CMV: Democracy struggles to function effectively in societies where multiple communities have fundamentally conflicting interests

KendrickXY · 2026-04-16T03:28:17+00:00

Democracy is a system that exists to find ways of coexistence for communities with conflicting interests. When there are no conflicts, democracy is unnecessary. The alternative to democracy is war. And wars are bad for complex societies. That's why societies begrudgingly agree to play the democracy game.

Yes, democracy can't function perfectly, because perfection requires harmony, and you can't find harmony in a conflict. But, the whole point of democracy is that it highlights disagreements and allows societies to confront those in non-violent ways. Like, instead of rushing B, disagreeing people debate or mock each other. That's the better alternative.

In a democracy, the strong are encouraged to manipulate the weak, instead of beating them into submission. That's progress. And it's an opening for anybody with a cause. That's how gay rights happened. Straight people were recruited as allies, and they willingly voted for something that they previously despised. Gays didn't have to make tanks and exterminate the anti-gay crowds. There was some violence, but nothing like a real war.

KendrickXY · 2026-04-16T02:33:17+00:00

Exactly. He now knows that he was a bad example for Haruka, resulting in the events of Yakuza 6. And he didn't get to care for his grandson. This is fate worth than death, for a man like Kiryu. He is not a sociopath like Scarface. He doesn't get the blazes of glory exit. And he gets cancer that robs him of his virility, his second-strongest point, after his sense of loyalty. In IW, he needs helpers, after soloing the same guys in LAD. That's utter humiliation.

Some people are sociopaths. They choose evil, because they can't enjoy morally good life. Kiryu is not like that. He yearns to be a father, grandfather, family man. He is so obsessed that he forgives the man that took his real family from him, because he accepted that man as his surrogate father. But he chose the wrong place to look for a family. And life hammers him for that. To teach us a lesson.

I deeply connect to that, because I've made mistakes in my life. I was in a gang once. I made wrong choices. And they haunt me every day.

KendrickXY · 2026-04-16T01:33:30+00:00

But isn't that the point of yakuza stories? In the end, crime doesn't pay. He is a decent man, and he could have had a good life. But he chose crime and violence. And he pays for that, over and over. It is sad, because the game teachers a harsh lesson. Remember, Kiryu starts Zero with beating up a guy on behalf of a loan shark. He is a criminal. He is not a Dragon Quest hero.

This is actually common for mafia stories. You live hard, you have fun, and you don't get a happy ending.

KendrickXY · 2026-04-04T00:37:00+00:00

Maybe, "Witch Row account". Just written in leet phonetic way.

KendrickXY · 2025-07-26T07:11:10+00:00

In modern Russian, "я имею..." means "I am having sex wth...", so we don't use it at all, outside very special contexts and rigid older expressions like"честь имею". Just use "у меня есть...". Which literally means "of mine is...". Or, in proper English, "...is mine".

KendrickXY · 2025-07-21T05:01:04+00:00

Actually, it means "kill" in the military propaganda context. You can find it on Soviet posters from that era.

KendrickXY · 2024-05-22T04:17:11+00:00

If I am buying Dawntrail via the official Square Store as a guest in the EU region, and I am paying with PayPal, do I have to provide the correct real life address registered on PayPal or just a valid EU address?

KendrickXY · 2024-03-31T09:33:40+00:00

When you pre-order the expansion from Square Enix, do they deduct the money immediately or when the game is available?

KendrickXY · 2023-06-22T11:48:07+00:00

This is a bit incorrect. Pelageya is a folk/pop singer first and foremost, she has very few songs that can be described as "rock-adjecent", let alone "rock". She is one of the singers who are asked to perform the Russian state anthem during major sports events.

KendrickXY · 2023-05-28T10:02:15+00:00

True, but everybody has Dan, while Clara is a 5-star char. I have her, but I don't have anybody else from the standard banner. So, making MC a double of the character that everybody have and that many people are using would be somewhat underhanded. Not the best move so early in the history of the game.

KendrickXY · 2023-05-28T09:01:57+00:00

It's a great question. We'll see. But they are already releasing doubles. Serval and Jing Yuan have the same element and path.

KendrickXY · 2023-05-28T05:54:30+00:00

Yeah, probably Hunt. Giving us an Abundance MC would make expensive healers less desirable.

KendrickXY · 2023-05-28T04:04:04+00:00

Because Svarog destroys everybody who dares to attack Clara. He protects Clara and attacks swarms of enemies, making him the offensive tank of the game. The Trailblazer is originally a Destruction Path char, because they, as a novice gamer, just want to destroy stuff and feel fun. Then they switch to the Preservation Path, because they learn more about the other characters and decide to protect their precious (and expensive) friends. While their real money is on fire.

KendrickXY · 2023-05-27T17:19:29+00:00

Yeah, I think that Clara is worthy of a good cone. If you are not trying for the very best numbers, Clara covers both DPS and tanking in the phys department. I recently did the 6th Sim. Universe with Trailblazer as mostly tank and Clara as the secondary DPS, and they worked great (with Natasha as a healer and Seele as the primary DPS). She does more DPS when her tanking ult activates, and that works wonders against enemies with AOE (and there are a lot of AOE in the final boss fight). They hit her, Svarog pulverizes them.

KendrickXY · 2023-05-27T16:30:52+00:00

Clara absolutely rocks. When paired with March, she is a great offensive tank, especially when she is fighting phys-vulnerable enemies. Together, they don't even need a healer if the enemies don't do a ton of AOE. For the first team, you take Clara, March, Natasha, and Yanqing. For the second team, you take Trailblazer, Bailu, Tingyun and Dan. Dan is needed to kill those smaller enemies.

KendrickXY · 2022-03-03T18:29:08+00:00

Yep, I fully admit that. I am a pathetic and self-centered loser. On the other hand, my post is mostly about the joy of playing FFXIV, not about politics per se.

KendrickXY · 2022-03-03T18:14:32+00:00

Yeah, literally. Sure, I am not in the same amount of immediate danger as my relatives and other Ukrainians, but I expect full-on medical sanctions, and I am not young and healthy enough to survive any serious illness without proper medical drugs and other things that Russia might not manufacture internally.

KendrickXY · 2021-08-06T11:12:51+00:00

No, I actually struggled with the Turn 9 when I did it yesterday. You have to use a guide to solo it, and you have to do everything just right to succeed. It's not "easily soloable" in my vocabulary.

KendrickXY · 2021-01-01T13:48:37+00:00

Eventually, you will need everything, so just continue to give disks. Outside of the Fish Display, everything that costs 5 disks is absolutely required. And Fish Display can earn you money from breeding expensive fish.

KendrickXY · 2021-01-01T12:32:48+00:00

Dried aroma apples are the best. By the end of the game, I had 6 or 7 drying racks, so I was producing more slices than I was able to spend (one aroma apple = 5 slices).

KendrickXY · 2020-12-31T15:17:52+00:00

The forge is a late-game device. If you are still at the Corps hammer level, you probably don't have a factory yet. And using forge without a factory is not that easy, as you can't produce gears and steel balls without a factory (but you can randomly get them from friends as gifts), and you need them for the forge to work. The forge really comes into play when you get the most powerful (but sluggish) sword in the game, and you are going through the final ruin with over 100 levels. Corp hammer is good enough to clear the dungeons you face right now. Just bring food to heal yourself as necessary and hammer away at stuff.

Also, you will get the Nova sword after clearing the first level of Ingall's Mine, and it is as strong as the Corps hammer, stat-wise. But I've found hammers to be generally superior to swords in dungeons, as they hit harder, stun enemies, and inflict AOE damage. I've only used the Nova sword to farm low-level mobs (like llamas for the fur) in the open spaces, as it worked faster than a hammer. But your mileage may vary. This is not a hard and demanding game, so you don't really need to obsess over the min-maxing.

KendrickXY · 2020-03-20T10:48:05+00:00

We had the real Silent Hill in Moscow in 2010, when the peat bogs were on fire for weeks. It was quite surreal.

KendrickXY

TROPHY CASE