Lex Rayne

I was just thinking about Futility...

and it's one of my new favorites, absolutely brilliant, but fuck the Pushmaster 5000 forever

I don't know y'all, play 999 and then maybe I can describe this monstrosity (positive) in any way that would come close to making sense. I'm deep in it now. I cannot stop thinking about bikers.

Zero Time Dilemma is next. This one's gonna be a rough ride but I'm in it till the end.

extremely happy to say that within the span of about a month and a half, i've managed to both secure work and find a roommate able to accommodate for me. the only help i'll need now is with physically moving everything /j

thank you all from the bottom of my heart to those that offered work, offered housing, donated, or otherwise shared this post. i couldn't have done it without the concentrated effort of everyone that brought awareness to this <3

The Dragon's Dogma 2 drama has been unyielding - whether it's outrage over misconceptions about its monetization strategy, anger at its "lazy developers only including one save file," or the Dragonsplague being a "game breaking mechanic" by players half-paying attention to tutorial prompts, every single thing I have heard about the game from The Discourse has been negative. Heated. Aghast that such a product would have the audacity to exist.

And yet playing the game I find it's more or less exactly what I expected - a poorly optimized but otherwise sprawling title that merges both Japanese and Western traditions of CRPGs with an engagingly deep combat system, lots of actual expressive space, a ton of work on its Pawn NPC system, and a lot of friction that pushes back against players in the best possible way. It's not without its flaws and frustrations (good lord, the framerate hit in Vernwroth. And if I have to hear about how my entire adventuring party is women one more time I'm gonna lose it). But, broadly speaking, I'm having a wonderful time with it. It's surprised and delighted me several times over the few hours I've explored its world.

Which is weird, right? The discourse is nothing but how much this game sucks, but it's all pretty thoroughly disconnected from whether the game is any good or not.

The idea that a team was allowed to more or less make a game based on a specific vision and not made to soften edges or deviate wildly in order to cater to or capture the coveted Mass Audience is, to the Discourse, preposterous.

"This game is not for me, and thus it is bad," goes the Discourse, not bothering to interrogate why the game might be intentionally designed to be the way it is. "This game does not respect my time and money," the Discourse grouses, as if they have no control over where they spend their leisure. It is a Bad Thing, a Failure of Design, if a game does not entertain the Discourse.

Never will it enter the Discourse's mind that the game was perhaps made for a different audience.