BruceVC

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/bioware-has-reportedly-lost-at-least-half-its-staff-with-fewer-than-100-people-left-and-the-studio-a-ghost-of-its-former-self/ Bioware now has fewer than 100 staff after Veilguard missed its sales target by 50% So the question is really why did Veilguard fail at what matters the most which is always about sales? And I firmly believe that the whole woke design of the game is a big part of this. If you create a game where a big part of that game is party based interaction and you dont create any real options for your biggest target market which is straight men then you are limiting overall interest in the game You can create a game that is inclusive and that game can absolutely be financially successful. Both KCD2 and BG3 are examples of this but these games dont exclude straight men The moment you confuse inclusivity with exclusivity you create a massive problem for yourself

Im 45 hours into W3 and Im loving all the different side quests and activities apart from the main narrative. W3 really is the best example of an open-world RPG that aligns with the broader Witcher narrative and lore. Some key points I have just completed the Bloody Baron quest and it was brilliant, very nuanced and thought provoking around what the Baron did and the botchling. I also decided to help the Baron free his wife from the Crones. The Crones really are diabolical even though I worked with them around killing the tree\druid evil spirit but I now want to kill them. I laughed how they flirted with Geralt..imagine having a foursome with them I like how you can get so many different Witcher contracts, this is exactly what the Witcher is about. Killing beasts and monsters and having to plan how to do this before you engage EE and Redux makes the skill advancement realistic and I prefer it to level advancement. You gain skill points when you use them so you have to focus on the type of build you want if you want to progress The economy has been rebalanced with EE and Redux and I like it, you cant sell everything for maximum money and special item upgrades and crafting is expensive but thats a good thing because Im always short of money and I have to go on quests and hunt for gold. It encourages exploration Triss is so beautiful aesthetically with my advanced graphic settings and 4K mod , its going to be difficult to decide who to support between her and Yen but that is a decision I will make later once the narrative unfolds

Its funny you mention that because other people have said the exact same thing about Xoti, her accent was the biggest criticism about her I loved it, I cant recall another game that has that pronounced Southern accent for a character? But I like the Southern accent so it worked for me

I still dont get what your point really is around how some media houses get foreign funding, that shouldnt change the reality of what they report on if the problems or issues are real I will use South Africa as an example. We have lots of media houses reporting on corruption and state inefficiencies and they sometimes report on the links and corruption that we see from some in the ANC around corrupt public sector tenders with Russia or other countries. Here is an example https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-01-22-gazprombank-reneged-on-r3-7bn-deal-to-restart-mossel-bay-gas-to-liquids-refinery/ Now Daily Maverick (DM)is sometimes accused of being a "CIA\Western " controlled media house with an agenda to destabilize the country but this story is true, the way the tender was awarded to Gazprombank had massive and egregious irregularities but the only reason this project fell apart is the Russians wanted complete control of the refinery and the SOE wasnt prepared to agree to that but the tender was initially awarded to Gazprombank So my point is it doesn't matter if DM gets some of its funding from USAID, they dont get any but they have been accused of getting some, because they report on legitimate and real cases of corruption within the country Is your overall point that independent media houses that get USAID cant be considered legitimate and objective because of this funding or are you just pointing out they do get funding from the USAID which might have been denied?

The entire USAID budget for 2023\2024 was $50 billion and independent media houses gets $300 million Media funding is 1% of USAID and not significant in any way compared to where the rest of the money is spent https://rsf.org/en/usa-trump-s-foreign-aid-freeze-throws-journalism-around-world-chaos?mc_cid=4e8b353ce6&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Yes I found PoE2 improved on almost every level and PoE1 was a great game I particularly liked the open-world design of PoE2 and the whole sailing mechanics And great party members to interact with, my favourite being Xoti with her cute Southern accent

https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/afriforum-solidarity-reject-trumps-refugee-offer-we-want-to-build-south-africa-20250208 The justification for this Afrikaans " refugee" migration offer has been exaggerated There is potential future risk around both nationalization and expropriation without compensation but that doesnt exist at the moment Afriforum which represents a large group of white Afrikaners had a press conference yesterday and they made several statements and clarifications around this US EO " While the groups welcomed the political pressure placed on the ANC government, they rejected the withdrawal of aid and the classification of Afrikaners as refugees. Buys stressed that Afrikaners do not want to leave South Africa, but rather seek conditions that allow them to thrive within the country. “Our ancestors came to Africa centuries ago, but we became Afrikaners here long before South Africa was a country. Our language and culture are indigenous to Africa,” he said. He emphasised that Afrikaners are not just a language group but a cultural community with deep ties to South Africa. While acknowledging that some Afrikaners may wish to emigrate, Buys rejected the idea of mass resettlement. He said: The repatriation of Afrikaners as refugees is not a solution. We want to build a future in South Africa. "

https://www.bbc.com/mediaaction/press-release/4-feb-25 Well thats easy and you could have quickly done your own research if you wanted to " A free press is essential to freedom and democracy – and 75% of countries around the world do not have a free press. BBC Media Action supports local media around the world to deliver trusted information to people most in need. Like many international development organisations, BBC Media Action has been affected by the temporary pause in US government funding, which amounts to about 8% of our income in 2023-24. We’re doing everything we can to minimise the impact on our partners and the people we serve. "

I think Trump has chilled in his old age, he seems more likely to share the limelight and media attention with Musk than last time where Bannon lost favor? He seems to have a good but strange relationship with Musk

Getting 10-20% of your funding model from USAID if you a media house doesn't mean you not independent or you dont have editorial discretion to post any news article you want "Independent " typically means not state sponsored around influence of what you report on but USAID provided dozens of examples of humanitarian aid and very little of it had anything to do with expecting the country to align with US policies and that would include media house funding We would have to look at what independent media house you talking before we accuse them of bias or pushing an American agenda if that is what you suggesting? But end of the day, no. Russian war crimes, Irans fundamentalist reality and Chinese abuse of Uyghurs is still real and not made up

Yes, Im not We English\Anglo and its all about which country your ancestors came from and there are lots of other white people in SA who wouldnt be considered Afrikaans like Jews or people from most European countries outside of the Netherlands But because Apartheid was implemented by white Afrikaners there would always be an understandable focus on white Afrikaners in the modern SA around language and ownership of land There is no genocide of white Afrikaners but there are real farm killings and there is new legislation around education and language and that has riled up white Afrikaners the most because English is still our main language And then there is the recent Expropriation bill which we have already discussed So what Im saying is this EO generalizes about things, it has some truth to it but its also exaggerated

This is going to create days of debate and this EO order is different to the one around the expropriation act, it has more details and includes Israel and several of SA foreign policy decisions that are aligned with countries that are hostile to the US like Iran " The United States cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country or its ‘undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests. " SA does have these "friendships " and I have often raised the inconsistencies around our foreign policy decisions, we say we neutral yet we often dont seem be consistent around this. But we have always seemed to assume that there would be no global fallout for this inconsistency. I doubt the ANC is really aware of the reality of this inconsistency and how it can criticised by someone like Trump and then action taken But this EO is a combination of things and even allows Afrikaners a migration path to the US But as I said lots of debate coming around the different points in this EO and why its been signed

Sure but if someone says " they not good at combat " in any game that typically just means they not comfortable with the mechanics and they can address this by focusing on combat and learn the mechanics It is a personal choice but you have options to become good at combat

Such an important and relevant question and its great you have raised it because we want to avoid confusion for the millions of gamers who use the "BruceVC game rating system " as there main benchmark around reviews for any game No it wont count, the global rating applies to a single rating and the original post. It cant stack

Double post

@kanisatha Kanie I agree with this but I would frame it differently I always go through a period of having to learn the mechanics of combat in games where its " complicated " and mostly when its around using a Controller instead of M\KB I did that now with W2&3 What Im suggesting is dont avoid combat because you not good at it, rather spend a few hours learning it. Then you not forced to only adopt one type of strategy I remember in Exanima I spent at least 5-6 hours in the combat learning part of the game because of how complicated and realistic the combat physics are And its always worth it once you know you can be effective in combat, it just makes the game more entertaining but it requires an investment in time

It sounds like its really delivering nicely similar to KCD1 , good to know Have you come across any Romance arcs?

I dont think its necessary for too much drama on this one? If you read the second link its specific about what the focus is going to be and its about cartels and transnational criminal organisations And the link clarifies the 4 main priorities, they seem very reasonable to me around targeting of these types of criminal syndicates? @Elerond read the second link, what do you think?

The APNEWS article summarizes nicely all the issues and legitimate concerns around this latest " idea" from Trump Good read

But I assume this is classic Trump classic " distraction tactics " so he can get the media focusing on this so he can push through his appointments or other policies This Gaza idea makes no sense for many reasons that include the Palestinians wont agree to it The entire ME wont agree to it except for Israel who is going to invest in Gaza and build hotels when there is so much instability around security Worst idea I have ever heard, maybe Trumps age is showing with this type of delusional suggestion

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/5/trump-says-us-will-take-over-and-own-gaza-in-redevelopment-plan Trumps going to solve the decades long Palestinian conflict by the US taking control of Gaza and turning it into the " the Riviera of the Middle East”. Definitely the dumbest and most unrealistic solution I have ever heard about a permanent solution to peace

Why wouldnt you give Trump credit for that? He has influence on Netanyahu and the ceasefire has maintained. Biden simply didnt have the same influence as Trump in the ME Trump made ending that conflict one of his campaign commitments and it mattered to him that it ended

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/03/americas/el-salvador-migrant-deal-marco-rubio-intl-hnk/index.html Heres an interesting development, El Salvador has offered to incarcerate criminals who are either US citizens or illegal migrants if they paid " In an act of extraordinary friendship to our country … (El Salvador) has agreed to the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world,” Rubio told reporters Monday. The country will continue accepting Salvadoran deportees who illegally entered the US, he said. It will also “accept for deportation any illegal alien in the United States who is a criminal from any nationality, be they MS-13 or Tren de Aragua and house them in his jails,” he said – referring to two notorious transnational gangs with members from El Salvador and Venezuela. In addition, Bukele “has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of US citizenship and legal residents,” Rubio said."

Thats not true, Canada is now appointing a Fentanyl Tzar But this is now what Canada has agreed on and yes some of this was already agreed on but some of it will be new? " Trudeau said Canada was implementing a $1.3bn (£1bn) border plan that included nearly 10,000 frontline workers and more resources to halt the flow of fentanyl, a synthetic drug 50 times stronger than heroin, which Trump has cited as a major concern. The prime minister also said Canada would appoint a "fentanyl czar" and launch a joint strike force with the US to combat crime, fentanyl and money laundering. Much of the border security plan had already been announced by Canada in December. It includes enhanced co-ordination with US law enforcement, increased information sharing, limiting traffic at the border, and the deployment of drones and Black Hawk helicopters for surveillance." https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87d5rlee52o

@Malcador I thought you would find this funny