Keyrock

You want some examples of dark JRPGs? How about pretty much any MegaTen game. MegaTen games get really dark. Not necessarily in a main characters getting killed way, though there's some of that too, but more about exploring some really heavy themes of religion, morality, sacrifice, etc. For a bit of perspective, Persona, which is a MegaTen spinoff, tends to be less dark than the main series, and Persona gets pretty dark at times.

I actually like Like a Dragon even more than 0. The main reason is that, and this may be blasphemy, Ichiban Kasuga is a better protagonist than Kiryu Kazuma. Granted, you get to play as Goro Majima for roughly half of 0, and I love Majima, but you also play half the game as the most stoic man that ever stoic'd. Kasuga is just so much more relatable than Kazuma. He's an extremely easy to like protagonist. I mean, Kazuma has a good heart, but he's also basically a statue, while Kasuga is a lot more excitable and fun-loving.

Further thoughts on GreedFall: The game looks fairly pretty. Character and creature models look good, the creatures in particular are great, and the animations are fluid enough. I haven't noticed any clothing clipping through hair, body parts, or other clothing, either. The foliage is colorful and vibrant and textures are pretty high res, even if you do some extreme wall licking. However, this is a Eurojank title, so there has to be some jank somewhere, right? Don't worry, there is. First thing I noticed is that the water looks like it's from a game from 2008. It's especially noticeable when almost everything else is quite close to contemporary AAA quality, at a glance, at least. I also found one area where the foundation of a house was floating because the devs didn't match it up with the hill underneath correctly. Granted, this was the back of the house, it was only noticeable up close, and I've only found one example of this so far (I bet there's more). Lastly, the grass and bushes don't react at all to you walking through them, they just phase through you. This is a minor complaint and it probably saves performance (the game runs quite well on my lappy) over having foliage collision physics. This game also can't escape Spiders' infamous invisible walls. I'll say this, GreedFall is by far the most open Spiders game I've played, and I've played them all AFAIK, but it's still a maze of corridors rather than a truly open landscape. Still, the invisible walls are less egregious than in any of their previous titles. Spiders are moving in the right direction. This is easily the closest they've come to AAA quality yet. Keep getting better, you lovely French developers.

And they haven't even gotten my $60 $45 $30 $20 yet.

Good riddance.

@melkathiIf I don't post obscure games that appeal to me and maybe 1 or 2 other people on the planet, y'all gonna think I was kidnapped and replaced with an imposter. I have an image to maintain.

Zack Snyder + zombies? That's a double no from me.

At the beginning of the game you are sitting at a dinner table with Pagan Min. He gets up, asks you to wait for him, then walks away. In a normal playthrough, this is your cue to escape, but what if instead you honor his request and wait?

@BruceVCDid you do the secret (and best) ending? It only takes a 1/2 hour.

The Bene Gesserits set it up so that while your hand is in that box Star Trek: Discovery plays in your mind.

I'm not sure I would consider being conquered and attempting to secede and failing the same thing.

I just finished up everything in Serene and reached The New World in GreedFall. I'm pretty doggone impressed with the game so far. I mean, it's a Eurojank RPG, these are like my comfort food, so of course I like it, but I didn't expect the combat to be this good. The combat just feels right; it's responsive, there are plenty of tactical options, and the feedback is solid. This is a pretty significant step forward over Spiders' previous titles. Anyway, I did my best to handle matters in Serene as discreetly as possible. I'm probably going with a firearms, traps, and phials build, so methinks it will be in my best interest to make nice with the Bridge Alliance, but I'm keeping my options open for now (so much so that I have an attribute point and 2 skill points unspent). At the very least, I want to get to know all the major players a lot better before I ruffle any feathers. Oh Eurojank, it's so good to be back in your loving arms.

I just took what they gave me, I didn't even know how many different microchips vaccines there were, nor which one I would receive until the needle had already been in my arm and the CDC card was in my hand. I had no idea there were this many different variants.

I wasn't gonna give you a major character or a big plot point for an extra credit question.

Politics and greed (one might say they're one and the same) manufacturing unnecessary obstacles to containing a worldwide pandemic just makes a guy feel all warm and fuzzy inside (unless that's just a lingering side effect from the Janssen vaccine) *snicker*

I did before I gave up sugar. I'll make up for it by getting a still and making moonshine once I buy a house in the mountains (hopefully this fall). Granted, I'll need to use sugar to make moonshine, but I'm willing to bend rules for alcohol. I'm sure you understand.

Extra credit question is about Mim and the treasure of Norgothrand to find that 1 in 1000 kids dedicated crazy enough to also read The Silmarillion.

Stay strong GrammyBarty.

I recently passed the 5th anniversary of moving down to North Carolina. Can I consider myself a southerner now?

Starting up a game of GreedFall . The character creator is disappointingly shallow, though I suppose even having a character creator is a step forward for Spiders. This is the most Pai Mei I could make him look given the dearth of options: I can't change his name, but he's still White Brows in my headcanon. I'm going to be a full-on manifest destiny colonialist, I wouldn't dream of lowering myself to sympathize with those tree-hugging savages.

Was there such a thing as furries in 1960? He could have had some... interesting encounters on the way home.

Oldie but goodie: