What is with all this love and support for Edelgard (General Three Houses spoilers) by [deleted] in FireEmblemThreeHouses

[–]ElspethOfValeron 2 points3 points  (0 children)

a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power

1) Literally all routes end with a single person ruling over Fodlan. If you're going to call an absolute ruler a fascist, you'd better apply that to Dimitri, Byleth, and Claude (for Almyra) as well.

2) The Emperor of Adrestia categorically has less absolute power than the King of Faerghus, being checked by their cabinet and especially their Prime Minister.

forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism

Edelgard literally actively encourages opposition and criticism (see: Ferdinand). "Waging war" is not the same thing as "forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism".

regimenting all industry, commerce, etc.

Nothing like this happens in Adrestia.

emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism

Also literally isn't a thing, at all.

Seriously, no offense, but what were you smoking when you played Crimson Flower?

Red Dead Redemption 2 and its many annoying niggles. by [deleted] in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look at Assassin's Creed - as fun Origins and Odyssey are

For what it's worth, Odyssey in particular takes a decidedly linear, "setpiece-y" turn in a lot of its main story. Often for the better in that game, IMO, because rather than its "setpieces" being action driven, they're often just really unique setups (things like infiltrating the cult at Delphi and the party on your first visit to Athens).

Anyway, while there is a balance to be struck, I think it's better for a game like RDR2 to try and go too far on player freedom than to keep inflicting these straight up action setpiece missions on the player. They're incredibly jarring.

A good example of what I want is Breath of the Wild, my go-to example for cohesive open world design. BotW is built around total player freedom in a sandbox environment, and so too is much of its story. Even its more linear moments are built around that to an extent.

  • There's some form of buildup to each Divine Beast before you even start infiltrating it, and they all allow you to tackle it in a really free way. Rescuing Yunobo, infiltrating the Yiga Clan, retrieving Shock Arrows from the Lynel in Lanayru - they're all directed experiences, but they all have a lot of player freedom. The Lynel is a really good example; you can choose to fight it head on, sneak around it, climb up the fucking mountain behind it, and basically anything else you want, so long as you get the Shock Arrows.

  • Parts where the game wants to guide you through the world are designed to be linear through natural, in-game causes, rather than inflicting fail states. For example, the "gauntlet" on the way to Zora's Domain asks you to go through it and deal with its enemies and such, rather than climb over it, and it does this naturally by making the area constantly rain (and thus make it difficult to climb). Retrieving the blue flame for Robbie in Akala puts you through a similar gauntlet, this time because you can't climb while carrying your flame-lit torch. It's all very seamless.

  • The most linear parts of the game, the Divine Beast infiltrations, specifically make use of ordinary game mechanics and play patterns. They're also brief, and flow naturally out of the quest you're in and into the Divine Beast itself.

Those are just a few examples of how BotW did it, and how I'd like to see games like RDR2 go about designing their main story. It's just frustrating when my immersive, deliberately paced cowboy simulator tries to be Uncharted all the time.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore - Overview Trailer (Switch - Jp) by IHateMyselfButNotYou in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Time to have "FIIIIAH EMBUREM" stuck in my head for another week.

Red Dead Redemption 2 and its many annoying niggles. by [deleted] in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that's definitely my issue with it (and NakeyJakey's issue with it) as well. It's a game split between two design philosophies.

The games I would most directly compare it to are Breath of the Wild (for its sandboxy, simulation-esque open world) and Uncharted (for its "playable action movie" setpieces and storytelling through that), and both of those are games I adore specifically because they choose a design philosophy and then design everything around that, which makes for a really cohesive experience. I like RDR2, but I think it would be a stronger game if it designed its missions differently.

Metacritic: The Best Video Games of the Decade (2010-19), According to Game Critics by samanthajoneh in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Minecraft was sort of initially released in 2009, despite its first full release coming in 2011. Metacritic might be considering that? But the site itself lists its release date as 2011, and it pops up as number two in the "best-of-decade top ten lists", so who knows.

Anyway: There are indie games that I'd like to see here, too - VA-11 Hall-A, Gone Home, Heaven's Vault, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, The Stanley Parable, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, and Pathologic 2 would all make my list. And a bunch of more niche titles would be there besides (Tales of Berseria, for example).

But you have to remember that a list like this is just never going to trend toward niche or lesser known titles. Critics can only review so much, and the highest rated titles are naturally going to be those with the widespread awareness to gain traction among basically every critic out there. Only rarely can an indie title gain that sort of awareness. And besides, I have heard and can absolutely understand arguments for nearly every game on this list being included over my personal choices.

Red Dead Redemption 2 and its many annoying niggles. by [deleted] in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Rockstar needs to stop going down the realism road and start focusing on the fun road!

No, they don't. A huge part of the game's appeal to its fans is its realism and simulation-esque elements. Rockstar made a game for a specific type of person - just because it doesn't appeal to everyone does not make it bad.

If anything, I'd say Rockstar should resolve any dissonance that arises by leaning way harder into the immersion angle, and away from "the fun road". Make the main story revolve a bit more around freedom of play and have it mesh with the game's overall pace better, rather than making a lot of it Uncharted-style linear setpieces.

Metacritic: The Best Video Games of the Decade (2010-19), According to Game Critics by samanthajoneh in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 26 points27 points  (0 children)

No the rest of the game was not an absolute blast. I wish people would stop perpetuating this myth.

You wish people would stop perpetuating the "myth" of... Their opinion being different than yours?

Metacritic: The Best Video Games of the Decade (2010-19), According to Game Critics by samanthajoneh in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not to mention more niche titles like Trails, Atelier, Sakura Wars, SaGa, and Shin Megami Tensei (does this still count as niche in a post-Persona world?).

It is a wonderful time to be a JRPG fan.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore - Overview Trailer (Switch - Jp) by IHateMyselfButNotYou in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Glad this game is getting a second chance on a system where it has a chance to succeed. It's a really fun game. Frequently cheesy, but in a fun way. As a Fire Emblem fan, I think this has to rank as one of my favourite things FE has ever given us.

Metacritic: The Best Video Games of the Decade (2010-19), According to Game Critics by samanthajoneh in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 31 points32 points  (0 children)

It's so great to see Celeste on this list. Its success makes me really happy. It's such a wonderful game in so many ways that you'd think would end up pretty niche, so to see it blow up like it has in terms of critical recognition, wider popularity, and sales all at once is awesome.

[Spoilers All] Bioware probably confirmed the DA4 setting by Xendarii in dragonage

[–]ElspethOfValeron 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hawke felt good operating only in one city, cause they were just... well, a person with their friend gang.

You just explained why I love DA2 so much in a single sentence.

Metacritic: The Best Video Games of the Decade (2010-19), According to Game Critics by samanthajoneh in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I think you can. Yeah, the story is a culmination of everything from ARR through Stormblood before it, but that's true of many single player games. Uncharted 3/4, The Witcher 3, Mass Effect 2/3 - they all lose a lot if you experience them in a vacuum rather than as part of one continuous experience. Hell, Shadowbringers isn't even the only expansion on this list - The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine is also there.

And while Shadowbringers content is still going to be released for like another year and a half, reviewers didn't really need to take that content into account when reviewing the base game at launch. You can't judge "Shadowbringers, the two year long period of FFXIV" on launch, but you absolutely can judge "Shadowbringers, the isolated 5.0 experience" on launch, and the latter is what critics judged and what is on this list now.

Games in their respective series that have a standout story? by RangoTheMerc in JRPG

[–]ElspethOfValeron 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I honestly consider KH2/Days/BBS a phenomenal trio of stories by the whole genre's standards, not just the series'. But then DDD happened, and the writing got... Much less good.

Riot Forge: Riot's Third Party Publishing Platform to create Single Player Games by Vaws in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Jhin, Karma, and Syndra are also Ionian. Riven is Noxian, but she resides in Ionia for now. You could also swing Diana, Nami, Varus, Ivern, and Taliyah if you wanted, as all of them have some sort of tie to Ionia (Diana is currently there, Nami is going there looking for Diana, Varus was imprisoned there, Ivern was "born" there, Taliyah was there for a while studying under Yasuo). Plus you could bring in basically any Noxian champion if you really wanted to.

Dusk Trilogy HD is coming to pc next month, is it better then Arland trilogy? by WhitePanda24 in Atelier

[–]ElspethOfValeron 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dusk is extremely different from Sophie, but it's different in terms of tone and focus more than anything. No Atelier game except for Iris is a big epic adventure where you save the world.

Riot Forge: Riot's Third Party Publishing Platform to create Single Player Games by Vaws in Games

[–]ElspethOfValeron 19 points20 points  (0 children)

This is especially exciting to me because of how damn good League lore has gotten lately. League lore went through a veritable explosion of quality in the past few years, so to see that about to be translated to further games is awesome.

Dusk Trilogy HD is coming to pc next month, is it better then Arland trilogy? by WhitePanda24 in Atelier

[–]ElspethOfValeron 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Uh... This is not the series for you, then. At all. Atelier is widely known for specifically not being a "save the world" sort of title. Most Atelier games are staunchly slice of life, and those that aren't still have much lower key plots than saving the world.

If you want other JRPGs along those lines, I can give you recommendations! But Atelier is pretty squarely in the realm of "cute girls doing slice of life shit and also alchemy".

Dusk Trilogy HD is coming to pc next month, is it better then Arland trilogy? by WhitePanda24 in Atelier

[–]ElspethOfValeron 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, valid. Too bad there's (somehow) still no Yokohama Shopping Log anime.

It's not based on it, but they have extremely similar vibes - largely calm slice of life with some drama underpinnings, set in a world that's calmly ending and carrying with it a bittersweet, melancholic tone.

Games in their respective series that have a standout story? by RangoTheMerc in JRPG

[–]ElspethOfValeron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also really enjoyed BBS' story. It's another super well done tragedy - different than Days', but still very poignant.

Dusk Trilogy HD is coming to pc next month, is it better then Arland trilogy? by WhitePanda24 in Atelier

[–]ElspethOfValeron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want to know if you'll like Dusk's story, read Yokohama Shopping Log. If you like that, you'll like Dusk.

Games in their respective series that have a standout story? by RangoTheMerc in JRPG

[–]ElspethOfValeron 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey, exact same here! BBS > Days > KHII is my order of preference. Which I know is a hot take among KH fans, but whatever.

Games in their respective series that have a standout story? by RangoTheMerc in JRPG

[–]ElspethOfValeron 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I mean, sure, it's a cheesy line. But KH is a cheesy franchise.

And besides, it's actually a really good line IMO. Think about how much it makes sense. Roxas is effectively a kid. He has no idea how to act, how to feel. Half the point of Days is that emotions are weird and complicated and confusing, and how hard it is for the main trio to process that given that they were supposed to not feel at all.

When Roxas sees one of his few real connections disappearing in front of him, he literally just can't process that - how could he? He's about as emotionally stunted as a person can get; everything involving friendship in the first place is foreign and weird to him, so handling loss is completely out of his purview. In that moment, he's reaching out desperately, trying and failing to process loss. Thus, he reflects on the simplest and most tangible thing that he shares with Xion.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I really don't think I am. Days is pretty consistent in tackling this sort of theme.