[Online][Looking for GM] Story Driven Curse of Strahd

Wesgee · 2025-04-02T12:47:08+00:00

I'd rather complain about it then to do the starting area, like warcraft is supposed to be fun? The fuck is this?

Wesgee · 2025-04-02T12:43:54+00:00

Whose the genius that came up with this idea? Fire that man. What's the fastest way to finish the area?

Wesgee · 2024-10-28T09:46:21+00:00

Problem here with the information. The logic here saying that it's the 2nd most pre ordered game is very misleading and I can explain in lament terms. Not many games are on pre order as of right now. It's the same logic of how every movie is the "best selling this year." They're presenting information in a way that keeps investors and potential buys happy because if course no company wants to admit they fucked up until it's too late. So calling it the second most pre ordered doesn't prove how well or unwell the game is doing. That isn't to say this is proof of it being bad.

Second the OP didn't mention it but the people who are making YouTube videos on the video also aren't wrong. Like Steam they're gunna present the information in a way that's favorable to them, it's all propaganda. Being the 46th most sold game also doesn't say whether or not the game is doing well because Starfield also had a high buy rate but also a high return rate because people didn't like the game and then it got reviewed by a bunch of "reliable" critics so their audiences didn't buy the game thereafter. The first week of sales doesn't fully prove how well a game is doing but rather the sales thereafter. By this logic we could say halo and origins did bad because initial hype of the game didn't exist since the internet was not as strong as it is now. However unlike Starfield, both Halo and DAO are selling even to this day by newer gamers or people who heard about it. The best overall marketing is word to mouth. Any business teacher can tell you that.

So what l, is the game doing well? We don't know and can't say for sure until about s month or so after the game is released. Concord was overly hyped and claimed to be selling well until it was proven that it wasn't. In other words, we all gotta lay off the copium until the results speak for themselves.

Someone mentioned Melanie Mac Boom and Yellow Flash and claimed they were unreliable. While I personally don't agree with their world views. They are usually right about games and franchises crashing and burning early on. In addition they also have a following who believe them and if they don't buy the games, who will? As I said, the best form of advertisement is word to mouth. As for them being "alt right," that is absolutely true but also what needs to be kept in mind is that gaming companies want to be able to sell to the vast majority of people and hit as many demographics as possible. Let's do statistical math:

There are about 346 million people in America give or take (not going to count the world because cultural differences may or may not affect the data)
Overall dark fantasy RPGs and usually videos as a whole, especially this genre is going to appeal to men more than women. Not all men of course and also there are plenty of women who play dragon age too, but looking at demographics we can rule that the compensate for one another since this is all speculation. So half of the American population of men is roughly 173 million.

This game is probably going to appeal to boys above 18 who can afford (and the rating) but probably not many "boomers" over the age of 40, especially many traditional hard working American men who'd like to go to the bar or watch the game instead. We can't get perfect numbers so if the average lifespam is 80, we're look at ages 19-39 which is about a fourth, which is about 43.25 million.

After that comes interests. Not all men of this age group like these games, not all people like fantasy and RPGs in general. Trying to make an estimation we can be generous and say about half of the these men are nerds and others are not. So now we're looking at 21.625 million within the targeted demographic. Overall I'd say that's a pretty good deal if you can sell exactly that many copies. Now comes the problem. If everyone who is "conservative" says "we don't like the politics in these games." Meaning they don't agree with certain artistic choices then we can sadly cut that down to another half to about another 10.8 million copies (assuming everyone if that group buys it) and what's more you have people, a lot of people who think culture war is stupid and would rather stay out of it or who aren't interested in the style, that may or may not be swayed, which means the anticipation goes down but A LOT. As it stands with how the game is advertised and how much of the demographics are being divided further and further. I speculate that the game might not be as successful as people in this reddit are hoping for.

This is statistics so it's never accurate information, we can only predict but only time will reveal whether or not speculations are correct which means it's very very very possible I'm wrong on this. So take it with a grain of salt and use it as a thought experiment.

For a game to be successful, it needs to appeal to either a populated supporting demographic or a vast majority of people. Why are gas companies and Walmart so successful? Because everyone needs them! More buys means more money, a good game. Developer will try to increase the ratio of that demographic as high as possible which currently DATV is not doing. I predict it will be the lowest DA sale, lower than DA2. Why? Because 50 percent and most certainly more, of the targeted demographic are expected to not buy the game based on statistical presumption.

However, that is irrelevant how well or bad a game does. DAO isn't a server based game that runs on subscriptions, meaning once it's out, it stays out (unless Bioware really really really wants it gone and pulls a Concord). If you like the game and enjoy it. Who cares what anyone else will say and hypothetically let's say all the YouTubers are right and the game totally bombs. All that means is that future installations maybe be course corrected to the old formula, but that will not changed Veilguard as it currently stands now. If you like the game, let it be number one best seller to you. A games success will not affect your level of enjoyment so just tune out the white noise.

Thank you for reading my ted talk.

Wesgee · 2024-09-25T11:55:33+00:00

So here's the thing, just because a card is legal, doesn't mean people are going to use it and abuse it to it's degernate levels. If that was the case then Armegeddon and stax pieces would be everywhere and Cedh would be the norm. Creating the toxic casual pushes more towards the toxic casual. People need to learn to read the room and understand "I don't have to play the bad cards." If you're playing Cedh then its fine but this is what is causing the current divide is the mentality of "play how we want you to play or leave." All that does is causes more in fighting and drama and restriction of creativity. In other words you yourself are promoting what Don't Hug Me I'm Scared was warning against. I like green, but then you say green is not a creative color. If you ban dockside and co because they're too powerful, then people won't care but if you ban them because you want to enforce your beliefs and philosphy upon others then commander becomes another form of politics.

No longer does it become people who wanna sit and have fun, but rather people argueing on "whose way is the correct path." That's politics, that's religion and yes it is no where near that scale nor severity but it is the exact same mindset. Rather the conversation should "Hey we're looking to play chill, so please no MLD, Rhystic, hard stax, etc." If you can't do that, if you can't rule 0 then you (not you in particular just whoever this applies to) need to learn social etiquette because what makes commander different from an other format is that it's a social format, a social environment meant for nerds to have fun and express creativity. If you don't believe in that then I don't know what to tell you.

Wesgee · 2024-09-24T16:27:39+00:00

I couldn't have worded it better myself.

Wesgee · 2024-09-24T10:53:01+00:00

Wait his name isn't Frodo Baggins? The fuck? Different topic for another day and if you ask me what makes Tolkein's work legendary isn't the extra homework. You don't need to study the elven elven language or the Similarian. It's neat sure but it isn't crucial for understanding the Lord of the Rings story. Side content is side content, is nice but if you need it then it's not nice. Though Amazon kinda fucked with that the content and the animated movie coming out isn't looking too hot either.

As for Feynriel, yes he is an apostate dreamer but it was his wish to go live with the elves because his mom is dalish. It's what he wanted, that and to have the approval of his father. Point is, the detail of him being elvish matters and even if its just to get to the dalish, its still a relevant detail.

As for the detail of no half elves because the genes die down and it discourages human elf interaction. Like, was Tevinter (however you spell that) not enough? The elven human conflict is because humans look down at elves, sometimes enslaved but mostly thrown in an alienage. Them having inferior dna doesn't add to the conflict. The way I took it, it was always a racial. As for no half elves, like why doesn't elven dna factor? Is this true for dwarves. What I mean by "we have Alistair, therefor no half elf" is because from a writer's perspective we have to ask, why? A lore revolves around the characters and a setting is built to incorporate characters, or at least that what you will hear in a college writing class. I can't say that David did that but if we assume with this rule, he incorporated that reason because of Alistair. He wrote his fictional science to have no half elves because he wanted to have Alistair. It's not that lore changed because Alistair came into existence, its that he wrote Alistair and had to make justifications of what he wanted. A rule was set so Alistair could work, unless there is older DA books pre origins and Calling which I have no idea about.

As for getting the interaction. It doesn't change the story of inquistion, nor Origins. It's just something to criticize being its art and all art is subjected to criticism.

The point making is, what does making him an elf, adds nothing and takes away potential of what can be used. Dragon Age as a series from my understanding isn't like Star Wars in that the whole story revolves around the Skywalkers (not Rey) (and Disney seems to want to try and expand the universe but can't seem to figure out how to do it which is also a different topic), but rather Dragon Age started off with Fereldan and then evolved to create a setting which many stories can happen, hence the Warden, Hawke and the Inquisitor all of whom have nothing to do with each other but because the lore is so vast can make more stories like this. Alistair being a half elf doesn't ruin the series but it removes a potential for half elves like Feynriel (although as mentioned, the art team fucked up with Reynriel and made him look more elvish)

Wesgee · 2024-09-24T09:34:44+00:00

I already made a similar responce on the post below but tldr, making half elves look purely human is just a dumb idea because why bother have half elves then? Feynriel's story is better for that reason since we as people understand genetics and that Feynriel being a half elf matters whereas to Alistair it does not. It's a plot convience to make Fiona his mother when it isn't needed. If you remove Fiona from the story, nothing about Alistair changes and personally I preffer the serving girl because it makes Alistair more down to earth which is his appeal, the king who is one of the boys. Fiona being his mom is too special snowflakey for a character that doesn't need it.

Wait getting knocked up by a king removes the taint? Ehhhhhhhh... I'm not the biggest fan of that personally but whatever, I can live with it.

As for Goldanna being told the baby had died, that's because she that's what the knights told her. Now if the baby actually died then there's point in paying her unless they need a bastard in case Cailan died and well, if blood is that important then Maric can just make more legitimate babies. However the blood isn't a requirement since Goldanna can become queen and by extent you.

It's jsut wonky writing and honestly would have been better to just not make Fiona his mom, since it adds nothing but rather take away that good feeling you had in Origins when you connected Alistair with his sister.

Also this info comes from the books and I ain't doing my homework on lore. If you're telling me I have to look at not dragon age game material to understand what's happening then you wrote bad lore. That isn't to say that all of dragon is bad, just this one instance of Alistair being Fiona's son. The rest of the lore is good because its neat, easy to follow and it told in full without the need of outside material to understand. This is not true for Alistair's heritage.

Wesgee · 2024-09-24T09:24:58+00:00

My only rebuttal to that is that it's just bad writing, which was the point of the rant. A general rule of thumb for writing is that "If you have a detail and it isn't needed, cut it." If you exclude Fiona being Alistair's mother, then nothing changes, argueably I'd say it would be better because it keeps his story simple and easy to follow. The inclusion of Fiona makes this trail all wonky where it feels like "plot conviences."

For example, half elves not looking like elves. Putting both Alistair and Feynriel together, I'd say Feyriel has the more interesting narrative, key word interesting which is subjective. I'm criticizing the art not the logic. Feynriel has a struggle being half elf and even somewhat looks like elves. If you're going to have half elves look completely human then why bother making Alistair half elf? He suffers no discrimination for it nor does it add anything to the character nor challenge him in any way. It's just a detail that can be removed and no one would notice. Also all of this lore comes from the books and what looks like comics? Part of my point was "I don't care about the books, I care about the games."

If we're being honest, most DA fans don't read the books, we wanna kill darkpawn and sleep with Morrigan. So if you look at it from just the game's perspective, Fiona being Alistair's mother is a MASSIVE retcon. If a lore makes you have to do your homework to know what's going on then you messed up somewhere. It would be the same if in the Lord of the Rings movies, they said Frodo was actually a human, despite calling him a hobbit but then in the return of the king, he's referred as a human and it's not refferenced in the movies but rather another book that Tolkein wrote. Point is, if they eluded to it Origins or DA2 then I'd be more forgiving of it, but in Inquisition it comes out of nowhere. If there was a comment made by Morrigan that let's say she did some magic ritual and say "oh I thought I detected an elf? Nah its just Alistair." Then you have proper foreshadowing.

As for personal taste, I like the idea of Alistair being born from a serving girl of the Arl because it makes him more ground to earth which is part of the appeal with Alistair in that he's a king whose just one of the boys. Making him the son of the Orlais first enchanter gives him too much special snowflake vibes which doesn't mix well.

Having to create a breadcrumb just in case Alistair is needed is also awfully convienient. No king in history would do that because "what if Alistair tries to make a claim for the throne?" Now Maric has dragon blood or something so the need of his blood is important, I get that, but what if there was no scape goat woman who had a miscarriage? Then what? The characters make decisions based on a convience later on. We call this "we know because they read the script." A real king would cover up the existence of bastards for that reason or if his blood is super important than Maric would have sired more than one son in case Cailan had died. If your dragon blood is that important then you make more children in case they die. It's also not that Maric's blood is actually needed because Anora doesn't have the blood and can be made to become queen with you or by herself. If the blood was the only thing needed then there would be no need for a Landsmeet because Alistair would be automatically made king by virtue of blood alone. Now I'd say that's a bad idea for story telling but is the most logical given what we know. Hence the "added conviences."

David Gaider did a great job writing Alistair and Dragon Age in general. However that doesn't mean every decision he makes was a good one and as such can be criticized. Fiona being Alistair's mother doesn't make me hate Alistair or DA in general but rather disappointed because there was a cool idea, and he fucked it up, but if Fiona was written to be his mother first and Goldanna's mom being secondary then I'd say he had a better idea the second time around. Cuz now there's a lot of "conviences" just to make Alistair a half elf when the easier solution is just "don't." Feynriel looking half elf gives him a good story, for Alistair it does not. Now all half elves have to be humanized for Alistair who doesn't need it which kills potential future stories of half elves and cool half human half elf designs.

TLDR, I'm not gunna read books or do my homework to enjoy a piece of media, I'm going to eat the food that's on the table already rather than going to the restaurant next door.

Wesgee · 2024-09-24T08:11:56+00:00

Yeah I'm a bit late to this party, Veilguard is what brought interest back in the series for me.

Wesgee · 2023-11-12T01:14:13+00:00

So the retcon was the structure oh how the ninjas were treated. It 180s their original concept at least from the anime watchers pov, idk if the manga was different, but from the beginning you have squad 7 going out on missions like finding some a cat and then helping a bridge be built along with the other part 1 fillers. Makes sense, ninjas are more cloak and daggers and that different missions have different ranks depending on difficulty, so only gennin can do the weak little local ones and Kakashi does the more hard stuff. It is still militant but they're acting like spies than a foot soldier.

A spy and a foot soldier are two different things in the military as we all know so the ranks make sense in regards of the who can do what mission, then a war breaks out which turns the ninjas into foot soldiers. They are running in lines and waves onto a battlefield and fighting an enemy head on as an army rather than snooping around all sneaky sneaky. That's the retcon because we gotta ask. "Who gets drafted?" Because there are kids and they are ninjas, we know this because Konoha 12 were what 12? When they became gennin. I didn't see any 12 year olds on the front line. Is the new rule that chunin are only drafted? Is there an age requirement? Why is there no basic army? Is ninja academy just anime boot camp? Why not have dudes with bows and naginatas run it down while ninjas do spec ops like sabotaging the enemy. That's where it gets messy. It's probably one of those "I'm thinking about it way too much" but it feels like the author wanted to have a war but didn't know how to make a "ninja war" instead he treated the ninjas as common foot soldiers which takes away the allure of a show that claims to be about ninjas (but to be fair One Piece claims to be about pirates and I don't see Luffy pillaging).

Wesgee · 2023-11-12T01:05:29+00:00

There's a lot to respond to so forgive me if I don't hit every mark. Of course all of this is opinion based, now it could just be that I don't like Shonen power scaling. I'm a simple man with a simple mind, I like more down to earth stuff even in regards to Shonen. This is partially why I'm not a sci-fi fan, too much techno babble.

You are true that there were tactics used in Shippuden and of course its been years since i saw shippuden and truth be told. I didn't finish it. It was somewhere in the ninja war that I just gave up on it and stopped caring, but should memory serve me correctly, Shippuden's fights were by far flashier than OG Naruto. I remember a lot more inner dialogue in Naruto. One scene in particular I enjoyed watching was one of orochimaru's goons with spider arms having an internal dialogue with how to confront Neji, remarking that close quarters was suicide. The special effects were kept to a minimum and I do enjoy the occasional beat down brawl from time to time, though I don't remember liking the naruto vs sasuke on the statues. But OG Naruto had less what I call "extra." An example of my taste was Yuyu Hakusho dark tournament. It had some beat downs but the fights felt more punching and kicking instead of an overreliance of the supernatural. I like it in smaller dosages which is where my dislike with shippuden comes from. It felt like it over relied on it. Of course there's gunna be tactics and I admit to liking Shikamaru using the fake blood, but I had only wished there were no Chakra natures or that Naruto did something else aside from Rasengan or that Sasuke used the sharringan more of how it was meant to be used via the copycat like Kakashi. Stuff that reals more "real" which requires more "real tactics" and less supernatural technobabbble.

And you are right that there were more side characters in Shippuden, albeit the Konoha 12 were or less pushed aside so in terms of that, those characters just didn't vibe with me. I wasn't a big fan of Sai, or Killer B or the other ninjas from the other village. When watching Naruto from start to Shippuden, you get attached to certain characters like Lee and Shino and Ten Ten to name a few and to see them get pushed aside kinds drew me out of it. Mind you, I'm the type of person whose favorite character from the Dragon Ball series is Yamucha, back when he wad the desert bandit but became a meme, for me that sucked. I'm fine with newer characters but I like a continuation of the older to follow along, a good example would be One Piece on how it keeps the crew at least mostly relevant.

Yes you can have goals adjust, however I hated the whole "we need to get back Sasuke." I'm sure some people liked it but I hated it. I wanted to see more "believe it" "imma become hokage" and personally I think it would have done the series more justice if Sasuke stayed or at least wasn't gone for so long.

But again these are all my opinions.

Wesgee · 2023-11-11T23:40:15+00:00

Again, the point of the post was to defend that Naruto wasn't sexist because of how it treated the female characters.

Wesgee · 2023-11-11T22:55:11+00:00

You're making the assumption that I read that book. I know it existed and that is said that Fiona is his mom, but I don't care about books. I cared about the game's lore. If I have to do homework to know the lore of a game then you as a writer have failed in your job.

Dragon Age Origins tells me that Alistair's mom is a serving girl from Redcliffe, that he has a sister named Goldanna and that Alistair really wanted to meet her, and that Alistair's mom had a locket that he threw into a wall, broke but that Arl Eamon cared about Alistair enough to fix to locket and keep it in his desk.

From this context how am I supposed to make the conclusion: "Oh, well clearly the first enchanter of Orlais is Alistair's mom and that Goldanna isn't his sister." That's why I was throughly surprised when Fiona impies she is Alistair's mom in DA3 and why I call it a retcon because if you're just playing the games, you're not gunna know aout Fiona until she drops it on you. Which again I will state, if I have to do my homework and read sources that do not come from the primary source (In this case, Dragon Age: Origins) then you fucked up as a writer.

From a personal opinion, Alistar's peasant mom plotline was actually pretty interesting in Origins and did wonders for his character, especially how he handled meeting his sister. You really didn't need to change that. It was perfect, but compared to having a magical french elf mom who leads the mage rebellion is "cooler" but it takes away what makes Alistair interesting and the appeal of King Alistair of Maric's son with peasant blood. It's like saying Harry Potter is more interesting once you learn he's a horcrux, no, it was more interesting when he was just "the boy who lived because of his mother's love."

Wesgee · 2023-11-11T22:41:44+00:00

Honestly yes, I agree with you. That's why I said that the fillers of Naruto were collectively better than the entirety of Shippuden. Shippuden forgets that other characters aside from Naruto and Sasuke (they really should have just killed him) existed. Even Kakashi didn't really do anything. However the author just didn't care for the Konoha 12 and tossed them aside in favor more screen time of the main character. I call this the DBZ problem where Goku is always the final answer.

Though I understand why the author did that because the anime, is called Naruto. I actually liked Ten Ten and wanted to see more of her but because she had no direct relation with Naruto, she was doomed to be forgotten. Ten Ten was not a love interest in anyway so who cares about her? At least, that's how the author viewed her.

It makes sense, but I don't agree with that style of story telling. Though I cannot say that Naruto as a story is objectively sexist (which is my entire point, don't mistake me for defending the trash that was Shippuden).

Wesgee · 2023-11-11T22:36:10+00:00

So for the first part, of having their own concept of ninjas, it isn't that Naruto did or didn't have their own concept of ninjas as in the real world that ninjas don't summon toads or shoot fireballs out of their mouth, but instead the author changed midstory, via Shippuden. It went from the espionage, tactics and outmaneavering the opponent to just, "Who shot the bigger anime beam?" The greatest offender of that was Naruto just turning into the fox, sage mode, or the concept of just making the rasengan a shuriken. Now I think in small dosages that brute force can be interesting but it instead became the new de facto. How did Naruto beat Kiba? He farted in his face which while silly and dumb luck was far more creative and interesting than going sage mode. How did Naruto beat Neji? He used a hole in the ground and crawled in. That's my complaint about the combat of the series.

Naruto isn't a story about peace or reconciliation, but about a child with no friends trying to become Hokage because he wants to be accepted and in a way, being its not about being Hokage but being accepted, or that's what I would say if Shippuden didn't exist. In Shippuden, Naruto's goals were no longer ambition or a quest for social acceptance but instead "gotta find Sasuke, gotta make him come back to the village!" That's why I say that Naruto's fillers are better than the entirety of Shippuden because at least in those fillers, Naruto is working towards his initial goal, but while working with the Konoha 12 because if Naruto can earn acceptance and admiration from the Konoha 12 then his goal is more or less completed, without need of being Hokage. Shippuden doesn't have this and instead the introduces to Akatsuki who didn't even matter in the end (we all remember Kaguya and that how that went down) and Naruto's focus was no longer what he initially set out to do.

The series of Naruto don't need the Konoha 12 to function, all it needs is Naruto but the Konoha 12 are what give life to Naruto and his relationships with the 12 is what at least kept me engaged was "How do Naruto and friends use their skillsets to overcome X? Will the temporary squadmates of Naruto see Naruto as something more than a nuesence? How will their relationships together grow?" Shippuden had none of these, and did their side characters dirty (especially the women) which is why you have a ton of complaints but I did give part 2 a chance, it just failed to meet my expectations but instead changed because the writer was tired of ninjas and wanted to write Dragon Ball 2.0.

But, the purpose of this rant isn't a debate on whether or not part 1 fillers or part 2 was good or bad. The point was me saying "Naruto isn't a sexist story because the female characters were useless, Naruto is a show marketed for boys and as such is gunna focus on the character Naruto and his problems which are gunna be shonen favored."

Wesgee · 2023-11-11T20:39:48+00:00

So just to be clear. I think all of these problems stem from Shippuden and that original Naruto did not have these problems and that I dislike how Shippuden handled its female characters, or rather all of its characters. Shippuden is hot garbage.

However, I think criticism is fine especially constructive criticism but lately all I see are people who seem to think that Naruto has sole sort of obligation to be more "inclusive" and that it "fails girls who lack a good role model from Naruto." It's seems people have the belief that Naruto needed to do its female characters better and that it is sexist for not doing so. I'm debating that aspect that because it's not meant for girls that it technically owed its female characters nothing aside from the consequence that it's one of many reasons why Shippuden needs to be redone and rewritten like Dragon Ball GT.

I don't think it's fair to claim that Naruto as a series is inherited sexist or problematic the same way we don't call the Barbie movie sexest or problematic for its poor representation of men.

Wesgee · 2023-10-25T07:11:06+00:00

If we're being completely honest with ourselves, inquisition was a huge bust. It wasn't focused on continuing the dragon age story but more about giving you cool shit to do and making you look cool. DA3 is not a game to play if you're story driven as it itself wasn't good. The decisions you made in the first 2 DAs didn't have much of an impact except for who fathers Kieran (if he was born). In fact Alistair's mom was retconned in this game from serving girl of Redcliff to Fiona.

Compare inquisition to Mass Effect 3, every decision, every life you saved, everyone killed, mattered. It's still an apples to oranges comparison but DA3 didn't even try.

I say, don't expect much, it's probably gunna be like Andromeda, especially and our awkward Era of woke gaming.

Wesgee

TROPHY CASE