this is the right answer. I got apples and I’m not super thrilled with apples but... that just means I won’t be upset about uprooting a bunch of apple trees. 

I hear you on this one. Though I do think one problem is that when you grow up to be a BAMF, very fit older lady the chances are very high that you were a similarly BAMF, very *fit* younger lady. So if you make her young, it’d be hard to avoid having her be sexyish. Still, taking a step back--Blizzard has some issues…

In this case, Sylvain is one of the oldest students at 20 and Byleth is 21. I think Lysithea is the youngest, at 15? 

Yes, it 100% is. I buy the theory that the time skip was added just to ‘de-creep-ify’ the romance, because it makes no sense otherwise--it really doesn’t sound like enough has happened during Byleth’s absence to fill five years. 

YES THIS. I play on handheld and the little advice note game in the chapel would be my FAVORITE part of the whole game if it weren’t for the fact that the text is so small and the timer is tight and I’m always afraid it will run out before I can read the whole question.

They last more than four months. I’ve had my switch for a year & replaced my joycons in February because the first set broke (some user error at least: I dropped the thing about 18 inches and the bumper broke.). They’re already nearly unusable because of drift. I’ve never had an XBox controller fail on me like this.

Lays out a story from all these hints I’ve been hearing for the past year or so and it just breaks my heart. DA is my favorite video game franchise and this whole article is tragic, if not surprising.

I remember it all so clearly. I saw a Humble Bundle with like 8 games and only 3 of them ran on a Mac but it was less than $20 so I thought, “Eh, ok. I’ll try this.”

Gave you a star because I, too, enjoyed Noah Caldwell-Gervais’s video about Fallout 76. He did a great overview of No Man’s Sky, too. And of Andromeda. He’s good at giving a thoughtful take on games that no one else wants to be thoughtful about. 

Interesting comparisons. I think DA:2 is a great game. It’s pretty fun to play, the story has some of the best PACING I’ve ever seen in a video game, the characters are insanely memorable.

I’d argue that fear of failure is one reason why AAA games are so lackluster. You filter out some duds but you also filter out some gems. 

For various reasons (mostly: I’m a girl), Bioshock Infinite was the first video game I played after a 20+ year break, like I went from Super Mario 3 to Bioshock Infinite, so my memories of it are really good. I was so impressed. I had no idea video games could be so beautiful or interesting. And yeah, the first hour…

I was mulling over a comment comparing Anthem to Warframe, and what makes Warframe work where Anthem doesn’t seem to (haven’t played it because I can’t), and my first thought was: Well, Warframe has more problems but it also has so many distinctive, unique elements.

I find it really baffling that what started out as, “Bioware needs to get its gameplay up to the same level as it’s storytelling,” seems to have ended as, “Bioware has now ditched great storytelling in favor of mildly improved gameplay.” 

This has a ring of truth to it. Ouch.

As someone who’s been playing a lot of Warframe: it is a COOL game and it has all these neat, wacky elements that make it worthwhile, but it has technical/gameplay issues that dwarf the ones causing scandals for Anthem.

You’re one of the small handful of writers here where if I see your name on the byline, I’ll click through—whether or not I’m interested in the subject of the article. Also I miss Fave This.

But Samoas are great cookies. 

Plus almost all the leads from 1-3 have quit and moved on to other things. 

I started mourning a while ago. It’s so sad. I really, really love the Dragon Age games. I think they’re master classes in good conflict.

Some of it probably does come down to demographics. I do think it’s interesting that visual porn seems to *primarily* be targeted to het men and written porn seems to *primarily* be targeted to het women—both markets are pretty vast and profitable. A lot of video porn conventions are ported over to book porn, so…