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Post by BansheeOwnage on Jun 17, 2018 6:19:03 GMT
Warning: The following post contains a rant  Are they ever going to reveal anything about the world it's set in? Still not even clear if it's Earth. What's the story going to be about? Because they keep reassuring us there will be one... Because of its release date, I guess Bioware's going to have to do a lot of marketing outside of gaming events. They revealed a good amount of info apparently. (I havent checked myself because I've been hyping over OTHER GAMES) But I think there's a pretty good sized thread on the BSN that has all the stuff they revealed. I can tell you it's not Earth though. Ah here it is. bsn.boards.net/thread/15097/anthem?page=1Thanks for the link. Hrungr's comment about how "Twitter and other social media are pretty rubbish at this sort of thing" amuses me. Jabbing Bioware for saying we can use those instead of an official forum will never not amuse me. Anyway, I'll spoiler some thoughts.Seems like a demo/beta will be closed, lame. So, the name Anthem comes from "Anthem of Creation", a force that can apparently create planets? Not what I expected. Also annoys the science inside me that's wondering if it also made the sun in that solar system, etc. Because otherwise - Eh, I should just stop there  So it's an alternate reality where humans exist separate from Earth, like Star Wars? Strange. There are no allied aliens... so there are hostile aliens? Seems like the primary enemy are more humans. No microchips? What, are there vacuum tubes like Fallout? Are Javelins magic? Gripping story filled with unique and memorable characters? Right, well, I'll believe it when I see it at this point. “For the critical path … if you do want to play by yourself, you can. We’re not limiting that artificially. But the game itself is built for you and a bunch of friends – because your friends are your companions in this case. That’s the whole point.” Congratulations, Bioware, you've managed to do a complete 180° on one of the biggest draws to your games. And why do you hate people with no friends solo players so much? Not everyone can just summon 3 friends who like the same game on the same platform in a compatible timezone whenever they want, you know. And they shouldn't have to. You have to be online to play  "No Dialogue Options in cutscenes outside of Fort Tarsis." Well at least they apparently exist somewhere, though as previously mentioned, they're minimal even according to the devs. "You cannot solo Strongholds, as well as some other high end content, but you do not need to do strongholds to complete the story." Knew there'd be something you couldn't do alone, like Destiny's Raids. Too bad a bunch of story was in them. "In Co-Op there are no choices in cutscenes. So if a cutscene fires, everyone sees it and it lasts the same length of time for everyone." How does that work? A choice is made automatically? "You will have Character Customization (face & hair) for your Freelancer. However, they put most of their effort into Javelin personalization." So there is a CC? I wonder how extensive. Where will you even see your character, if it's first person in the hub and suited outside it? And you don't see other players in the hub, it's private (which is kind of lame, I liked running into random dance parties in Destiny hubs, lol). Apparently you're already friends with some NPCs? Not great for roleplay. Not that that's a thing in this game anyway. "There is a Breath Meter when underwater." What. There's no way a vacuum-sealed suit like that would possibly have so little air that you'd need to surface after a few seconds, or even minutes. No trading, lame. "Part of the large investment in Anthem is the ability to continue telling new stories for as long as we want. The want roll out more regular updates than the DLCs they typically do."  Since I originally asked about the world and lore of Anthem... From reading, it seems like there isn't much, because the devs want "Mystery!" to be the big thing of the world. Which is okay, if we actually find some stuff out. Otherwise, it's just lazy. "It makes a lot of difference, 90% of the players are male and you identify with the character you play so want to play as a man in most cases, its also very emasculating and unrealistic to play as a woman." *snip* I love all these made up statistics. Okay, first, it seems like these people have never heard of the concept of gender-selection. It doesn't have to be a set female protag. But for these people, I have to admit I'd really prefer it if it was  Secondly... "Emasculating"? I'm sorry, what? That may be the most pathetic argument against female leads I've ever seen (which is saying a lot). I totally get the relatability aspect (I like playing as a woman for that reason), but the rest is just sad. If your sense of masculinity (whatever that even is) is so fragile that it shatters when you so much as control a female character in a videogame, you must not be very masculine to begin with OHSNAP you may need to reevaluate your idea of masculinity... and your life in general. Not to mention there are plenty of men who don't mind or even like playing as women at least sometimes. I mean, who doesn't like variety? Women have variety forced on us no matter how many games we play as women or movies we watch with female leads, of course, due to a massive imbalance. Speaking of which, take a moment to stand in our shoes for once. Seriously. If playing as a woman is that bad for you, how do you think we feel, having to play a vast majority of things as a guy? Lighten up. Of course, it would seem playing as a dude isn't as horrible for us as playing as a woman is for them, but still.
And "unrealistic" to have a female lead? Well, sometimes it does seem like us actually getting one is an unrealistic thing to hope for Okay, jokes aside... Just how is that unrealistic? We... exist. Reality is unrealistic? I'm sure I don't have to explain that the idea that women can't fight is just plain sexist bullcrap, but it gets downright moronic in the context of games like Rage, ironically. You have freaking superpowers, for one thing. Not to mention there are loads of female enemies, so is that unrealistic too? Either it is, and you should be consistent and moan about them too, or they're fine and therefore a female lead is fine. I hate inconsistent people  And of course, no matter what the actual stats are, the number of female players would be higher if it had the option to play as a woman, so that's a terrible argument. It's a bit like saying "Why would we add gay romances when not many gay people play our games?" Well, I think you just answered your own question. TL;DR: Rrraaaagh I feel defeminized when I play a male character! Will the horror never eeeend? /s  |
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Post by Vy on Jun 17, 2018 8:56:49 GMT
Warning: The following post contains a rant *snip*
Woo, Banshee rants!
RE: the first rant As I read over the posted material, I couldn't help but think "Huh, this looks like it could be a pretty solid loot-and-shoot game; I can see why they're excited about it. It's definitely not the sort of thing that made me fall in love with Bioware, though."
RE: gripping story with unique and memorable characters; no dialogue options in cutscenes outside of Fort Tarsis: They also said that they want to be the HBO series of video games. Maybe I'm being unfairly snarky, but I can't help but think "Yeah, that's already been done - it was called Mass Effect and it was fantastic." Also, after MEA, it's no longer a given that a Bioware game will have really good writing - I'm not inclined to take their word for it at this point, especially given how far outside their wheelhouse this type of game is. The way I'm reading it, it sounds like the world state outside of Fort Tarsis is going to be independent of your decisions and be based on you completing a completely linear storyline every season instead of being influenced by choices you've made.
Do we actually know that Javelins are vacuum sealed?
Honestly, "Mystery!" is a really big red flag to me, especially if they plan for many of these mysteries to stay mysterious over the course of Anthem's lifespan; I worry that it'll be like Battlestar Galactica or The X-Files, where it'll become clearer and clearer that the writers didn't actually plan any satisfying reveals from the start and are just winging it. It also doesn't help if the payoff that people have been waiting for since the beginning of the story turns out to be kinda crappy. It does sound like they plan to regularly resolve mysteries and replace them with new ones, so I think it could end up working - for instance, having a "season finale" where they reveal the truth behind ABC, but that raises some questions about XYZ that'll be resolved in the next season. We shall see how it turns out.
Also, is it weird that I'm getting some low-key Bionicle vibes from Anthem's setting?
RE: the second rant "When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression," or so the saying goes. The lack of empathy and self-awareness is kinda astounding. If anything, it really reminds me of Dudley Dursley complaining about getting thirty-six birthday presents instead of thirty-eight and refusing to be satisfied until he's promised thirty-nine, all while Harry's being actively neglected.
More often than not I think the arguments of realism are just attempts to hide prejudice behind a veneer of logic and objectivity. "I'm not being bigoted, I'm just stating facts." Anyway, relevant Expanse gif:  Fun fact: the power-armor-clad space marine in that scene is Gunnery Sergeant Roberta "Bobbie" Draper. She's pretty badass. |
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Post by Sir Drell on Jun 17, 2018 9:06:10 GMT
Yay, all teh gay is on the top ten Yes, but the downer in me can't help but point out that that's only 3 games  It's a miracle that we're even discussing this, and that we know this almost as soon as they were shown off, and that it's some of the biggest games in the industry |
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Post by Rouccoco on Jun 17, 2018 13:51:57 GMT
omg this one wins  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2018 17:39:14 GMT
Dying Light 2 looks good too, I liked first one very much! Another game to wait for 4 me  |
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Post by BansheeOwnage on Jun 18, 2018 3:11:06 GMT
Warning: The following post contains a rant Woo, Banshee rants! RE: the first rant As I read over the posted material, I couldn't help but think "Huh, this looks like it could be a pretty solid loot-and-shoot game; I can see why they're excited about it. It's definitely not the sort of thing that made me fall in love with Bioware, though.
RE: gripping story with unique and memorable characters; no dialogue options in cutscenes outside of Fort Tarsis: They also said that they want to be the HBO series of video games. Maybe I'm being unfairly snarky, but I can't help but think "Yeah, that's already been done - it was called Mass Effect and it was fantastic." Also, after MEA, it's no longer a given that a Bioware game will have really good writing - I'm not inclined to take their word for it at this point, especially given how far outside their wheelhouse this type of game is. The way I'm reading it, it sounds like the world state outside of Fort Tarsis is going to be independent of your decisions and be based on you completing a completely linear storyline every season instead of being influenced by choices you've made.
Do we actually know that Javelins are vacuum sealed?
Honestly, "Mystery!" is a really big red flag to me, especially if they plan for many of these mysteries to stay mysterious over the course of Anthem's lifespan; I worry that it'll be like Battlestar Galactica or The X-Files, where it'll become clearer and clearer that the writers didn't actually plan any satisfying reveals from the start and are just winging it. It also doesn't help if the payoff that people have been waiting for since the beginning of the story turns out to be kinda lame. It does sound like they plan to regularly resolve mysteries and replace them with new ones, so I think it could end up working - for instance, having a "season finale" where they reveal the truth behind ABC, but that raises some questions about XYZ that'll be resolved in the next season. We shall see how it turns out.
Also, is it weird that I'm getting some low-key Bionicle vibes from Anthem's setting?
Glad you enjoy my rants I enjoy yours as well. I don't have much to add, as I pretty much agree with everything. I agree Anthem sounds like a decent game for what it's trying to be. I wonder how enthusiastic Bioware really is about it. I'm not trying to say they aren't, or that they didn't try to make it. But if they did, were they also sick of making RPGs? If they were, I wonder why. Their fanbase sure loved them for their RPGs. I like the snark, it's totally warranted When I read them saying they want or think that Anthem will be the "Bob Dylan" of games, of the "HBO series" of games, I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of pity for them, as well as scoff at that level of confidence in their completely new IP in a genre they've never tried before. Bioware has been known to be overconfident in the past, too, but this seems pretty arrogant. I'm curious about your comment that after ME:A we can't take good writing for granted from Bioware. I don't want to make a huge tangent, but what parts did you think were bad? I'm guessing main story? If so, I agree it wasn't the strongest, but I felt the same about DA:I, actually (at least ME:A had a better ending). Companions in both games were still Bioware-standard for me. For ME:A, having a bunch of rewriting (not necessarily full rewrites, but major over the years of development) combined with a lack of cohesive vision, and therefore enthusiasm for the main story definitely did it no favours. It's a shame. Agree fully about mysteries. Ha, I suppose is a bit like Bionicle, though I haven't known anything about that since I was much younger, ha. Warning: The following post contains a rant RE: the second rant "When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression," or so the saying goes. The lack of empathy and self-awareness is kinda astounding. If anything, it really reminds me of Dudley Dursley complaining about getting thirty-six birthday presents instead of thirty-eight and refusing to be satisfied until he's promised thirty-nine, all while Harry's being actively neglected.
More often than not I think the arguments of realism are just attempts to hide prejudice behind a veneer of logic and objectivity. "I'm not being bigoted, I'm just stating facts." That's a good quote! I shared it with my mom today after reading it, which prompted an interesting conversation about the drawbacks of affirmative action, which, for those who don't know, is basically forced equality. You must have 50% of employees be women, that kind of idea. For context, the newly-elected government in my province is sort of only in power by one "seat". One of their MPs (member of parliament, they hold seats) may resign if he wins an upcoming mayoral election. If that happens, the NDP (current party in power) will have to scramble to find a replacement. Now, none of that is that weird. The thing that makes this rather messy is that mom told me the NDP has an affirmative action policy in place where the replacement would have to be a woman or some kind of minority/marginalized group - disabled, LGBT presumably, etc. Problem for them is they're having a hard time finding anyone who fits the bill, which isn't too surprising considering it's harder for those kinds of people to enter politics in the first place - hence the policy (and they're in the party obviously, but they're all busy). The problem for everyone is if the MP resigns after all, unless they amend their policy or find a replacement, well, the current government may lose power. That would be bad for everyone, but especially people like me since the NDP is pretty left, and we've been stuck with the "Liberal" party for ages, who are conservatives in all but name (long story), and whom I should note are not the same party as the federal Liberals who are currently in power in Canada. Whew, mouthful. Personally, I've never thought affirmative action was a good idea overall. I get the idea, but it's a bit shortsighted. Bottom line is it's still just another form of discrimination. "If you use the enemy's methods, how are you different?" and all that. Slow change is painful, as we're all well aware, but it may be necessary. Anyway, totally agree with the Dudley comparison, haha. And yes, it's an attempt to hide their bigotry. I hate the "I'm just stating facts" argument  So often it's simply not true! They think they're experts, ugh. Anyway, relevant Expanse gif: Fun fact: the power-armor-clad space marine in that scene is Gunnery Sergeant Roberta "Bobbie" Draper. She's pretty badass. Oh, that's funny, I actually thought "I wonder if there's a woman under that armour" when I saw it. Cool Yes, but the downer in me can't help but point out that that's only 3 games It's a miracle that we're even discussing this, and that we know this almost as soon as they were shown off, and that it's some of the biggest games in the industry That's what makes me sad though, that it's a "miracle" to get this far. Still, don't get me wrong, I'm definitely more on the side of positive right now. I'm happy and excited about things changing! And you're right that it's really important to have a few high-profile games be inclusive, as it will encourage others to follow suit, or just plain show it will help sales, not hurt them.
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 18, 2018 4:23:02 GMT
BansheeOwnageThere’s so many things I wanna say to your post but I just woke up so I’ll just reply to this one thing. “the devs want "Mystery!"” because that worked out sooooo well the last time.
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Post by BansheeOwnage on Jun 18, 2018 6:19:36 GMT
BansheeOwnage There’s so many things I wanna say to your post but I just woke up so I’ll just reply to this one thing. “the devs want "Mystery!"” because that worked out sooooo well the last time. Gah, I'm sorry about my overly-long posts!  I know this isn't the first time I've said that to you, either. Yeah... Of course, I wouldn't have minded the mystery if we found out more in DLC and sequels, but... Now we may never know. Either way, I'm convinced they had (and still have) no idea what they wanted the Jaardan to be, or The Opposition, or what their conflict was about. I can feel it. And then there's the Kett, who actually have a surprising amount of info about their Empire outside of Heleus through datapads and secondary mission dialogue, but only enough to warrant further questions. Uh, if you were talking a bout ME:A, that is. If not, ignore meeeeeee |
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Post by Vy on Jun 18, 2018 6:56:52 GMT
Glad you enjoy my rants I enjoy yours as well. I don't have much to add, as I pretty much agree with everything. I agree Anthem sounds like a decent game for what it's trying to be. I wonder how enthusiastic Bioware really is about it. I'm not trying to say they aren't, or that they didn't try to make it. But if they did, were they also sick of making RPGs? If they were, I wonder why. Their fanbase sure loved them for their RPGs. I like the snark, it's totally warranted When I read them saying they want or think that Anthem will be the "Bob Dylan" of games, of the "HBO series" of games, I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of pity for them, as well as scoff at that level of confidence in their completely new IP in a genre they've never tried before. Bioware has been known to be overconfident in the past, too, but this seems pretty arrogant. I'm curious about your comment that after ME:A we can't take good writing for granted from Bioware. I don't want to make a huge tangent, but what parts did you think were bad? I'm guessing main story? If so, I agree it wasn't the strongest, but I felt the same about DA:I, actually (at least ME:A had a better ending). Companions in both games were still Bioware-standard for me. For ME:A, having a bunch of rewriting (not necessarily full rewrites, but major over the years of development) combined with a lack of cohesive vision, and therefore enthusiasm for the main story definitely did it no favours. It's a shame. Agree fully about mysteries. Ha, I suppose is a bit like Bionicle, though I haven't known anything about that since I was much younger, ha.
RE: Bad writing in MEA: I felt incredibly meh about most of MEA's writing, personally, but lukewarm writing is a much bigger issue for an RPG like Mass Effect than it is for most other genres. My biggest issues were with the main story, the worldbuilding, Ryder's dialogue options, and some of the NPC dynamics. I won't go off on too much of a tangent, but I'll just say that it didn't manage to completely capture my attention and imagination in the same way that the original trilogy did, and that was very disappointing.
Kinda off topic, but RE: Bionicle - that franchise had an incredibly shocking reveal about its setting late in its run that was apparently planned from the beginning, and while I disliked a lot about the execution I think the basic idea was awesome.
I won't touch on the concept of affirmative action, because it's not something I know enough about to feel comfortable debating.
Tangentially, I do have some issues with the way "slow change"/"winning hearts and minds" is sometimes framed by members of majority groups, especially when questioning the need for anti-discrimination policy and legislation when the ultimate goal should be changing peoples' hearts and minds. MLK Jr. said it well: "Certainly, if the problem is to be solved then in the final sense, hearts must be changed. Religion and education must play a great role in changing the heart. But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also." Of course, this also goes both ways - people are often quick to assume civil rights victories spell the end of bigotry and that there's nothing to complain about anymore; this is where we see the idea that people in the US stopped being sexist and racist after the Civil Rights Act, that they stopped being homophobic after Obergefell v. Hodges, etc. It's exhausting to talk to people about IRL. BansheeOwnage There’s so many things I wanna say to your post but I just woke up so I’ll just reply to this one thing. “the devs want "Mystery!"” because that worked out sooooo well the last time. That's the problem with mystery stories. When you set up a mystery that's central to your story, you make a couple of promises to your audience: that the mystery will eventually be solved, and that the payoff will be worth the wait. I hope they don't string out any central mysteries too long, because when you do that you kinda increase the risk that a) your story will be cut short before you get a chance to resolve it or b) the people who stay with the story long enough to see the big reveal will be underwhelmed. A bad or lackluster reveal at the end of a "season" isn't as disappointing as a reveal that's been built up for years.
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 18, 2018 11:01:46 GMT
BansheeOwnage There’s so many things I wanna say to your post but I just woke up so I’ll just reply to this one thing. “the devs want "Mystery!"” because that worked out sooooo well the last time. Gah, I'm sorry about my overly-long posts! I know this isn't the first time I've said that to you, either. Yeah... Of course, I wouldn't have minded the mystery if we found out more in DLC and sequels, but... Now we may never know. Either way, I'm convinced they had (and still have) no idea what they wanted the Jaardan to be, or The Opposition, or what their conflict was about. I can feel it. And then there's the Kett, who actually have a surprising amount of info about their Empire outside of Heleus through datapads and secondary mission dialogue, but only enough to warrant further questions. Uh, if you were talking a bout ME:A, that is. If not, ignore meeeeeee It's okay haha. I was talking about MEA but less about the plot (so tangentially related), more of the marketing (also I have no idea what you're talking about because I never finished the game). I was talking about MEA's marketing and how they were all "mystery" and finding out for yourself (esp the romance) drama that was really just a cover up for how much they actually didn't have/couldn't deliver. (And also DAI plotwise but you know) |
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Post by Rouccoco on Jun 18, 2018 12:41:40 GMT
That would be bad for everyone, but especially people like me since the NDP is pretty left, and we've been stuck with the "Liberal" party for ages, who are conservatives in all but name (long story), and whom I should note are not the same party as the federal Liberals who are currently in power in Canada. Are the Liberals actually a centre-right party, at least on some levels? I might be confused with all the super far right politics that Europe and the US have been dabbling in, in that case even Harper seems moderate. But I thought that in practice NDP and the Liberals are both liberal, centre-left, or left parties. I've been searching for tests and whatnot, and I'm always for the NDP the most, but the Liberals and the Greens are always pretty close. Or is the federal level party so different? Also, which one is more liberal, BC or Ontario? Because I've read conflicting things. |
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Post by Rouccoco on Jun 18, 2018 14:02:01 GMT
More memes, because I'm still shook 
After MEA and Anthem any company has equal footing to claiming the LGBT crown, which is sad, because I thought BW would only get better.
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Post by Davrin's boobs on Jun 18, 2018 14:12:52 GMT
biowgur was found dead in a ditch
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Post by Sir Drell on Jun 18, 2018 14:15:44 GMT
More memes, because I'm still shook
After MEA and Anthem any company has equal footing to claiming the LGBT crown, which is sad, because I thought BW would only get better.
I can actually picture Jason Momoa being in the game, as one of the gods of course  |
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Post by BansheeOwnage on Jun 18, 2018 22:31:18 GMT
Do we actually know that Javelins are vacuum sealed? I totally forgot to respond to this, oops. Even though it happened to be the first thing I read in your post. I actually thought about it before writing what I did, but came to the conclusion that it would be odd to say the least if they the suits weren't. The seamless transition between flight and diving underwater may not technically necessitate being pressurized, but it would be quite awkward to simply hold one's breath instead of relying an an internal air supply. Water getting into the helmet would also mean you'd need to wear goggles under it. It would also allow for insulation (they mentioned extreme cold as potential emergent weather), and prevent the suit systems from being exposed to water or other complications. If that's a factor, that is, since there are apparently no microchips - who knows how the suits work?
Glad you enjoy my rants I enjoy yours as well. I'm curious about your comment that after ME:A we can't take good writing for granted from Bioware. I don't want to make a huge tangent, but what parts did you think were bad? I'm guessing main story? If so, I agree it wasn't the strongest, but I felt the same about DA:I, actually (at least ME:A had a better ending). Companions in both games were still Bioware-standard for me.
For ME:A, having a bunch of rewriting (not necessarily full rewrites, but major over the years of development) combined with a lack of cohesive vision, and therefore enthusiasm for the main story definitely did it no favours. It's a shame.
RE: Bad writing in MEA: I felt incredibly meh about most of MEA's writing, personally, but lukewarm writing is a much bigger issue for an RPG like Mass Effect than it is for most other genres. My biggest issues were with the main story, the worldbuilding, Ryder's dialogue options, and some of the NPC dynamics. I won't go off on too much of a tangent, but I'll just say that it didn't manage to completely capture my attention and imagination in the same way that the original trilogy did, and that was very disappointing.
Ryder's dialogue options were certainly a low point of the game for me, just because you had so few options even when it wasn't autodialogue. Unforgivable for an RPG in my opinion, and one of the worst flaws of the game. The actual content of the dialogue was hit and miss, but that's not uncommon. Although, the highs were pretty high while the lows were pretty low, which is a weird situation. Curious about the NPC dynamics you're referring to.
My main problem with the worldbuilding was basically everything about the Exiles. Everything from the inconsistency about how many there are to you finding out after-the-fact that the Angara had first contact with them before your "big" moment, which weakens it substantially both retroactively and on any other playthroughs. And there's the "Cryo making them unstable" plotline that's simultaneously an excuse for so many terrible people getting into the Initiative, yet is completely ignored outside of the sidequest it's brought up in. No major NPCs were affected by it - hell, apparently no one but the Exiles were, which... What? I should just stop there.
Kinda off topic, but RE: Bionicle - that franchise had an incredibly shocking reveal about its setting late in its run that was apparently planned from the beginning, and while I disliked a lot about the execution I think the basic idea was awesome. Somehow I knew it would be a "On the back of a space tortoise" type thing, ha. I find the diagram a little confusing, though. Are the circle-areas sub-"terranean"? Creepy Knowhere continent is creepy.
That's a good quote! I shared it with my mom today after reading it, which prompted an interesting conversation about the drawbacks of affirmative action, which, for those who don't know, is basically forced equality. You must have 50% of employees be women, that kind of idea. *snip* I won't touch on the concept of affirmative action, because it's not something I know enough about to feel comfortable debating.
Tangentially, I do have some issues with the way "slow change"/"winning hearts and minds" is sometimes framed by members of majority groups, especially when questioning the need for anti-discrimination policy and legislation when the ultimate goal should be changing peoples' hearts and minds. MLK Jr. said it well: "Certainly, if the problem is to be solved then in the final sense, hearts must be changed. Religion and education must play a great role in changing the heart. But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also." Of course, this also goes both ways - people are often quick to assume civil rights victories spell the end of bigotry and that there's nothing to complain about anymore; this is where we see the idea that people in the US stopped being sexist and racist after the Civil Rights Act, that they stopped being homophobic after Obergefell v. Hodges, etc. It's exhausting to talk to people about IRL. MLK is totally right, of course. I hope I didn't give the wrong impression from my comment about slow change. What I meant by it was what MLK said, that hearts must be swayed for these problems to be fixed - as fixed as they'll ever be, anyway. And that takes time, unfortunately. I wasn't trying to say we shouldn't also have progressive policies and legislation, etc. Just in case it wasn't clear. Agreed that it's exhausting, and I've barely even had to do it (in person, which is more nerve-wracking for me and I'm also less eloquent and forget things, yay).
Gah, I'm sorry about my overly-long posts! I know this isn't the first time I've said that to you, either. Yeah... Of course, I wouldn't have minded the mystery if we found out more in DLC and sequels, but... Now we may never know. Either way, I'm convinced they had (and still have) no idea what they wanted the Jaardan to be, or The Opposition, or what their conflict was about. I can feel it. And then there's the Kett, who actually have a surprising amount of info about their Empire outside of Heleus through datapads and secondary mission dialogue, but only enough to warrant further questions. Uh, if you were talking a bout ME:A, that is. If not, ignore meeeeeee It's okay haha. I was talking about MEA but less about the plot (so tangentially related), more of the marketing (also I have no idea what you're talking about because I never finished the game). I was talking about MEA's marketing and how they were all "mystery" and finding out for yourself (esp the romance) drama that was really just a cover up for how much they actually didn't have/couldn't deliver. (And also DAI plotwise but you know) Ah, yes, their meta-mystery was certainly no fun... Especially since it wasn't a mystery for everyone Yeah, I'm sure you're right that it wasn't just them being oblivious, but that they actively ignored and mislead us to cover up the state of LGBT stuff in the game until launch, hoping as many people as possible would just get the game. Quite pathetic. They should never have had to cover anything up, they should have been proud to show off their equal options for all. We will need to demand nothing less if and when DA4 rolls around.
That would be bad for everyone, but especially people like me since the NDP is pretty left, and we've been stuck with the "Liberal" party for ages, who are conservatives in all but name (long story), and whom I should note are not the same party as the federal Liberals who are currently in power in Canada. Are the Liberals actually a centre-right party, at least on some levels? I might be confused with all the super far right politics that Europe and the US have been dabbling in, in that case even Harper seems moderate. But I thought that in practice NDP and the Liberals are both liberal, centre-left, or left parties. I've been searching for tests and whatnot, and I'm always for the NDP the most, but the Liberals and the Greens are always pretty close. Or is the federal level party so different? Also, which one is more liberal, BC or Ontario? Because I've read conflicting things. Don't worry, your assessment is accurate if you're talking about those parties at a federal level. But yes, the federal level parties can be quite different, so your assessment is still mostly true at a provincial level, but not 100%. Provincial parties with the same names do not always share policies with their other provincial counterparts nor their federal counterparts. That's why it can be confusing. What I was trying to say was that the federal Liberals don't have a provincial branch here in any sense, but we do have a completely unrelated party who go by the name "B.C. Liberals". They're a centre-right party that merged with the more conservative Social Credit party a few decades ago, hence the misleading name. Whereas the NDP in BC are basically the same as their federal kin (and as a strange example, the "NDP" in our neighbouring province of Alberta is more right-wing for some reason and are currently not getting along with BC's NDP). Hope that clears things up! Ha. You know, I'm not sure if I'd say Ontario or BC is more liberal. They seem like the two most liberal provinces though, but you probably knew that. I know Ontario has spearheaded certain progressive reforms in education, for instance, but I don't know much else, sorry. I feel like they may be a bit ahead in healthcare policies, but don't take my word for that. They were the first province to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2003, as a note. That's not to say BC doesn't have nice things, but I don't keep too up-to-date.
Ontario did just elect an absolute tosspot of a conservative douche, though, while BC currently has the NDP in power, which it hasn't been in a while. As far as the near-future goes, BC seems like a better prospect.
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Post by Crimson on Jun 19, 2018 0:37:32 GMT
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lilyena
The Beastmaster
Posts: 685 
Likes: 3,235
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Post by lilyena on Jun 19, 2018 0:48:26 GMT
EA - We Are Fucking Shit HAAAAHAAAAA!!! I love it. It's true though. C&C mobile game? Ugh. Also what he said about the Anthem presentation. So true. |
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carcer
Grizzled Warrior
Posts: 84
Likes: 331
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Post by carcer on Jun 19, 2018 7:33:36 GMT
This was funny. I only watched the Sony and the Bethesda conferences. Sony I only watched for Cyberpunk 2077, I didn't really pay attention to what else they presented because I don't own a console and just didn't care. The Bethesda conference was... well. Fallout 76 was supposed to be the highlight, and it was at first. But the more Howard revealed about the game, the more subdued the cheers. And all they had after that was a mobile game... Perhaps they thought Fallout 76 will be better received. Why they thought that though is beyond me... As for Starfield and ES6, they didn't have ANYTHING to show. That was just a way to say "we haven't forgotten these games, they are still on the table, here's some pretty art that may or may not have something to do with those games". Lame. |
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Post by Vy on Jun 19, 2018 7:58:31 GMT
Kinda off topic, but RE: Bionicle - that franchise had an incredibly shocking reveal about its setting late in its run that was apparently planned from the beginning, and while I disliked a lot about the execution I think the basic idea was awesome. Somehow I knew it would be a "On the back of a space tortoise" type thing, ha. I find the diagram a little confusing, though. Are the circle-areas sub-"terranean"? Creepy Knowhere continent is creepy.
Basically, almost the entire franchise takes place on, around, and inside a giant robot that crashed on a water planet. Those subterranean areas are inside the robot, such as inside its skull or chest cavity. The term "Bionicle" is a portmanteau of "Biological Chronicle" - most of the characters are like cells or nanomachines filling biological functions for this giant robot. The Toa, for example, are like its immune system. Here are some more illustrations.   I really wish that Ryder could get angrier or harsher with people - I would've played a very renegade Ryder if I'd been allowed to, given how some of the characters behave. For instance, I would have put my foot down hard about PeeBee doing research on mysterious alien robot tech without her being completely transparent with the rest of the crew (especially technicians like Gil, Suvi, and Kallo); it's like they were begging for a repeat of the Alarei incident from Tali's loyalty mission. Of course, it also weirded me out how everybody seemed completely okay with getting an AI connection implanted in their head; most of the MEA characters had some very different assumptions and biases regarding AI than most of the OT cast did.
My main complaints about the NPC dynamics are, in short, that the Tempest crew (mainly the party) got along a little too well too early on given some of their clashing character traits while the Nexus command staff got along too poorly for me to care about any of them except Kandros. This is mainly a complaint about the main story, but I also wish that there had been a more concrete goal from the beginning that all of the party members were emotionally invested in beyond just "let's go explore and build colonies so that we don't all starve." With the exception of Wrex, ME1 did this very well - and even Wrex was directly connected to the main plot by way of the Shadow Broker/Fist/Saren debacle.
That was my biggest worldbuilding complaint too - I was very disappointed that Ryder was rarely the first on the scene and that so much happened offscreen in the months before the Hyperion arrived. The Nexus Uprising, for instance, could've been a dramatic twist in the first or second act, after first contact and after a setback or two pushes some frustrated factions to attempt a mutiny/coup - heck, deciding whether the rebels had a point or not and acting accordingly could've been a major decision point, like saving or killing the Rachni queen. Not that I'd consider myself an expert, but if there's one good thing about growing up as a member of a minority group, it's learning how to choose your battles and when it's worth standing your ground. |
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Post by Rouccoco on Jun 19, 2018 11:29:51 GMT
BansheeOwnage Thanks for the info, good to know that about BC  though it is slightly confusing, why'd the party would allow that, seems bad to have regional branches that contradict their views...
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Are they ever going to reveal anything about the world it's set in? Still not even clear if it's Earth. What's the story going to be about? Because they keep reassuring us there will be one... Because of its release date, I guess Bioware's going to have to do a lot of marketing outside of gaming events.
"No Dialogue Options in cutscenes outside of Fort Tarsis." Well at least they apparently exist somewhere, though as previously mentioned, they're minimal even according to the devs.
So often it's simply not true! They think they're experts, ugh.
I know this isn't the first time I've said that to you, either.
though it is slightly confusing, why'd the party would allow that, seems bad to have regional branches that contradict their views...
Much love right back at ya!
