thing is he did not tell them about that little detail before they put the bangles on…

This is… also problematic. First, we can try to establish Simeon's intentions versus what actually happened: 

The bangles were (likely) intended to be removable. It was the mixing of the magic that locked them in place so we can assume he didn't mean this to be a permanent change.

The magic on the bangles was probably amplified by the angel costumes. What this means is though we can assume that Simeon never intended them to become quite so… different, we'll never know just how much influence he was actually trying to put on them. It could have been anything from suppressing their sins to full blown force you to say please/thank you. We'll just never get to know now… 

I won't be the first person to liken this to mind control (nor the last) because… that's kind of how it turned out. Even worse still, it would have been completely involuntary on the brothers' part. Simeon DID NOT tell them what the bangles were going to do. Now, he claims later that he would have eventually, but we don't get to know when that would have been. I presume at some time after the party, because like. These are our boys. They're not going to consent to wearing something like that, they're just not.

This poses all kinds of questions and problems ranging from issues of consent to anatomy and even the worth of good deeds done out of obligation vs. free will and… I mean quite literally when I say Jesus Christ, Simeon, what the hell?!

I could write a completely different post debating whether or not what Simeon did actually had any moral merit but I won't because it'd be very dry and boring. I think the most interesting thing to take away here is that Simeon thought it was okay to do like, at all, and with approval from Michael (maybe) no less… That reflects something on angel society that I doubt will get explored but I need to ponder farther…

This section is all kinds of sticky so we need to move on.

The Development(?)

First off, to new players, don't worry this probably isn't canon (at least to the main story continuity). The Brothers should be back to normal in the new chapters and this won't have a long term effect on anything (aside from maybe a tie in to the next event ala Beach event-> Games). That's how Obey Me has always treated their events it seems and I sure hope they stick to it now. But, these are still the same characters going through a unique situation and that can offer some insight so… Let's discuss.

I mentioned earlier that the brothers had problems with this… Unfortunately, I think we only get to see Lucifer and Satan's thoughts in any detail because everyone else is too far gone by the time we reach them… Lucifer can pretty much be summed up as troubled and unhappy because (you know) not a lot of great memories as an angel. I presume that his wounded pride after the fall may also contribute. 

Satan is… more complex. I’m honestly more bothered by his change than anyone else’s because even he expresses how weird this is for him... (We get confirmation that he never in fact had an angel form, btw). Poor baby is going through a full on identity crisis and there’s a certain part of his mind that he’s not even allowed to use right now... Anger. The Avatar of Wrath, born from Wrath, can’t get angry and… Something about that just bothers me at a deeper level, not even I can express properly…

Everyone else is too far gone once we reach them. Their personalities are completely different and they can’t even acknowledge that’s the case. They think that they’ve turned a new leaf but we know that’s not the reality, that leaf was very much turned for them and it doesn’t make anything feel any better…

This may be my own opinion, but part of me thinks that this portion (and only this portion right here) was actually what the Devs were going for. They wanted us to be uncomfortable by all of this for like, story reasons. It’s a narrative trick. Think of the phrase “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” I think they were trying to use the absence of the brothers’ usual flaws and traits as a weird way of celebrating them. Kind of like saying, “We could have given you guys these perfect brothers, but they’re not perfect and we know that’s why you like them. Look at these perfect guys, doesn’t it feel wrong?” The answer is, yes. It does feel wrong. And under other circumstances, it would be affirming like they’d be intending, “I don’t want this emotionally-open non-otaku, give me Levi dammit!” But when you add this intended discomfort with the already sketchy way we got here it just makes it all the worse… 

And absolutely NONE of this is helped by...

The… End?

I think the thing I hate about this event the most (actually legitimately hate) is how it ends. In that it doesn’t. It kind of just… abruptly stops right after Lucifer starts coming to himself again. Though I suspect that’s because they’re putting incentive into getting the event cards, this in NO WAY does the narrative any favors.

Most people are not going to get those cards. Even with Lonely Devil as an option, it’s a huge time/resource commitment to get there. Because of that, the majority of people are not going to get to see the aftermath of what happened. We don’t get to see how the brothers feel about what happened. We don’t get to see if they do, in fact, come to and if they have any takeaways from the experience or if they’re utterly disgusted by it. The player character doesn’t even get the option to comfort them after something that was probably terribly traumatic. It. Just. Ends.

What that means is all of that discomfort that we had just lingers… There’s no resolution or pay off. It just… stays… This is the worst possible thing they could have done. If you want your audience to feel uncomfortable, that’s one thing, but unless you’re telling like, a psychological thriller you gotta settle them back down again! Deep moral conflict is not a turn on!!!

Personally, I don’t hate that this thing exists. I don’t. The part of me that majored in Philosophy loves analyzing media like this so I can’t say that I didn’t get anything out of it. I don’t think all media should play it safe, it’s okay to leave the audience with no good answers or a feeling of unease, but you really got to be self-aware of it. The biggest flaw of this event, in my opinion, is that it rarely comes across as self-aware of its own horror. You get a very brief glimpse of it from Solomon when he comments on how creepy things are, but Simeon’s happy. Diavolo’s happy. And though he’s a little uneasy, Luke’s pretty content, too. Add that to the abrupt ending and we never get to know if ANY of them realize how awful of a thing this was to do to the brothers... It makes it all come off as an endorsement of mind controlling your friends into better people and (to me) that feels really, really wrong.

So in conclusion… I dunno. If the next event isn’t something along the lines of “Angelic Demons Part 2: Fixing What We Fucked Up!” then I think they really botched this one guys… I hope somebody was taking notes.

[captain--glitch]

I'm just replying with my actual reasoning because anon seemed genuine in their question (I don't really mind if people disagree or skip reading, I'm just a player from the bunch)

The abridged answer? It's a choice, casual mode doesn't give me a choice, classic does and I like having the choice even if to some people it looks like a shitty one (I don't think it is).

Resetting is a genuine tool to consider in the strategy, I would argue even the devs know this. If they didn't then why do you have a button combo for quick reset in the 3ds games? Why do the newer games offer an option to restart the whole map?

It's also about the choice of who really dies and who gets another chance... something you don't get in casual where everyone lives always.

And sometimes the RNG is just shit from the begining and reseting the whole map is easier and more convenient, even in casual mode, like, once I missed several 80% hits, my powerful weapon got wasted on a counterattack with a puny enemy, and got someone killed by a crit, and like, sure I could brave it but why should I? If the option to reset is there why should ya refuse to use it if it feels like the more convenient choice? (But in the end it's a choice, if I decide I don't really care I can carry on regardless and if I win it kinda feels rewarding, like against the odds I made it!)

In a game where resources are limited it's a valid strategy to just start over to make a better use of the resources the second time around

Why not simply play casual instead?

As someone who started playing way before casual was a thing, playing casual feels like a different game, there's no real stakes, no pressure, if I fuck up there's a safety net and I get my characters back at the end of the chapter, but, me personally, I don't like that, I like the stakes, I like the feeling that every one of my choices matter, if I fuck up it can be the difference between one character dying or surviving, even if I'll end up reseting for a death, that just gives weight to my strategy and playstyle, because if I'm careless I'm still losing something, I'm losing time on a failed attempt or I'm losing a character if I decided I don't like the other option better, instead of playing casual mode and forgetting completely about the consequences of being careless with my strategy. (As a side note, I wouldn't call time used on a failed attempt wasted, because you're still playing the game and you're learning what stategy works and what doesn't and you're becoming better, and I wouldn't call that a waste, but that's me, maybe for others it's a waste if you don't clear the map).

Like I really feel like the added weight of choice between resetting or not is part of the game, I can lose the time I invested on the map to get back my character or I can decide to carry on without them and proceed to see if the game has dialogue options about how sad their dead was.

And in the end it's not like there are bragging rights for iron manning a game on your own free time... so like not real shame in resetting on classic (just like isn't any shame for playing the game on casual either if you're a streamer your audience might shame ya for both, but that's another thing entirely hahaha)

Why not commit to the iron man?

The game is carefully engineered (?) to make you fall in love with the characters, the little guys are so much fun and it's just impossible to not end up getting attached to some of them, even with the ones that have little to no personality. Countless times I've told myself, "This is the time I'll play the true iron man, no resetting". And like, I make it through some chapters, maybe even commit to carry on with some deaths but then a character dies and I find out I had gotten really fond of that particularly useless archer and now I don't wanna carry on if he's not on the team (I'm looking at Ryan New Mystery of the Emblem, I did not expect to grow that attached to Gordin II, but I did and I do not regret resets to save him).

And that for me just makes the game more fun, I know for a fact that if I had played New Mystery in casual, I would have never realized how fun it was to use Ryan, I only realized that because I was faced with the choice of leaving him behind or risk everything to have him back, and I chose reset and did not regret it (he became one of my bestest strongest units). It's just fun to have stakes, and it's fun to have a choice, I just feel like casual completely strips that choice from me.

If you find fun in not having to think about character deaths that's your playstyle and I respect it, but it's not the way I choose to play.

Also this, yeah:

people who play on classic mode (specifically in games where casual mode is an option you can pick) but still reset when a character dies are the goofiest people ever (/lighthearted)

i’m a shameless casual enjoyer because i like having all the characters by the end (sorry kaga). so i understand that, when people are playing the older games where permadeath was always on, they might feel compelled to reset for a similar reason or to at least keep their faves. that’s valid

but like in the modern games where you have the option to keep everyone no matter what happens, yet still pass it up to play on classic mode and still reset every time someone dies,, idk it feels like casual mode with extra steps and more wasted time >.< maybe i am missing something in the equation but i’ve observed it among a few people and didn’t quite get it

basically if you choose to play on classic mode commit to the bit 🫵

.

[mcustorm]

In Defense of a Black Cyclops

In case my username didn’t make it clear, the single most anticipated visual project for me is the MCU’s interpretation of the X-Men, which hasn’t even been announced yet [officially]. And ladies and gents, I have found your Cyclops:

Good ol’ Alfred Enoch, who we all know from Harry Potter and How to Get Away With Murder. If you’re not familiar with HTGAWM, know that his character goes from the de facto leader of the ragtag (murderers) and most cherished protege of Viola Davis’ Professor X to taking more of a grimdark turn after his girlfriend’s death. Sound at least somewhat familiar?

Enoch also embodies the physicality of the character well, seeing as to how he’s “slim”, 6′4(!!), black, and notoriously lanky. Wait, one of these isn’t like the others.

In general I hate fancasting. Everyone generally picks from the same pool of about 30 actors (Peeps, neither Taron nor Daniel is a good Wolverine choice. Argue with your mother!), and most all of it is based on physicality, except when it absolutely should be (like say, choosing a ~5′10 dark-skinned black woman for Storm).

And I think there’s some malarkey afoot. I think there needs to be some serious consideration on part of fancasters and actual casting agents alike to rethink race when it comes to the [white] X-Men, especially since they’re the X-Men of all teams. So I’ll make the case for a black Cyclops: 

1. There is no quota on Black X-Men: There’s a bug in your ear that’s been whispering lies to you for years, it says something to the effect of “We need a black person on the team for diversity. How bout Storm?” And you’ve gotten complacent. Storm does not have to be the only black person on your X-Men roster.

2. The X-Men represent diversity: Iceman is gay, Cyclops and Prof. X are disabled (sorta), there are plenty of women, oh and everybody except Storm is white. Of the A-List X-Men, there is only *one* POC character. I’d argue that an MCU X-Men needs to champion diversity like never before.

3. The X-Men represent minority struggle while being mostly white: There’s a cognitive dissonance in the metaphor that has always been there, and for the most part, nobody cares. To appeal to the white readers of the 60′s, the X-Men were all initially white. That way, the message of the mutants could be related to the audience with a familiar face. We don’t need to approach the problem that way in 202?

4. Just because that’s the way it’s always been, doesn’t mean that’s the way it should be: The first line of defense. Sorry, that will never be a good justification for literally any idea. It’s time for some more critical thinking.

5. We don’t all want to be Bishop: So say you’re white and you have a kid who for his birthday having a costume party. You’ve bought some X-Men costumes and you want each kid to pick one. 9 white kids and one black kid show up to your house. As the kids deliberate who gets what costume, be it Cyke or Wolvie or whatever, you yell at everybody to “STOP!”, point to the one black kid and tell him “You’re gonna be Bishop. That’s it, end of story!” 

We don’t all want to be Bishop. The black child could have the best Cyclops interpretation within him, but you’ll never know if you don’t let him try. And that’s no different from the Black actors of Hollywood. There’s no reason why all of the black talent should *have* to compete for the role of Bishop or Storm, which I’ve discussed, while Joe Schmo can walk up and audition for literally anybody he wants.          

Jharrel Jerome is 23 and has an Emmy to his name. He needs to be in the MCU in some capacity, period. Stephan James is another. How bout Damson Idris. Ashton Sanders. But no, no, let’s fancast Dacre Montgomery or Ansel or Joe Keery again as [Human Torch, Wolverine, Iceman, Angel, I’ve literally seen it all.]

6. Nobody wants to see the B-team if it comes down to it. The next line of defense from your racebending naysayers after “That’s the way it’s always been!” is “Well, what about Psylocke, Bishop, Forge and Jubilee?” who are otherwise known as B-tier X-Men. The problem is, we’ve got limited time and limited spots.

So since the X-Men is all about wonky metaphors that make half sense, let me give you another: Let’s say somebody approaches you and says “Hey buddy, I got two free concert tickets for ya! You can either see Michael Jackson Sings the Blues, or you can go see Justin Timberlake. Free of charge!”

Now, are you used to MJ singing the blues? No! Do you have a problem with going to see Justin Timberlake? No, he’s fine on a Wednesday! He had that one little diddy we liked that one time. We’d love to see him eventually! But are you gonna say, “fuck that, I’m going to see MJ Sings the Blues” regardless? Hell yes, because that’s still Michael Jackson. He’s gonna give the same amazing performance he always does, it’s just gonna be the blues. And speaking of blues...

7. Black is not Blue, Brown is not Blue: Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard this one: “I don’t care if you’re black, white, purple, or green, I’m going to treat you all the same!” I will not say all have this intention, but some fancasters have noticed that the racial diversity is kinda low within the A-List X-Men, so they oh-so-generously give the following roles to a black or brown person: Iceman, Nightcrawler, Beast. 

Notice the pattern? It’s a microaggression, and it’s bullshit. What these fancasters are implicitly telling you is that, yes the actors will be black or brown, but when the action starts we can ignore that. They’ll be blue by then. In other words, you in fact do care if they’re purple or green. Nobody will cry foul if Dev Patel gets to play Nightcrawler (because that’s a common one I see), but should Anna Diop be Starfire or Michael B. Jordan be Human Torch, I bet there’d be backlash. Oh wait. If that’s you, please stop acting like you actually value diversity. You don’t want to see black or brown skin, period. Unless of course, it’s Storm (refer to point #1).

But wait, there’s more! When brown characters get whitewashed in these movies, it’s crickets! So eventually it’s revealed implicitly that proclaimers of point #4 only care about it one way.

8. Professor X should not be black if you’re not willing to change anyone else: The next line of defense is that some people say the professor should be black, if anybody HAS to be racebent. Something something MLK Jr., Civil Rights or some shit. Number one, I’m not reducing Professor X to being a magical negro for 9 white people (and Storm!) who for all intents and purposes get to have all the action. Number 2, the Professor X/MLK/Magneto/Malcolm X comparison is an oversimplifying disservice to ALL FOUR of those people. I hate that line whenever I see it, please watch a documentary my friends. 

9. The Candidates for Racebending: For me, the A-List X-Men are Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, Beast, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde. Now, who should be exempt from the racebending? Storm, she’s our designated minority. Gambit, he’s Cajun and they’re white (generally speaking, that’s a fun bit of research). Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler, because their nationality/ethnicity was the whole point of the Giant-Size premise in the first place. Angel, because his character embodies a privileged white male. Beast and Iceman, I don’t care one way or another (Point #7).

That leaves Cyclops, Rogue, Jean Grey, and Kitty Pryde. Now Jean Grey is a redhead, and we all know that every time a redhead is racebent people sharpen their pitchforks (Mary Jane, Wally West, Iris West), so I will cede the ground on Jean if only so that my ginger friends can get their rep. Kitty Pryde is Jewish, but Jews of color exist. Rogue is from the South. And Cyclops is, well, just Cyclops. That makes those three characters good options for more diversity. But allow me to make the case for Cyclops, specifically.

10. It’s not just diversity for diversity’s sake: If you had to pick who the main character of the X-Men is supposed to be, most would say Cyclops. And so in a series that highlights racial discrimination in society, it makes sense that our main character be black. While changing Cyclops’ skin color should not change who he is as a character, it *should* recontextualize it. Now, as an eventual increasingly radical leader of the X-Men, Cyclops would evoke real life figures such as Colin Kaepernick or, shall I say, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Not that most X-Men fans and writers truly think about what it means to be black anyways. Storm’s minority status is almost always put through the lens of her being a mutant and not her being a black woman. In other words, you can’t argue that making a character black will fundamentally change his or her character when you haven’t even analyzed the racial context of the black character(s) you already have. Another concept that the MCU X-Men should tackle: intersectionality.

11. Representation matters: I have to say it: Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther hit different. And now he is tragically gone. At the end of the day, the MCU moving forward is down its most prominent black male superhero. Which has implications beyond just the movies themselves.

The women are in good hands. Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia are badasses in Wakanda, Valkyrie is ruling Asgard, Storm is almost assuredly on the way, RiRi Williams has already been cast, and Monica Rambeau is here and she’s not even at her most glorious yet. That doesn’t even include variable Δ, or the number of characters who can and will be racebent. And I’ll note again that to me, Gamora doesn’t count, because she’s green (#7 really pisses me off because it’s so blatant. I hate it). Of course from a behind the camera perspective we love black women getting work.

The men are a completely different story. Imma just go out and say it, I can’t stand Falcon and War Machine [in the MCU] because they’re not characters, they’re just two of a slew of MCU minority sidekicks who have essentially been at the beck and call of Captain America and Iron Man, respectively. You cannot tell Falcon’s story without mentioning Cap. The reverse is not true. There’s a whole essay that could be and have been written on “Minorities in the MCU, pre-Black Panther”. Remember, there’s a reason BP made so much noise in the first place.

So excluding those two we have, let’s see, M’Baku, Blade, and Fury who aren’t exactly the most superheroic superheroes, Eli Bradley is proooobably coming, I doubt Miles Morales is coming (because he’s just Peter Parker in the MCU), Luke Cage(?) Bishop(??), Sunspot(???), Blue Marvel(????). Not only are they not A-List, I would not put money on any of them being in the MCU any time soon.

Cyclops is thee Captain America of the X-Men. He’s the frontman. He’s the poster boy. He’s the “boy scout”, which in other words means he’s the hero, if there has to be one. It would mean a lot right now, and specifically *right now*, if he were to be black. The MCU needs it. It NEEDS it.

12. The X-Men is the Summers Story: I’ll even make the case that if just one character needs to racebent, then it should be Cyclops, because that of course implies that other related characters need to be black because half of the X-Men universe is in fact a part of the Summers family. 

So now Cable is black. Corsair is black. Havok is black. And one of the most central stories in the X-Men mythos, the Summers family drama, is now a black family drama set in space or the future or where the fuck ever. The concept is boundary pushing. When white families have drama in the media, it gets to be Game of Thrones or Star Wars, while when black families have drama in the media, it has to be black people arguing in a kitchen or living room about their various earthly traumas (I’m @’ing you, Mr. Perry). I mean, that’s all fine and good often times, but I want my black family drama in space, dammit.

And again, this is the X-Men, the series that’s all about *minorities* and their struggle, so again, why not?

Oh, and I’ll even throw out a Havok fancast for you: How bout Jharrel Jerome?

[adobe-outdesign]

If you could make a new pokemon game, what features would you include?

Disclaimer that obviously there's a lot that goes into the games regarding the size of the franchise and how it impacts other parts of Pokemon media blah blah. These are mostly for fun but I tried to keep them semi-realistic (assuming more dev time is given as well, like 3+ years instead of 1).

Also disclaimer that I'm not good at gameplay mechanics or RPG mechanics; if I was making the game for some reason I'd be hiring a ton of people to help with that obvs.

First, go back to sprite art. It's painfully obvious that the 3D models don't look as good and cause a ton of problems, so just? don't use them?? you could even do 3-dimensional sprites possibly

Now that so much time isn't dedicated to 3D models, spend time doing more animations; unique ones for each Pokemon for release, hit, attack, defend, victory, etc. Think like Colosseum or XD.

Fitting all the Pokemon is starting to get implausible, so why not just?? Split them across both games? So one game would have half the Pokes and the other game would have a different story line and the other half. Release one first and then the other to have extra time to work on it. yeah people will be pissed but they'd be pissed regardless as this is inevitable, and this feels like the most fair way to handle things

Second set of games should be sequels with different plots, not just more polished versions

For location maybe China or Australia? Australia has a ton of unique wildlife and China has a rich history and tons of Pokemon that fit the setting already

Retire all gimmicks, but bring back Megas. No two forms and restrict them to less-popular Pokes that are already fully evolved or have a reason to stay 1 or 2 stagers.

Following Pokemon is a must

Gameplay needs to be completely overhauled:

Your Pokemon can use up to six moves in a battle, and there's a "bank" of moves that you can switch around to be active between battles. No more forgetting moves to learn new ones.

You can carry up to 15 Pokemon at a time (though battles are limited to a max of 6 to avoid padding out fights)

You can train your Pokemon to fight a certain way, IE be more defensive, offensive, sneak attacks, ect. You can only choose one category per Pokemon and this affects how they attack during battle. Pokemon can also be trained to work together, which allows them to unlock combo moves during team battles

Moves are assigned to buttons

get rid of trade evos. no one likes those. or maybe there’s just an item that substitutes for a trade or something

When attacking maybe like a VATs system where you can aim the attack yourself, as well as an option to dodge? so there's more engagement to gameplay aside from just selecting moves, but it's still turn-based

Pokemon can have up to three types, but they're percentage based. So Dhelmise for example might be 50% Ghost, 30% Steel, and 20% Grass. Percentages change effectiveness so you're not ending up with 5x weaknesses.

Difficulty slider when you start the game. Why has this not been implemented yet??

Rework the entire dex. Longer entries and make sure all data is consistent (Charizard no longer being like 4 ft tall for example).

Voice acting??? literally it's 2021 why are things not voice acted yet. Give the Pokemon more range while you're at it, so they have a hit noise, an attacking noise, ect.

Wild Pokemon appear in the environment, and you have to use different techniques to approach them. Wild battles have a different mechanic than regular battles. (Legends seems to be going this direction maybe?)

A little thing in Pokemon-amie that lets you gain items from your Pokemon once you have a strong enough bond, like the gifts in Neko Atsume

A wider range of Pokemon abilities can be used in the overworld

Play as an adult because why not. Maybe a parent who's child got kidnapped or something??

Maybe a plot wherein the main villain is a Pokemon instead of a villain team, and they're trying to forcibly create a kind of Pokemon rebellion (Pokemon Rebellion would be a sweet title come to think of it)

There's probably more that I'm not thinking of rn but this is long enough as it is