This is the second time I’ve seen right wing talking points associated with this game and it’s so pathetic to try and use that to cover over your middling review scores. I mean, you run a business. If you’re not going to self-reflect on why your product didn’t do as well as you thought, not sure you’re being honest with yourself on why your product failed. That same thinking would have been present in the design and development process, preventing their product from ever getting any better. One of those reasons companies even pay lip service to DEI: it genuinely brings fresh perspectives and refines your art and product.

Anyway, I even liked this game. It’s honestly pretty fun and the zombie hordes are relatively unique for the genre. The main character isn’t some right-wing asshole and even comes off as pretty empathetic and kind, if I remember correctly. It just came out at a time of open world oversaturation and played into almost every trope of the time. I think if it came out today, (and they managed to not show their ass online) it would do a lot better. As usual, the right-wing malding is weird on top of being gross and unnecessary.

It’s newsweek so probably not, unfortunately. They reference a single Unilever focus group of Hispanic/Latino undecideds. Not sure that’s enough to justify this title at all.

It’s going to be a real spectacle watching what happens to these agencies. This is going to open the floodgates for SCOTUS cases. They’re gonna be mighty busy dismantling it all next year.

Everyone here wants ranked choice. It’s just not simple to pass. I do highly recommend that those who are able should push for a ballot initiative in their state and/or campaign for the issue. Do you have any links or resources for those who might be looking to get engaged further in those state-level efforts?

This is so far beyond salmon fishing. This is going to weaken every executive agency we have severely. Congress is broken and they’re never going to give piecemeal explicit authority to these agencies for comprehensive work. The EPA, the FTC, the FCC, the SEC, the ATF. They’re all damaged and weakened by today’s ruling and thus so is our environment, our economy, our utilities, and our regulations. This was the conservative wet dream ruling above almost any other this session. This was the Dobbs-style meat thrown to the educated, more lawful evil Republicans.

Please vote, so we can nominate justices to the Supreme Court. Please help us add another Sotomayor or Jackson instead of an Alito, Thomas, or at this rate, Cannon. Not feeling hopeful right now, but I have to ask.

We really need an amendment or two around medical care. However, the same problem preventing that is what is causing the need in the first place: Republicans in national and state legislatures. The judiciary sucks right now, but it’s really not their job to do anything but evaluate whether this is constitutional and it likely is (in a post-Dobbs world). I’d love to see the right to privacy ruling come back, but that’s not happening. All of those assumptions can be changed with dedicated, long-term strategic voting and a bit of luck with justice health. Please vote.

Edit: Somebody replied and I have you blocked. Just don’t want you to have to wait for a response. Lemmy should really just hide my comments from you so we don’t run into this issue, but such is life.

All they have to do is redefine “establishment”. That’s child’s play for this court.

To be fair, this was the case in my secular(-ish) public school as well and I believe it was there until the early 2000s. The catholic church has many sins (which Squid did a great job laying out above), but I don’t think they, as a group, endorse the concept of corporal punishment like they do with anti-choice practices or the rampant pedophilia. That’s a cultural issue with certain regions of the US.

People really don’t understand how many players there are who just don’t care about this stuff. They get none of the gamer rage, they don’t check reddit or lemmy, they’re not watching Twitter to see what the game journos are pissed about. DLC and MTX make buckets of money, even when compared to the profits from most full games, and they’re magnitudes cheaper and easier to develop. They’re not going away as long as they’re bought and they’re going to be bought, I guarantee it. It’s not even a bad thing, per se, as long as the player feels they’ve gotten their money’s worth.

If anyone is looking to return gaming to a pre-“horse armor” state where big DLCs were the only option, you are looking for a fantasy that will never, ever happen. I’ve seen the numbers for some of the orgs I’ve worked for and it’s hilariously skewed toward that stuff. The real answer is to pivot to different games. Embrace indies and games that don’t have MTX. You’re never gonna get the AAAs back in the bottle.

Give me Donkey Kong Country HD you cowards

Not like we aren’t feasting right now anyway. Baldur’s Gate, Pathfinder, Pillars of Eternity, Skald, Wasteland. I would love a Dragon Age spinoff that went back to its roots though.

Thanks for the info! I might check it out then, seeing as you mentioned FC3/4. Not my favorite games but they can be enjoyable when I want to turn my brain off and stealth kill across the land.

I think you’re in luck on your final point. This trailer is for the steam release this week, I think.

Anyone played this enough to compare it to something else? I’ve never seen the movies but I usually don’t mind a generic open world rpg-lite if there’s plenty to do.

There’s nuance in it, for certain, but there is a large contingent of people who play games that find most open worlds boring. I love a big open world, even a lot of the procedurally-generated ones are fine with me when it’s done correctly (looking at you, Starfield 😒). There are myriad options in between there, where it sounds like you might fall as well.

The key is, as you say, making the world in such a way that it drives the core gameplay loop. This is such a bizarre example, but I just played Animal Well recently and I think it’s actually a fantastic example of this. Every area of this large map that you retread over and over again has hidden, intentional elements that clearly drive at the core gameplay loop of “discover secrets everywhere”. It’s also a 7 year passion project not likely to be replicated. I do think though that the lessons can be learned and applied on less intense projects.

Sit down, consider your loop. Why is the player here, having fun with your game? Is it to discover secrets? Hide secrets everywhere. Is it to drive around in a souped up car? Add more space and interesting driving conditions. Is it to kill big enemies? Add huge roaming bosses. I think after that focus is determined, then you should shrink it as much as possible while still fitting into your design constraints.

This is all layman’s conjecture though.

I also love the Hinterlands, but you and I are in the vast minority based on the initial feedback to Inquisition. It was super common to hear “just push past the Hinterlands, it’s so much better afterwards”. Even more generally, I’ve been hearing “why are all the devs making all their games open world for no reason?”

I’m also an open-world junkie because I love exploration. I’m saddened by this design choice, but I do completely understand where it comes from. It can still be done well and I love the lore of Thedas, so I’ll be there to see, I guess.

Edit: Yknow what, fuck it. Let’s just call it. You’re trying to de-escalate and I should let that happen. Have a good one.

hasn’t done really any good.

My partner was able to have a surgery this year she would not have been able to otherwise. She got medications she never would have been able to afford. Sure looks like a bunch of good from over here, but maybe I’m biased. Maybe we can ask them?

Almost everything listed is an executive order. Democrats cannot stop those (other than at the ballot box). Try again. L-A-W. It’s a bill, passed by both chambers of Congress, signed by the president. Like the Affordable Care Act, the Inflation Reduction Act? Can you give me a single one? Hell, I even left the doors wide open to give me the fucking omnibus from each year and you couldn’t even do that. Know why? Because you have no idea how your government works.

Right so you have no idea how our government works. I ask for laws and I get SCOTUS. You view it that way because it is all one big number in your head shifting back and forth, because you have no civics education. It’s sad.

Can you give me an example of a law steam rolled into place by Republicans in the way you describe? Should be easy.

Edit: Any of the downvoting cowards can feel free to chime in with the republican-passed laws that they shoved past the democratic attempts to stop them. I’ll wait!