As I said: Nostalgia has me in a stranglehold, that’s the only reason why Oblivion Remastered was first on my list. I had a craving for Oblivion again; Clair Obscur being priced reasonably means I can buy it this payday! Though, I will finish Jedi: Survivor before starting a full playthrough of Clair Obscur.

I can’t wait…Though I got a backlog of games that currently are in progress, so I won’t be playing Clair Obscur immediately. Modern games are simply hit or miss, if it’s made by a big studio…Often it’s a blueprint of what’s trended a few years ago because games are so much bigger, it takes a while to make them.

I feel Indie devs have the most freedom to do something unique, interesting, and fresh without super long development times. I’ve been choosing to play cozy or indie games as of late because a lot of the mainstream games haven’t caught my attention too. Hell, right now I’m playing Oblivion Remastered, and it’s got me in a stranglehold of nostalgia. It’s basically the same game but with a prettier aesthetic (there are some graphical issues that need resolving due to the quirks of Unreal 5). Nothing that Bethesda would be able to produce today that’s a right mix of banal, goofy, lore heavy, and fun.

Yeah, when I was watching Valhalla I noticed the strangeness of the narrative…They did try something different, making each region a self-contained story. The pacing wasn’t terrible either, it’s just that they didn’t try hard enough to make certain areas of the game better. That’s what hurt Valhalla in my opinion, the wealth of very average writing; the fact they had smaller mysteries could’ve been awesome had it been better executed. Ironically, that’s similar to how Odyssey handles the cult; you don’t figure out the leader until the post game, after killing cultists who weren’t part of the main story. I feel Valhalla’s story structure was inspired by Odyssey, most regions have their own self-contained story that connects to the overarching story. Except Valhalla goes for smaller mysteries in place of the overwhelming amount of Side Quest that Odyssey has (still not finished with half of them, thankfully they can be done post game).

I feel the modern world story should be handled with a bit of care, to make that a particularly memorable experience. Going out with a bang is better than ending on a whimper. Walking sims aren’t bad in their own right, but Ubisoft wouldn’t let a writing and dev team handle it with the care it needs (not until they figure out why Larian Studios is so beloved).

That’s why I fault Ubisoft itself…The developer team is only as good as Ubisoft allows their devs to be. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a breakout hit, as that is an example of a dev team that is free from the oppressive weight of a corporation. I’m going to be buying Clair Obscur because I want to send a message that more games from their team would be appreciated!

AC Origins was a return to form for them, since the Brotherhood days (great story, glitchy climbing and parkour). They trusted that their main historical protagonist would thrive, so the story they told was solid. AC Odyssey had issues because they didn’t trust in Cassandra being the historical MC; Alexios felt like an added on character because they thought a female lead wouldn’t sell well. The more recent games were mid because the narratives felt kinda messy; I watched a play through of Valhalla in parts it wasn’t great, Mirage had a lukewarm response, and AC Shadows had some writing issues (two MCs go from having beef to suddenly trusting one another two hours in). Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed team has fallen asleep at the wheel, the storytelling isn’t quite up to snuff with the latest games.

I feel the modern world story should’ve been resolved, as it interferes with quasi historically accurate storyline (one can only approximate in these situations, we will never have the full truth as it’s lost to time). The modern world story has dragged on for far too long and needs to be put to rest; we need a game set purely in the modern era, to resolve what is happening. I’d love to see AC games that spin into exploring approximated history, without the burden of a world ending in slow-motion…

If only Ubisoft actually cared.

Larian Games is one of the few that actually care about their games enough to assemble a team for making coherent stories!

EA or Ubisoft could never, even though their bottom lines would be improved by making games with compelling stories.

GenAI is the line in the sand for me, as that is merely a step towards pushing creatives out of creative fields. While Krafton C-Suite executives may say they get their data directly from preexisting data from devs; I’m not particularly trusting of those who implement GenAI in their games.

I’m going to focus on Paralives and Vivaland as those seem more interesting in my opinion.

I lost hope for that game because they use GenAI to power to create a character, clothing, furniture color/pattern customization. I won’t play a game that utilizes GenAI, as base requirements are increased, GenAI is a security hazard, and it has a damaging effect on the environment. The fact that InZOI requires a constant internet connection as well due to the game’s reliance on GenAI.

It would’ve been interesting, given that Rod Humble wanted to create a fully fleshed out base game…The DLC for Life By You likely would’ve been merely outfits, additional hairs made post launch, and possibly furniture/architecture style sets that could be priced at a reasonable rate. Meaning more players would’ve bought it and those funds would be reinvested in the game for more work to be done! The mod support would’ve been nice for those that want it; I often don’t care for mods (Prepare Carefully, for Rimworld is one of the few that I adore). This situation is truly vexing because the Life Sim scene needs a well funded direct competitor to The Sims that isn’t afraid to make a coherent and interesting Simulation game; one that is built with an engine that actual works and in-depth gameplay! The loss of Life By You will irk me for years to come.

Honestly, I kind of miss the idea of what “Life By You” could’ve been, as it had the game designer for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 behind it. That game could’ve been a return to form and an actual threat to EA’s watered down and extremely pricey Sims Slop. If only the team Rod Humble had assembled were able to gel their concept into a reality, with Paradox’s backing, could’ve created something magical. Alas, it was not to be…I still imagine the potential for player driven storytelling that Life By You was offering!

ROFL That’s a stupid choice, but Sony is free to make it. I hope they don’t sell any units at an increased price!

I agree with his points about the $80 dollar games not being a sustainable price point, especially in places like Australia or Brazil which suffer from higher game prices! This is a stupid move on the part of Nintendo…It’s made me rethink buying their Switch 2 as a result. I will wait and see if they have a moment of clarity which derails this bad decision. If they don’t, I hope the market slaps them in the face and buys games that are reasonably priced!

I’m sticking with Linux due to the bullshit that Microsoft is constantly pulling. Currently, my PC is running Fedora 41, and I love it quite a bit; currently I can’t imagine a future where I return to Windows 11. Proton Compatibility Layer makes gaming on any distro fairly easy!

This to me is an unhinged situation to begin with…People do weird things when turned on by the idea of doing something they perhaps should not. Discussion of a cop committing suicide might have not been strong enough to overcome a possible desire to send the video, that is merely a guess. There’s nothing that I could do to prove it, as this is merely a gut feeling of mine based on the information. I still feel that if you intend to send lewd media of self or others, confirming who will be receiving it is something that you verify first. As it leads to fewer problems in life.

Personally, I’ve only sent videos that I’ve intended. Typos, sure that’s understandable as autocorrect can be a true bastard at the worst moments; after reading the article, something about the situation makes me wonder if he intentionally sent this video and was hoping for a different response after she received his wank video. It’s hard to accidentally send lewd content to another person if you are being diligent about checking if you’ve selected the right recipient (always verify the receiver before sending lewd content). Good for the City Attorney for calling this man out on this alleged mistake.

It seems like an interesting response to Scrapper Bots gathering data for their training models. It would likely poison those models if enough people adopted the use of typoglycemia and varied it consistently. I’d love to see that happen!

ROFL Irony is lost on some, so this is not at all surprising.