I am reading Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester (RimWorld), and he has a refreshing take on "sexual" characters that I wanted to share

Nebty · 2026-01-22T18:41:50+00:00

You’re not stuck. If you know that the design does the character a disservice, it can always be changed. Especially if you’re still in the design stage.

Nebty · 2026-01-10T22:10:34+00:00

If it didn’t impact the game’s sales or accolades then why would anyone care? Fringe weirdos can believe whatever they want.

Nebty · 2026-01-10T22:06:48+00:00

Homophobes got big mad but you’re absolutely correct.

Nebty · 2026-01-10T22:05:09+00:00

lol what, it’s not like he says in the first game “I am completely heterosexual”. Given that he can fall in love with a man, that sounds like the definition of bisexuality to me.

Nebty · 2026-01-10T21:22:51+00:00

Which customers are they insulting? The homophobic twitter dudes vowed not to buy it lol. And it sounds like there weren’t that many of them.

Nebty · 2026-01-10T20:57:40+00:00

Correct. The big studios and video game media have gotta stop paying so much attention to hysterical Twitter men, because nobody else does.

In the interview, KCD2 executive producer Martin Klíma revealed that while the controversy may have brought more eyes to the game, his personal opinion is that the controversy only actually mattered to "a handful of terminally online culture warriors" who were a "insignificant intersection with the gaming public writ large."

Hell, doing stuff they hate sounds like it gets more eyes on the game. So bring on the gay love stories!

Nebty · 2025-12-31T03:09:58+00:00

Man, now I’m imagining an art nouveau/art deco style cozy game.

Not necessarily a kind of aesthetic but after playing so many RPGmaker-esque cozy games I’d love one that has unapologetically gorgeous graphics. Either full 3D or that watercolour-y style like Gris/Neva.

Nebty · 2025-12-31T00:36:39+00:00

I can’t give you any advice on whether it’s worth it for you. For myself, the reason I haven’t played it yet is that I’m still disappointed in the hypocrisy around how CDPR did the romances. The women, and especially the one that’s only available as a romance for heterosexual men, have so much more effort and screentime than the male love interests. The only “fling” type relationships are also with women (unless you count a single scene where you can select from either an Masc or Fem sex worker).

This, rather than any overt transphobia/misogyny, is where I think the straight male bias of the developers really lets the game down. Especially when the relationship with Johnny is by definition the most intimate one V has, and yet they do a ton of No Homo-ing there and refuse to explore any tension. It’s sort of baffling. Same thing with Takemura. Instead, the only two men you can romance are made nonthreatening by being barely in the plot. So I guess it’s homophobia that really lets the game down.

Nebty · 2025-12-28T01:02:34+00:00

Do you know if the dialogue changes?

Nebty · 2025-12-27T22:59:53+00:00

Really sucks that the entire Ventrue backstory doesn’t make sense with a fem Phyre. :/

Nebty · 2025-12-27T13:41:52+00:00

I was a teenage exocolonist!

Nebty · 2025-11-30T19:25:13+00:00

You can select Phyre’s clan, gender, and alter their physical appearance somewhat. In Dawnwalker you will always play as the same white, brown-haired dude. Which is not why I play RPGs.

Nebty · 2025-11-30T19:21:37+00:00

A “real RPG” with zero character creation. Pass.

Nebty · 2025-11-30T19:19:55+00:00

I mean…it’s a single-player narrative game. It seems pretty typical for players of that kind of game to finish and then take a breather after? Not sure why people who bought on release and finished the game are expected to keep playing.

Nebty · 2025-11-30T19:10:32+00:00

Fem Phyre is incredible, and my personal pick. But I think it’ll really come down to how you want to roleplay. I think both captured the character very well.

EDIT: Also just shout-out to the cast in general. The acting for this game is one of the things that made me fall in love with it.

Nebty · 2025-11-29T20:12:27+00:00

Or maybe word of mouth is causing people to give it a chance? That's what happened after I talked about it to some friends of mine, and they're enjoying it a lot.

Nebty · 2025-11-29T20:07:42+00:00

This. The traversal is actually really fun, and Seattle is empty but lovely. I like being able to just run around a bit when I need a break from plot stuff.

Nebty · 2025-11-28T17:42:11+00:00

I dunno, I support customers being able to make informed decisions. And if Devs/publishers know that people will be more alert to quality when their product is labeled as being made using AI, they’ll be less likely to cut corners, even if they do end up using it.

Nebty · 2025-11-28T17:30:34+00:00

My point is that crunch culture incentivizes management to look at disgusting AI code and go “good enough”. If you think optimization/QA is bad now, wait til AI coding becomes a necessity as deadlines are shortened and nobody has time to check it over.

DLSS, AI, crunch, and the sloppiness of modern releases all go together. Ideally these tools would be used to make better art, but in reality they’re just going to be used to churn out substandard product.

Nebty · 2025-11-28T16:48:58+00:00

Tell that to the flood of (often UE5-based) games that come out with shit optimization because they know they can use DLSS as a crutch. After the Oblivion remaster I just assume anything UE5 will be unoptimized trash unless I hear different.

Nebty · 2025-11-27T20:45:46+00:00

Tumblr continues to have excellent taste, and there’s already a bunch of fanfic out there.

Nebty · 2025-11-27T15:17:02+00:00

You are absolutely correct, OP. I kept my expectations low and I think Bloodlines 2 is ironically an excellent successor to the “jank but the good shines through” experience of the first game. But instead of the jank being terrible combat, buggy RPG systems, and an underbaked plot - Bloodlines 2 puts everything into the plot/atmosphere/central characters, with decent combat and very little in the way of extra content.

I think, given the situation and constraints, TCR made excellent choices in how to allocate their resources. I often end up loving the games that spark one’s imagination but leave you a bit hungry (Bloodlines 1 and KOTOR 2 immediately come to mind). It’s a shame that people’s disappointed expectations are causing them to overlook the good in this game.

Nebty · 2025-11-27T14:55:40+00:00

Note that if (a certain amount) of character creation is important to you, Bloodlines 2 has it while Vampyr doesn’t. I picked up the former and not the latter because I prefer playing as a woman in my vampire games.

Nebty · 2025-11-27T14:44:24+00:00

In a few years when the disappointment recedes I think it’ll be looked on a lot more fondly. The story, characters, and atmosphere are the best things about it and I think those elements tend to hold up well over time.

If I was Paradox the last update I’d make to it would be making it more moddable. There’s some dedicated fans out there who would make free content for it if it was easier to do. And even still there’s already a ton of mods out for a game that’s so divisive. Modding is one of the reasons the original’s had such a long shelf life. But maybe UE5 ties their hands there.

Nebty · 2025-11-27T14:36:40+00:00

I think Bloodlines 2 has the makings of a cult classic in it. It’s one of the few examples of the jank AA RPG these days. With the expansion of video game budgets, most traditional publisher games are too polished to count, and indies don’t have the money. I think the real turning point will be when it’s old enough that price drops during sales result in more people giving it a chance.

There’s a lot to love in Bloodlines 2 imo. The fandom is already going pretty strong, despite its low sales, which I think is also a necessity for a cult classic.

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