Tali'Thread vas Clan Zorah nar BSN 6.0

[Alienmorph]

My point was that I am not waiting to play a new Mass Effect my 4th decade of life, after having been strung along the entirety of my 3rd decade, and most of my 2nd.

Agreed. As I said, I think BW is kind of done, at least when it comes to story-driven stuff, since all their authors worth a damn have fled the building after ME3.

[TTTX]

Agreed. As I said, I think BW is kind of done, at least when it comes to story-driven stuff, since all their authors worth a damn have fled the building after ME3.

Well Obsidian and CD project red seems to be the kings of the RPG studios for the moment anyway.

[Alienmorph]

Well, I do hope someone else manages to create a more good "space opera RPGs" eventually. There's a lot a good devtem and a creative writer can do with that. I just don't think it's gonna have the Mass Effect name attached to it, at this point.

[Vol]

I'm not quite as cynical about the future of vidya, which is contrasted against other areas where my cynicism is edgier than a <very edgy thing.> The current "fad" will need to pass before we get the kinds of games/stories we adore again though. The imagination and creativity exists, but it's smothered.

So yeah, our late 40s, Mass Effect will be great again. Odd way to put these titles into context, but hey. Might end up working on it for all we know.

I prefer single player games with strong stories, and the latter is rare enough in literature, doubly so in video games, so I suppose it's a case of self-sabotaging tastes.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TOoIrsgtjI

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJQZIJB_m7M

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYCTvuu1mNk

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNTCb8N8yz4

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FbF7cypUTY

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqb8DQpNHiM

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Frdtlbyang

[TTTX]

I'm not quite as cynical about the future of vidya, which is contrasted against other areas where my cynicism is edgier than a <very edgy thing.> The current "fad" will need to pass before we get the kinds of games/stories we adore again though. The imagination and creativity exists, but it's smothered.

So yeah, our late 40s, Mass Effect will be great again. Odd way to put these titles into context, but hey. Might end up working on it for all we know.

I prefer single player games with strong stories, and the latter is rare enough in literature, doubly so in video games, so I suppose it's a case of self-sabotaging tastes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEM5hW6BMJA

[Alienmorph]

So yeah, our late 40s, Mass Effect will be great again. Odd way to put these titles into context, but hey. Might end up working on it for all we know.

In general, I think pop culture as a whole won't start recover before we're in our 40+. The whole current year (more like current decade) situation has a few parallels with the big wave of censorships, fuckups and call for political correctness that went on in the US in the late 40s and 50s, and started to die out in only the 60s.

Now... wheter BW will be there still ten or so years from now, remains to be seen. One of the reasons there was a reversal of the bad trend, was that many companies went down under (especially comics and magazines, but not just there) and thus there was room for new things in the ecosystem. So I do remain kind of optimistic in the long term, but I expect to see a lot of things I liked, and the companies making them, going the way of the dodo before my hairs finish to fall off.

[Dragaros]

[Mazder]

Only thing I am excited about for that game is more Hera.

[Mazder]

Painted this today from my collection of "random models I found on eBay so I'll use them for practice".

[SciFlyBoy]

I found this 20 minutes from my house.

Maybe I should check it out since I never hear you guys stop talking about it. 2 or 3 forums users can't be wrong.

[Vol]

Got a better hand for edging than I do no less. How're the prices for random figures? Only ones I've ever bought through eBay were the Juan Diaz daemonettes.

I found this 20 minutes from my house.
Maybe I should check it out since I never hear you guys stop talking about it. 2 or 3 forums users can't be wrong.

Ah, man, I miss local gaming stores. Used to love going to mine as a wee lad, looking up at all the older nerds with awe in my eyes. You go there, Sci, you go there and live that little piece of our childhoods we can't get back!

(Or just see what's cool.)

[SciFlyBoy]

I wish I could nerd out either there or at the comic book store across the city. They have table top games on Wednesdays last I checked. They just weren't my past time. Never did much nerd things as a kid that involved other kids.

Once this covid is over I think I should start playing some sort of group game.

[Mazder]

Got a better hand for edging than I do no less. How're the prices for random figures? Only ones I've ever bought through eBay were the Juan Diaz daemonettes.

I usually go for something which has either a bunch of stuff that was ignored in bidding, like it's a few figures and some arms or something, that I usually don't go higher than £7 on if I can help it, £20 is the max I go to if it's A LOT of stuff.
I have seen single random figures go for the £2 - £6 range for basic figures.
The price for the expensive ones fluctuates a lot more.

Hopefully once this covid shit is over my friend can teach me resin casting so I can make multiple of done figures, or parts of figures.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEVctuQTeaI

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYuNkNJUyeA

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_wK_4RPog0

[Mazder]

So, for anyone who plays Elite Dangerous something cool has been done in the latest update for Fleet Carriers.
We may have taken another step to finding RAXXLA.

This Reddit post shows how by using the ability to "buy" Cartographic/Shipping information from a system if you're docked at a station in a nearby system you can get info on what is in that system.
Now the forum goes into much better detail explaining it but I just thought it was a cool idea.

Also there is a player group event going on where some players are trying to raise the influence of the in-game faction The Dark Wheel towards Sol, where there is a spare faction slot that is never filled/locked out. They surmise that maybe it's The Dark Wheel that's supposed to be in there to trigger more of the RAXXLA mystery.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7vtGNdUfog

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItMyDKh6XNg

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIyz_7Hz3U4

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CZIube4rw

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSc17QXxfyU

[TTTX]

► Show Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGhIGJfln7w

Here is video that spoils the Last of US 2 with the ending and such.

It basically confirms the leaks are true.

[Alienmorph]

In the game apparently there's also...

► Show Spoiler

... a VERY explicit sex scene between Abby (who also is apparently NOT the transgender character of the game, just very a masculine-looking strong independent whaman trope) and a guy who looks quite a bit suspiciously like Niel Druckmann himself, although people are more split about that last detail, and it might just be a case of folks reaching out for things to point and laugh at.

Remember... this is Sony, the company censoring anime boobies left and right because "think of the childreeeen!" and getting phraised by media for it. Yet the same media outlets give this "dark and realistic" game perfect 10/10 scores despite it being more sexually explicit than most non-hentai things out there. Gotta love me some hypocrites lol

[Deano]

Major potentially leaked spoiler below, I just need someone to confirm whether it's true as it's stopping me buying the game.

Double warning, don't open the tags if you don't want it potentially spoiled.

► Show Spoiler

Do you play as this Abby character for the 2nd half of the game after Abby kills Joel?

[Sinekein]

The thing about that censorship from Sony is that the issue comes not from the boobs, but from their owners. Who look very much like they are not of legal age to be put in obviously fetishizing situations. That's the same reason Nintendo removed the face-rubbing from FE:Fates (but sadly they did not remove the awful clothes design from the characters - thankfully, Three Houses proved you could make a very good Fire Emblem game on a new console with characters that are dressed like they are going to war instead of Comic Con).

TLOU2 has a sex scene between two adults. So it's quite easy to understand where the line has been drawn really.

Now, apparently, that sex scene is an incredibly obvious self-insert by the game creator, and that deserves to be ridiculed to no end. Especially as there are pieces of lore in the game that also looks like Druckmann had a field day with inserting himself as a Great Guy™ in this universe.

Warning: below are big game spoilers.

► Show Spoiler

I've read a summary of the story since I haven't played Ep 1 and don't plan on buying a console and/or to play Ep 2. I assume the outrage came from the reverse-fridging of Joel (who dies to give Ellie pain) but aside from the irony of it, as an outsider who hasn't played the games it looks to me like this death makes sense, as it's a character who has finished his main story arc in the first game already. If you want Ellie to be the main character, it's hard to have that pathologically overprotective figure always looking over her, so from a Doylist standpoint it sounds logical.

Now the other issue was the announcement of a trans character which some big brains immediately identified, but they were wrong. So that's outrage culture at work, moving on.

At the very least, TLOU seems ambitious in its writing decisions. Now it might be clumsy, I don't know, but how many games actually try to dramatically shift the point of view like it does? And not in a "actually some geth are nice" way which has been done and redone, but in having you actually get some first-person experience through the eyes of someone that you see as a pure antagonist.

I am pretty sure we are going to see once again a split between people who have a very strong emotional attachment to VG characters, and those who don't. Kind of like Mass Effect all over again in a way. I realize that ten years ago I might be among those who blame TLOU2 for shafting someone I felt like I knew well, but that I don't feel like I still relate like this to VG heroes (with The Witcher 3 being the notable exception).

Also for above: yeah.

[Deano]

Also for above: yeah.

Ah so sad, I loved the first game but I just can't get on board with that. I think it's an idiotic decision for them to make.

[Deano]

EA just did a video in their EA Play (which has no play so far) which pushed their own product using the social movements which are popular at the moment.

It felt so corporate and scummy, classic EA.

[TTTX]

The thing about that censorship from Sony is that the issue comes not from the boobs, but from their owners. Who look very much like they are not of legal age to be put in obviously fetishizing situations. That's the same reason Nintendo removed the face-rubbing from FE:Fates (but sadly they did not remove the awful clothes design from the characters - thankfully, Three Houses proved you could make a very good Fire Emblem game on a new console with characters that are dressed like they are going to war instead of Comic Con).

ehh I think it also comes from the fact that Sony change their gaming headquarters to the USA where the political views on certain things have been very heated in a decade or so.

and I'm not going to expand on it as well we would have to go to the political thread and I have don't have the energy to argue/discuss how it most likely have influenced Sony's censorship.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J207tMmSGAo

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCcfJ9uEwvs

[SciFlyBoy]

So, for anyone who plays Elite Dangerous something cool has been done in the latest update for Fleet Carriers.
We may have taken another step to finding RAXXLA.

This Reddit post shows how by using the ability to "buy" Cartographic/Shipping information from a system if you're docked at a station in a nearby system you can get info on what is in that system.
Now the forum goes into much better detail explaining it but I just thought it was a cool idea.

Also there is a player group event going on where some players are trying to raise the influence of the in-game faction The Dark Wheel towards Sol, where there is a spare faction slot that is never filled/locked out. They surmise that maybe it's The Dark Wheel that's supposed to be in there to trigger more of the RAXXLA mystery.

Do I find out what RAXXLA is in game?

[Mazder]

So, for anyone who plays Elite Dangerous something cool has been done in the latest update for Fleet Carriers.
We may have taken another step to finding RAXXLA.

This Reddit post shows how by using the ability to "buy" Cartographic/Shipping information from a system if you're docked at a station in a nearby system you can get info on what is in that system.
Now the forum goes into much better detail explaining it but I just thought it was a cool idea.

Also there is a player group event going on where some players are trying to raise the influence of the in-game faction The Dark Wheel towards Sol, where there is a spare faction slot that is never filled/locked out. They surmise that maybe it's The Dark Wheel that's supposed to be in there to trigger more of the RAXXLA mystery.

Do I find out what RAXXLA is in game?

This stream will give you a base knowledge on RAXXLA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMvxb9Y8mXo

There should also be some mention of it in the Codex.

[Alienmorph]

The thing about that censorship from Sony is that the issue comes not from the boobs, but from their owners. Who look very much like they are not of legal age to be put in obviously fetishizing situations. That's the same reason Nintendo removed the face-rubbing from FE:Fates (but sadly they did not remove the awful clothes design from the characters - thankfully, Three Houses proved you could make a very good Fire Emblem game on a new console with characters that are dressed like they are going to war instead of Comic Con).

ehh I think it also comes from the fact that Sony change their gaming headquarters to the USA where the political views on certain things have been very heated in a decade or so.

and I'm not going to expand on it as well we would have to go to the political thread and I have don't have the energy to argue/discuss how it most likely have influenced Sony's censorship.

Also there's this bullshit trend where the people advocating for censorship of japanese things like to pretend that every female anime or anime-y character is underage.

I don't remember Trish from DMC being a 14 years old for example, yet...

[Sinekein]

Yeah but I mean sometimes...

Also there has been Japan-exclusive censorship too, even though it's violence and not boobs that has been toned down. It's mostly a cultural issue.

Honestly, cutting lewd content of young-looking characters does not bother me, I do think Japan has a real problem with the fetishization of young girls (and boys to a degree) and I won't be sad if it fails to propagate in the West. Censoring butts and boobs of adult characters is dumb, although I daresay it does not originate from European culture.

[TheodoricFriede]

To me this all just goes to show that Video Games are not art, and never were.

I used to argue that games were art. I dont anymore. They are a corporate product. They are a toy. They conform to censorship because their purpose isnt artistic, it is to sell as many units to as many of the lowest common denominator as possible.

[Alienmorph]

Yeah but I mean sometimes...

Yes, there is such thing as going too far, and Japan has mastered walking on the hedge of that. But I don't trust Corporate America and a bunch social-media addicted elitists to be the ones who decide what is allowed and what isn't.

To me this all just goes to show that Video Games are not art, and never were.

I used to argue that games were art. I dont anymore. They are a corporate product. They are a toy. They conform to censorship because their purpose isnt artistic, it is to sell as many units to as many of the lowest common denominator as possible.

Considering movies, animates shows, comics and pretty much everything else are also bending the knee, I say that's a pretty inconclusive argument. There certainly are games that are just corporate money machines, but there's also a fair few that can have some artistic value... it's just they won't often be big AAA console sellers.

If anything it shows how much of modern culture and pop culture has been bought out and is kept around just to exploit it for as long as possible. Which is worse in many ways, but at the same time doesn't preclude the possibility for things to still be creatively and artistically-driven, it just makes them harder to stand out.

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Alienmorph]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IusgvCxk11A

Ah the wonders of modding...

[Vol]

Honestly, cutting lewd content of young-looking characters does not bother me, I do think Japan has a real problem with the fetishization of young girls (and boys to a degree) and I won't be sad if it fails to propagate in the West. Censoring butts and boobs of adult characters is dumb, although I daresay it does not originate from European culture.

As has been explained to me, though I cannot corroborate, high school and to an extent college are the last time Japanese people get to enjoy themselves before the crushing grind of their adult lives takes over. Which is why anime/manga are pretty uniformly about high school or younger characters, and youth is so idealized. As opposed to the west, where childhood extends well past grey hairs coming in.

[Sinekein]

Even if there is a part of that, from what I hear the issue stems mostly from the difficulty to create emotional bonds in the japanese society, where you get more and more lonely young men and women who prove incapable to create lasting relationships (romantic or otherwise). Which stunts their emotional maturity and locks them into their teenage years even when they're well past it. The problem is not only male, there is a similar issue with fetishizing young boys (shotacon I think?), but that does not export as well so it is less obvious for Westerners.