I actually had success once with a campaign where I gave the players pre-generated backstories. There were two reasons I think it worked - first, the backstories were very light on detail; more like “character hooks” that allowed (and encouraged) lots of improvisation and filling in blanks. So it gave them a bit of…

Boo.

I’d never suggest we get it perfect, because we’ve got some major issues at home. But I think there are a lot of ways we’re demonstrably more progressive than a lot of the world. It’s important that we never let ourselves off the hook and work to prevent hypocrisy at home, but it’s equally important we don’t lose…

And nobody’s saying Japan can’t make this kind of pervy nonsense. The article only said the author (and others) are tired of seeing it. That’s all. This isn’t a censorship thing, it’s a “can we please have a little variety for a change” thing.

On some points, sure. Live and let live. On others, I don’t care what your cultural heritage is - you’re wrong. The American South used cultural heritage to defend slavery, they were wrong. Religious groups use tradition to defend the subjugation of women and minority groups, and they’re also wrong. When we’re talking…

So, are you as concerned about the proliferation of violence in games in our society, then?

Fictional characters are a reflection of our society. We write the world we want to see, or the world as we see it. If a society’s fiction tends to portray characters a certain kind of way, it says that society tends to see its citizens a certain kind of way. So it isn’t at all a stretch to look at one as a proxy of…

I disagree. Sure, some stuff falls under “live and let live.” Probably a lot of it. But there are things that are just wrong and no amount of cultural heritage can defend. The sexualization of minors, the abuse of women, the mistreatment of minorities - if a country is engaged in this kind of shit, I don’t care how…

Same. Took me 3 reads to see it the way he meant it to be seen.

THANK YOU, HERO.

DA2 is the best DA game and one of my top 5 Bioware games of all time. It’s a fascinating sort of litmus test for gamers; why they liked or hated it tells you a lot about why they play games at all.

I want to imagine that this sequence of pics tells a story. It starts with the guy in the capsule touching down with his robot, and continues with his journey across the strange world he’s landed on, and how his life changes and grows after being stranded. Ending with him having found more humans and starting a…

This game looks so cool and so much fun, like the game I’ve wanted since I was a kid. And now it arrives, and I haven’t got enough money to afford it, enough time to invest playing it, or enough friends with said money and time to play with. My heart breaks.

Starred for FFVI. I will always star for FFVI references.

I’m torn. Classically, I have to say Final Fantasy VI. Every track has such movement to it, the melodies so perfectly matched to the characters and moments they represent. It’s full of peaks and valleys, and works as well with a full, booming orchestra as it does played quietly on a solo piano.

I’m always amazed at how much time I’ve logged into these games only to continue sucking so bad. You’d think that eventually I’d get good just by sheer repetition, but no. Maybe if I’d pick easier characters to be my favorites— Guile is one hard SOB to learn, man.

I’m right with you. I need the narrative to keep me invested and have never found an open world game where the central plot is strong enough to keep me focused and excited about moving forward. People say Witcher 3 hits that spot, but I have a hard time believing the hype.

You’re in good company with me. DA2 was my favorite of the series, also because of the deep, rich cast of characters. It fumbled in a couple spots, but I think it generally shows all the best parts of what makes the DA world so fun to explore.

I don’t know... in my experience, open world games are mostly about repetitive busywork. Collect this, craft that, go from here to there for me - the fun doesn’t seem to be about what you do but about what hijinks you get up to along the way. Which is fine if you like the sandbox, but I prefer my games to be very…