#you really can't blame the devs for not really caring about the old games i just find it weird that the company would hire such people

[vinkumakkara]

been meanin to pick up the reboot again to formulate more Bad Opinions on it. i have tons even right now though

i’ve been thinking about how i see its approach to being a “Saints Row” game in the context of the rest of the series. like sr1 and 2 knew exactly what they were and embraced it, they’re the result of the experimental era of the then fresh open world crime genre by people who were hopefully passionate and excited about what they were making. srtt and sriv are all wrapped around how much they are Not SR1 and SR2 Anymore You Guys, like they’re some really weird navel gazey/inwards turned creative endeavors that only worked in the moment if ever, but they definitely do engage with what came before a whole lot. the reboot... doesn’t really care either way. it’s not interested in any of the source material one bit and for the most part does not engage with it beyond some very surface level stuff if you’re generous. you can definitely tell the srr team were taking notes on what features worked and did not work in the old games (as you should), but it doesn’t really feel like it went beyond technical aspects like “people want layered clothing back”. “passion” isn’t something that you could ever demand of developers, this is ultimately their job and it’s the video game industry and most of these people had probably never worked on sr before, but i can’t help feeling bad anyways when the game just gives such a sense of cold detachment and lack of affection for what it’s supposed to be rebooting

like i know it’s supposed to be a whole new start. an attempt at redefining what “Saints Row” means, maybe. if the game actually did something that strongly resonated with a whole new audience that’d be one thing, but... it really didn’t? people overall just really don’t seem to care for it and while some of its numerous issues can be fixed with patches, some are unfortunately just built in and a symptom of wider issues at the company

[genshinconfessions]

Honest to god, the more I see people behaving like actual monsters or children throwing a temper tantrum over characters not having skin as black as the abyss the more I flat out just do not have the capacity to care. I get it sucks that the characters aren't being diverse enough, I get it, but throwing death threats, slurs and god knows what else at the devs while behaving like spoiled rotten brats just makes me not care to any degree. If people can't behave like ACTUAL ADULTS and genuinely have polite points to say other than "Time to attack the devs again/slander the VAs or whoever for agreeing to go with this" whenever a character isn't dark skinned, they have no one to blame but themselves if the devs elect to not listen to what basically amounts to spoiled two year olds not getting what they want. I genuinely feel bad for people who want more diversity but are less hateful and end up being lumped in with the assholes who think threatening the devs lives is a okay, and I also feel bad for anyone genuinely excited about the Natlan characters getting absolutely harassed and ripped to shreds for not "thinking they're ugly for not being dark enough". I feel like if the fan base were ALOT LESS VITRIOLIC about the issue of diversity the devs would likely listen more. But as it stands now I can't wait for the harassing and death threats being thrown around to die down again so I can actually browse genshin twit and tumblr again in peace without having to worry about running into anyone being genuine human trash towards the devs over the color of fucking pixels. I've got enough stressing me out like grieving the loss of a parent, I don't need people being assholes to add to it and it sickens me that they don't see anything wrong with how they're acting. I'm just. I'm tired and wish people could be less like bullies or arseholes for once over a silly little gacha game they claim to love yet act like this. Sorry for this being a long confession, I just needed to get this off my chest cause it's been bugging me and stressing me out so much since the Natlan teaser got released whenever I've gone to look at Genshin stuff practically everywhere lately.....

i'm very sorry for your loss :( and if it will help you feel less alone, i generally agree with your sentiments.

for me, i am a pretty staunch hoyo defender (evident in previous posts when we used to comment on asks more frequently), but i must admit, i was slightly disappointed in the natlan characters since i believed the fan edits with darker skin did look better, and i wished hoyo would have listened to the intl fandom regarding south american/african/indigenous poc things.

that said, it's never okay to send death threats to anyone for any reason. i'm sure the devs are a lot less willing to make changes if all they're getting is death threats and, like you said, vitriolic hate. constructive criticism helps ppl realize where they're wrong and how to fix it; unconstructive criticism is generally useless and tends to be ignored.

the societal issue of colorism runs very, very deep, both in asia and generally around the world. it's not something that hoyo can fix singlehandedly by changing some characters. granted, i'm sure it would set a very good example for future game devs, and it would be really great if they did listen to intl feedback! but if they choose not to, that's not smth we can change their minds about.

side note, regarding a lot of the 'natlan is colonized' comments, we don't know the story yet. it's possible that hoyo will address it as social commentary, or it might be something totally different. leaks and the search for instant gratification have really made it difficult for people to enjoy a drawn-out storyline, and that's really sad.

we've said this a lot on this page but i'll say it again: why spend so much energy hating fictional media? if it no longer brings you joy for whatever reason (i.e. you dislike the natlan characters), stop playing. if the fandom is the main source of negativity, stop engaging with the fandom, block users and tags, curate your own experience. if you claim to hate everything about it but continue to engage with it, that's quite hypocritical and unconvincing.

in any case, if you like the game well enough to keep playing, keep playing. you don't need to justify your reasoning to anyone, and you definitely don't need to fall into a trap of radicalized (and dare i say often performative) social justice.

[skaruresonic]

I think people forget that Yuji naka lost his magic in the last years of his career. I don't care about the inside trading. That kind of crime isn't a big deal to me but you cant blame Square enix for getting pissed at that. I'm personally more upset to see him burning every bridge he build on social media like a sad old grumpy man and treating the Balan wonderworld crew like shit when he got full creative control and he blew it

His design choice for the controller is abysmal, and Sonic fans who pretend there's nothing wrong with the guy or that his talented skills makes up for the way he treats people should be reconsidering their priorities.

Last I heard, he was considering going indie by creating a game with Unity.

In hindsight: welp.

No offense, anon, but this is kinda why I don't like discussing Yuji Naka. I feel like people want you to condemn the guy, and I'm just not into that. It's a difficult conversation, and to be frank, I don't really personally care for the guy compared to Ohshima and co.

Not to mention there's a lot of stuff we're just not privy to and it can be difficult to determine what's conjecture and what's not. Yes, Naka did heavily presume on Geist Force's team, but articles I've read have noted that the reasons Geist Force got scrapped were because the crew kept missing deadlines and Sega didn't have much confidence in the project to begin with. Naka speaking in Japanese in front of the dev team (who he assumed didn't understand Japanese) about how he wanted to take the code for Sonic and subsume them was absolutely a dick move, but I'm hesitant to call the incident the reason Geist Force got nixed.

To be crystal clear, I don't say any of this to defend Naka, just to try and remain objective. But I tend to find that people focus on things that don't matter when it comes to him. One time I had to stop watching an otherwise informative video on the development of Adventure-era games because the video essayist kept harping on Naka's love of sports cars as if that was significant to his douchebaggery somehow. Bigger fish to fry, you know?

More broadly, it's tempting to say that someone who turns out to be a flaming bag of dicks never had talent to begin with. It's natural to want to say they "lost their touch," but the harsh truth is that even assholes and bad people are capable of creating art we enjoy, including hugely popular and seminal work that touches the lives of millions like Sonic.

If it's true that good people are capable of creating bad characters without the exercise reflecting on their personal character, the inverse can also be true. However, Yuji's contributions to the series can't really be denied when he basically directed the Classics.

Based on what I've heard about him, I'm not inclined to like him as a person. But, loath as I am to say it,

A.) it's also true that the conversation gets muddied by people who want to scapegoat him for everything wrong with the series. They tend to demonize him, exaggerate his assholery, or belittle his contributions in order to square their cognitive dissonance rather than sit with it, (taps sign)

and B.) like it or not, being an asshole, even the kind of asshole who blacks out pictures of former colleagues, isn't a crime.

His crimes are what they are; talent or lack thereof has little bearing on them.

[numberonenarinderhater]

Why i made this stupid blog

First, I have NOTHING against what people do in a fandom. I do NOT care if you ship narilamb or whatever the fuck you do with your blorbos. I do not ship it and I don't engage with that content but I'm not here to mock creators' hard work or demand they make me understand why they make it.

I don't like Narinder because of things I felt the game and the canonical material didn't do (or didn't do very well).

Make no fucking mistake tho. I am a hater. I am here to be a hater on the hater website. HOWEVER!! I'm not gonna reblog anyone's posts to bitch about why i don't like it or talk smack about any specific person. I have no intention of targeting anyone in specific or harassing creators. I might complain about what I see as generally held ideas in fandom but none of it is meant to be personal or even a criticism of anything's quality.

For context:

I didn't hate him at first but I was super disappointed that he wasn't, y'know, a wolf. But what the fuck do I know.

I have only briefly played the game on single-player mode. For the most part, my partner and I play a co-op file together (on the Nintendo switch).

I understand that the game started as a very humble project and that there might still be added content in the future. Any criticisms I have of the story so far are just that, criticism of the story so far.

I like the other bishops!! I think they're awesome and they have great characters, flaws and all. I think Narinder is the outlier in terms of writing quality.

Some of my dislike is petty and doesn't stem from anything. Some of it I can support with an actual argument. Again I'm a hater.

Most of my complaints come down to the way he's portrayed in-game. I don't consider headcanons/fanon/fan content to be evidence of his canon personality. (Listen!! I like fanfic and I support artists' license to reinterpret things, but that's not rly what I'm here to bitch and moan about)

I understand that characters have flaws. I'm not an idiot, I promise. But I'm also not required to find characters endearing.

I am willing to hear people out!! But don't hold your breath. I am, after all, a hater.

Why I think he sucks:

The way he attacks his siblings didn't feel like a "crime of passion", so to speak. It feels deliberate, cruel, and calculated- more in line with the image of a cold-blooded sadist than someone who has been deeply hurt and betrayed and is lashing out. He finds amusement in what he's done to them and the game never indicates that he has any regrets about it. (Or, at least, I can't find any textual evidence suggesting that ever did)

When he becomes a follower with higher loyalty, the little things he says to Lamb don't come off as cute to me, they come off as creepy. The devs seemed to have removed special follower missions from Narinder and replaced them with generic dialogue instead. For... whatever reason, some of the things Narinder says include things along the lines of "I love you" or "How's your day going?" It doesn't come off as cute to me and it only succeeds in making him seem creepy and bland. I would really really like special follower quests to be put back so that he doesn't wander around confessing his feelings for me several times a week like a sad old creep with memory problems.

AFTER YOU DO FINISH RESTORING THE BISHOP'S SEVERED BODY PARTS (THAT HE TORE OFF HIMSELF) HE STILL OFFERS VERY LITTLE. This is what sent me over the fucking edge. The other bishops give you rich, emotionally textured dialogue that really makes you understand why they all did what they did and act how they do. It's great writing!! Narinder's own monologue consists of: a reminder of how he was hurt (AGAIN), deflecting blame/explaining why he won't explain himself (THE ONLY THING I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HEAR), a vague sentiment about how times goes on (sure man), concluded by: 'here's this relic'. The relic is admittedly pretty cool but its a total failure to characterize him when the game had a chance.

Speaking of failing to characterize him!!! I have no idea what motivates him. What does he want?? Why did he start resurrecting people?? Was he aware that he was threatening his siblings' authority?? Did he care about that?? He never offers his own side of the story and I, for one, refuse to fill in the gaps for him.

He could be really cool????!!!! But he's so boring???!! Again I think this could be slightly improved by putting his follower quests back and making him a more interactive character. As it is now he's a dull follower who does very little.

He is a lot cooler if you do choose to kill him instead of sparing him and making him a follower. At least then he seems to have a complete narrative arc. I don't consider his character on the other story path to be nearly as complete considering he seems to be floating in an uncomfortable space between redemption (something that would require that he apologize even once) and antagonism (something that requires that he be an active presence in his own story which he isn't once he is indoctrinated).

I'm not gonna cinemasins ding Narinder for all the dramatic things that the narrative asks him to do even if it makes him look really bad or stupid. (i.e: why did wait this long to make the last sacrificed lamb into his vessel when he could've started right away, why didn't he just resurrect those lambs considering he can resurrect the player character? why didn't he just amass a huge army of vessels to lead his cult all at once if he needs believers that bad?) At the end of the day, I can overlook it.... BUT the absence of these answers is really felt the more you think about it. As far as the writing on the wall is he is selfish at heart and if he isn't stupid then I guess I have to assume that he's way weaker than he says. laaaammee!!

Small gripe but the game developers seem to really really want the player to spare Narinder and it annoys me. If players do kill Narinder then they get a second chance to spare him from the mystic seller, something that no one else gets afaik. It makes the decision feel much cheaper and less dramatic, as if it didn't really matter the first time and he could have been revived on a whim.

Also speaking of that, the devs really seem to push the idea that Narinder has some kind of feelings for Lamb. It's funny at first but then it just annoys me because it makes me feel like I'm forced to deal with something I didn't ask for. Like I said before, the combination of him thinking mushy thoughts about Lamb and giving generic follower lines like "I love you leader" make him come off as kinda pathetic if you don't choose to pursue him as a spouse. Like man... I'm just not into you like that.

I'm sorry but he really did need to be a wolf. Am I the only one thinking this?? C'mon.

That's probably not the extent of it but this is what comes to mind. Sorry for the long ass post but no one else seems to share my opinion. That's a big reason why I made this blog, just to see if anyone else agrees or if there's something I have just SEVERELY misunderstood. If you wanna dog on me or explain then feel free to send an ask.

Praise the Lamb. Glory to the Goat. Fuck that fallen bastard.

[canonical-transformation]

Metroid: Dread is so 'classic', it feels like an anachronism. It feels like a remaster of the 2006 game it was supposed to be. (For me, that's *exactly* what I wanted, even if I didn't know it when I bought it.)

I've only just finished my very first any% (9 hours, *wince*) and wow this whole experience made my tiny fangirl heart explode in a shower of little purple orbs.

(Spoiler level below: very light. ✔ no story spoilers, ⚠ some game structure discussion à la "Metroid Fusion was very linear!", ⚠ some series-generic mechanics discussion like "does bomb jumping work?")

I found it weirdly satisfying how Dread takes next to zero cues from the entire past decade of Metroidvania. It wants to be Metroid 5, and that means the exact same formula the series used in its golden years: save rooms, map rooms, the ammo recharge stations from SM, a zillion different upgrades for vertical mobility, etc.

I think the moment it first clicked for me that the devs had gone all in on "more of the same" was when I fell through my first one-way softlock, bringing back old Brinstar memories. Or maybe it was when I first entered a brand new area for three minutes, found one tiny item, and then found myself backtracking several areas to do anything useful with it.

---

The EMMIs are great the same way the SA-X was great, and nearly two decades later, they have the AI to really give you that prey-in-hunting ground feel.

I'm so curious to see what sequence breaking options are available. Although some areas are heavily gated, other blockages feel a lot more porous to the seasoned bomb-jumping shinesparker.

Also the story is such a seamless continuation to the Metroid saga but uh that's a discussion for elsewhere.

---

The problem with Dread being a spiritual successor to classic 1994 / early 00's games is that it only truly shines if you're already into Metroid.

Don't get me wrong, if you've done HK or Ori you'll have no (insurmountable) trouble navigating Dread's short and sweet main campaign. But -- perhaps ironically -- so much of the fun of this game is the familiarity.

Familiarity adds so much spice to the mix. The little fan nods to Zebes and BSL interior design, the tantalising anticipation of seeing a glowing yellow boomerang tile you can't break and knowing exactly what it needs and heck yes fun, the fun reinterpretations of decades-old colour schemes, and that's not even getting into [redacted].

Stripped of that, the game is... just a Metroidvania without much emotional connection? Go to the place, pick up the better weapon or the morph ball, backtrack to the other place. The world isn't intrinsically enticing. Some of the game's [redacted] different zones feel very distinct but many others blur together. A lot of the blame here belongs to the game's heavily-advertised 'EMMI zones' taking up huge portions of the map, but... idk, a lot of areas are liminal stretches of corridors and obstacles, with nods to biomes limited to the occasional glance out the window.

The game does not go out of its way to make you care about Samus. It doesn't go out of its way to make you care about the narrative stakes insofar as they exist. It's a lot like Super Metroid in that regard, but for major console titles these days that kind of bring-your-own-investment is a statement.

Anyway if you haven't played any Metroid games before and you're on the fence about this one, I strongly recommend playing one of the SNES or GBA games first, if you're legally able to! Partly so you know exactly what you're in for, partly so your appetite is properly whetted.

---

TL;DR if you're excited for Metroid: Dread, stay excited. It's a continuation not a reboot, so franchise newbies, temper expectations accordingly.