algroth

Suprised by people praising the character writing in the series, I'm pretty much on the opposite end of all that. I didn't mind any of the "faulty logic" but felt that the characters came across as cardboard cutouts existing only as references to the most prominent 80s archetypes, and it was only once the story got going and we stopped playing the sub-Hughes rom-com that the season began to grip me. I was pretty much ready to quit following the first couple of episodes because every character was grating on me due to how flanderized they'd become, and am glad I stuck with it since I felt it soon dropped a lot of that, found its footing and ended on a rather strong note.

João Gilberto

Mulan looks a bit like the blander end of Zhang Yimou. Can't say I'm particularly interested, but I recall enjoying the animated film so I might give this a shot.

Ah, so you are one of those nutters. Gotcha. And do dig a little deeper. I have, because I've seen a lot of outrage at alleged SJWs in the past that was entirely fictitious, and far as I've seen it's the same case here.

Projecting much? There's been no remarks from anyone mildly SJW in response to this. If anything, the only remarks I'm finding is people *claiming* SJWs and leftists are annoyed. Heck, the Hannah Kennedy tweet has all of ONE response, which is the following:

It doesn't. I'd argue the exact opposite is more often true, if anything: a *story* needs to be in service of the work's discourse, themes and ideas, since it's these things you want to communicate, explore and develop in the first place. I wouldn't hold it as a necessity per se because I do believe games and art can be purely escapist or aesthetic and valuable as such, so other approaches exist and are perfectly viable; but if you are going to make a game with a story as deeply embedded in ideology and political commentary, where even the very jargon of characters has been reworked to reflect the ubiquity of corporations in their denizens' lives, you better think of what you're telling through your story and how you approach these subjects, otherwise you end up with the muddled politics of a Dark Knight for example. This doesn't mean a dev has to shove one's agenda down the player's throat, or force players to do certain actions in favour of some ulterior ideological motivation - but even in a medium like videogames one always configures the world to react in specific ways to player choices and challenge the player through conflicts and questions posed by the sequence of events, characters, encounters and so on, and all of this does ultimately respond to a overarching discourse. In Pillars, siding with Woedica doesn't change or eliminate the authorial intent and their position over religion's role upon humanity's development, or the push towards an Enlightenment and emancipation from the former in favour of a more humanist understanding of the world and so on; Mask of the Betrayer doesn't suddenly reconfigure its entire narrative and pat the player on the back for choosing to defend the Wall of the Faithless. In these you have both the freedom to do as you feel best, and consequences that question your decisions and thus incite a discussion or ponderation upon the same and the themes and ideas the games present. If anything, the capacity to choose and go against the intent and beliefs only presents a better chance to engage in and discuss the same, all in the configuration of a game and story. Being "political" doesn't mean chastising the player for a choice they make or outright preventing them from making them, a game can be political through several means and approaches, it all boils down to discourse, ideas, and how one engages or challenges the player with the same (and the execution of the same of course) - and again, all of this doesn't preclude the player from having a chance to talk back at the game and its intent through their own in-game actions or out-of-game meditations. Also let's please stop using "political" like a synonym to "propagandist".

Gotta say, this is pretty spot-on regarding my personal experiences with the game.

So what if someone finds being engaged with themes, debates and ideas in a game to be *fun* in and of itself? I certainly do, it's one of the main reasons I love Obsidian's usual work as much as I do. Neither are mutually exclusive, same as "politically charged" and "humorous" aren't mutually exclusive either (see South Park and The Simpsons as very obvious examples of the same).

Devs need to stop pussyfooting around the matter of politics in videogames - if you're making a game set in a future which is literally run by corporations and showcasing a battle for power amidst the same, there is no way in Hell that isn't political. Same with Ubisoft denying their TOM CLANCY games are political, if any of these companies don't want to make political or "politically-charged" games they shouldn't exploit those bloody topics. They don't get to exploit the buzz and controversy of political hot topics and then wash their hands of the matter, ****ing own up, there's no shame in it, that's why we've made art and told stories throughout history in the first place. That said, I saw the video interviews with Brian Heins and Leonard Boyarsky and albeit as loosely or softly as stated above, they did at the very least acknowledge The Outer Worlds had some basis and influence from their personal political beliefs. And again, that's fine. Mind you, Hannah Kennedy is also correct - I have also worked in films and TV shows that I didn't necessarily agree with ideologically, but again, this doesn't preclude the fact that what I was working for did have an ideology or touch on themes from a particular perspective regardless.

They're both Saiyans ofc.

It's worth pointing out that "himbo" is a male variant for the term "bimbo", which as far as I'm aware does have sexual implications to it, and is something of a pejorative/sexist term too. Maybe both also have a root on "dumbo" but that is not the specific word being referenced by the term, nor is "dumb" the only component to what is referred to with it.

And then there's this:

This is cool! I'll bookmark it for further investigation. Here's another for you, which you might know already: https://echospacedetroit.bandcamp.com/album/altering-illusions-part-1-of-3

Threads like these. Just sayin'.

https://imgur.com/a/ldkHKdl

Didn't she die in the Throne of Bhaal epilogue?

More industrial techno goodness.

@injurai I think you'll love this: https://smeltkoplabel.bandcamp.com/album/occultciti

I heard two peanuts walked into the park. One was a salted. (For @LittleArmadillo0 )

Oh! Well, I can understand that, I feel the same way really. There's another forum where I post in where various health struggles have already claimed the lives of three this year, so it kinda set some alarms. Good to know you're doing well at least.