Lord Spencer

I was saddened but not very surprised by the news of Cohost's financial difficulties last week. It was obvious that a social platform dedicated to ethical business practices and the sanctity of its user's data could not generate enough money to sustain itself. Not when subscriptions and friendly sources of funding are its primary income streams.

We have already migrated from one site as a community, and I am afraid it will be very difficult to migrate again if things don't work out here. Still, I am heartened by the community response which raised subscription levels significantly in such a short amount of time, that I am hoping the site survives for longer. As such, I will continue to repost my old blogs here in the hope they find a permanent home.

Yet, this ordeal had me thinking about one element of internet/software/consumer culture that I always had huge doubts about: There is an expectation of things being "free/cheap" to the detriment of everything else. Quality, environment, and employees, all suffer because of the learned expectation of things being sold for very cheap or even being offered for free.

From food products that significantly harm the environment, to clothing that necessitates the horrid working conditions of children in impoverished countries. What the consumer refuses to pay at the cash register has an impact upstream that conversely affects them in different ways, such that instead of consuming with intelligence and value, people consume more for less value, earning the big corporation the profit at the expense of the workers.

This can even be worse on the internet, where software is widely used for free. Sites we spend hours lounging in are rarely subscribed to (while running Ad-Block as well), software is widely pirated, and all the free games that devalue the gaming market to an offensive degree. All these create learned behaviors that push the companies into unethical practices in order to generate money. Social network farm and sell your data, software install bots that farm data from your PC, and "free" games are made with gambling psychology to get money from the few "Whales" that prop up their business.

There is a cost for "free", except that we rarely see it up upfront. Ironically, I say that while I am unable to subscribe to Cohost. Apparently, the site is blocked by banks in my country and I am unable to process the payment as a result. I will try to find a way to support this place if I can.

Here is hoping for this site to hold our weirdness for a long time to come.

Check out my latest PS1 Review of Wild Arms 2, an improved sequel to the early PS1 classic, albeit one with an infamously bad localization. Still, it is worth playing today.

Also, check out my latest Mega Man Retrospective blog about Mega Man X6, the point where the series jumped the shark in the opinion of a lot of people, and I am one of them. Despite some excellent music and sprite graphics, the game is simply poorly designed from top to bottom.

Finally, check out my weekly updates on the games I am playing now. The information in brackets is how long I have been playing the games and how close they are to the checkpoint that decides whether I continue with them.

-Galerians (PS1) [1/3W]: This is a survival horror game in the vein of Resident Evil. It has a nearly identical gameplay loop, but more focus on cinematics and story, which may be due to its detriment at times. Let's see if I can survive its jank and bad voice acting.

-Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Switch) [17/17W]: Finally, I finished nearly everything there is to do in Dragon Quest XI, and I can honestly say that it is almost equal whether I recommend stopping at the end of Act 2 or continuing to finish the post-game. While the story concludes with a stronger emotional ending in Act 2, there is still strength in the historical significance of Act 3, and you certainly should pursue that ending if you greatly enjoy the gameplay. If you are lukewarm about the gameplay, then I suggest sticking to the ending of Act 2.

Overall, this has easily been one of my favorite games I played last year, but the game time extended so much to this year that I might feature it again in my Top 10 Games I Played list. Is it a bit too long? Yes, but I honestly did not feel much of that length, and I can say that at least 25 hours is due to my own mistake in trying to finish all chapters in both 3D and 2D early on (I wouldn't recommend doing that).

In conclusion, Dragon Quest XI is a comfortable JRPG with a surprisingly good battle system (at the hard difficulty), a charming cast of characters, and a strong straightforward story that carries through until the end. It has an extensive post-game that is best for those already enamored with the gameplay system but is unnecessary for those who are not.

-A Short Hike (Switch) [0/2W]: The 0 here is because I should have started this short game but I didn't. That will be corrected this week.

-Demon's Souls (PS5) [4/5W]: Right now, my memory of the original game as somehow "equal" to Dark Souls is in tatters. There is no way that Demon's Souls is in any way equal to the games released after it. The jump between it and Dark Souls is similar to that between Mega Man and Mega Man 2. There is no doubt that this game is technically and historically important for From Software, but it pales in comparison to the rest of their work since. Yet, as a testament to the strength of that particular formula, the game is still fun to play today to a degree.

-Upcoming Games in my Backlog in Uncertain Order: Various Games (PS1), Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch), Inmost (Switch), Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS5).