Yeah this gringo lives in flyoveristan and thinks Taco Bell is mexican.

I like your point and agree, but

Except it actually is worse than those previous games in every way except visually. They completely removed exploration from the formula this time for starters.

Seriously, thanks for this comment.  I’ve been on the fence about Starfield, now think I’m going to forgo it for a while.  I know Bethesda games are not the most story/character driven game (I’ll play DA:O or ME if I want that), but I love Bethesda games (notably Skyrim) just because of the joy of exploring and…

Harder to play and also just significantly less joyful. Menuing is not exploration. There is no “ooh whats that over there” impulse except when you’re literally within cities. Something is either placed directly on your lap, or you have to just pick a location from a menu and hope there might be something interesting…

Uhh, no? Dragon Age is a created character and isn’t like this, Baldur’s Gate can be a created character and isn’t like this, every other CRPG from Obsidian/inExile is a created character and isn’t like this. I can’t think of created characters RPG from anyone that are this cookie cutter lifeless except for every…

You mean you need more advertising than that?? I’m sold!

Frankly, the same could be said for whoever was bothered by the original art - it’s a weird way to think.

and buffalo wings are made of buffalo, dammit!

This is a really great take on it. I’ve been feeling like I’m being gaslit constantly whenever I express my disinterest in FFXVI even if I give the argument “Hey the demo didn’t impress me so I’m going to wait until it’s either heavily discounted or free on PS+.”

My disappointment in the direction the series has been…

Well said overall. I’m perfectly fine with people loving FFXVI, more power to them, but this odd assertion that this was a natural turn for the franchise, one seen coming based on previous games evolution over the decades, just doesn’t track.

JFC i’m so tired of people trying to convince me this is final fantasy 

I like football. If I go to an NFL game and they play Curling, that’s the issue.

I am way less annoyed by FFXVI becoming an action game than I am about so many people asserting that Final Fantasy games have always been about reinvention. Maybe that’s true in terms of setting & narrative (and I would argue you’d have to really stretch the idea of what narrative “reinvention” means in an anthology…

No one is claiming they’re repainting the Mono Lisa here. But video games are still media and I want to approach all of it with the same level of respect.

Never played this, nor do I really care about fighting games at all. But I am a little uncomfortable with the sanitization of deliberately provocative media. It’s a transparently fetishistic fighting game, I’m not sure what face you’re saving here. That said, at least it seems it was the developers of the game…

Oh, boy, I know someone who would’ve loved this :’(

...They went with the same name as a South Park joke from years ago?

Bugs.

the No Man’s Sky comparisons are starting to feel extremely apt