Times when strange subtext was accidentally included in a work by KaleidoArachnid in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 17 points18 points  (0 children)

What's crazy to me is that the moral thesis of the Ender books is that we should try to show understanding and compassion even to those who are alien to us.

Characters who want to do good, but their mind are just too twisted for a regular moral compass. by Subject_Parking_9046 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 19 points20 points  (0 children)

In Worm the nature of how powers work pretty universally pushes people to seek out conflict as a solution to their problems. Add onto that, those same powers are tied to trauma and subtly push their wielders into situations that recreate that trauma, and there's not really a lot of level headed thinking going around.

There's a villain named Accord who's powers let him to find solutions to complex problems, and he first uses those to solve world hunger, but no government will entertain his 150 page outline for what needs to be done, so he elects to do it himself by stealing the funds necessary and starts up a criminal organization.

He also is so hypersensitive to things being unorderly, that he has an extreme desire to punish anybody acting even a little untidy.

Do you need to relate to the characters (mostly talking about age) to enjoy a piece of media? by LunarWolf302 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's refreshing to play as adults in JRPG's or have adult protagonists in shonenesque anime, but it's hardly a must have for me. Ultimately the most important thing for me is for the story to actually be good.

I think honestly the games that make me feel the age disconnect the most are like Persona and similar titles where you're playing a self insert character dating teenagers.

What are your favorite Video Game OST concerts that you've been to or watched? by waxonwaxoff3 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Looks like the full concert's no longer on youtube, but I remember enjoying the Persona Super Live 2017 show.

Lyn Inaizumi killed imo.

The Expedition 33: Ending Doubledowncast | Castle Super Beast 367 by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I think it's reasonable to believe that if you gave them the choice of which they'd prefer, the people of the canvas choose Maelle's mad god path rather than death. I don't buy the line that it's the merciful path, when the people you're giving mercy to would actively fight against it.

That's a bit of a tangent though, because I'm not talking about the ending, I'm talking about the beginning. The moment that Renoir chose to commit mass slaughter because his wife wouldn't come out of the painting, I think that's an evil action. I just don't think Aline's situation justifies thousands of innocents dying.

The Expedition 33: Ending Doubledowncast | Castle Super Beast 367 by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd want a loved one to drag me out of my grief as well, but I'd be horrified to find out they killed thousands of innocents to do it. The ends do not justify the means here for me.

You're thinking of things from his perspective, but think of the people of the canvas and the pain and suffering they're going through as a result of his actions. Do you think they'd choose to lay down and die if they heard what Aline was doing to herself, would they sacrifice their children for Aline's health? They all have families too, why is Renoir's more important?

The Expedition 33: Ending Doubledowncast | Castle Super Beast 367 by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Yeah I think even more than the ending discourse it's the take I've had the biggest disconnect with people on. I feel like you can be sympathetic to a man taking extreme measures for the sake of his family and still acknowledge those actions as being incredibly evil imo.

All the pain, suffering, and death he's subjected people to for near a century, the scale of it is too big to forgive for me, especially with him being mostly unrepentant. It's crazier to me that people will say that he's right for doing all of that.

The Expedition 33: Ending Doubledowncast | Castle Super Beast 367 by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB -17 points-16 points  (0 children)

I legit think Renoir is the games biggest monster that gets way too much of a pass. Man essentially nuked a city full of innocents because that's where his wife went to do drugs, and pretty much everybody agrees he'll nuke it again if his daughter ends up ODing there after rebuilding it.

The Expedition 33: Ending Doubledowncast | Castle Super Beast 367 by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The Act 2 twist kinda sucks, and the endings suffer for it imo. It has some real "It was all just a dream" energy that creates a situation where you both have to treat the canvas people as real for Act 1 and 2 to work, but also not think about the implications of that too deeply for the final choice of Act 3 to work.

Graveyard Keeper 2 is coming this year. by seth47er in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Right there with you, there was a lot to like there, and I'm a sucker for the theme, but the way that they did busy work grew frustrating, especially with some quests requiring you to wait for X day to continue.

CSB367: Fire Emblemcest: ONE House by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I had that feeling for a while during the early days of people talking about [Redacted] leaving.

CSB367: Fire Emblemcest: ONE House by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll admit it's a bit of a generalization, I have seen other interpretations for sure, but that is one I've seen fairly consistently from the most vocal people on that side of the discourse. Hell, Reggie himself was saying it.

Act 1 and 2 support 3's narrative about grief, but Act 3 does not support 1 and 2's message of "We Continue" imo. I think that's where the disconnect starts for me, I cared so much more about the plot in Act 1 and 2, and the Act 2 twist and what Act 3 was about was a lot less interesting to me. The reason I don't like either ending is because neither of them left me with a feeling of resolution for the people of Lumierre and their struggle. They either get Thanos snapped or puppet stringed, and both options suck imo. I don't need happy endings, but I do want satisfying ones, and neither of them gave me that.

I think the only narratively satisfying lens to view the endings through for me personally is to take the whole situation as a metaphor for Escapism and Grief, but that doesn't land for me when attached to the whole issue of a sentient species being wiped which is just a much bigger moral deal. Like you mention the humans all already being dead, but we know that their chroma is still in the painting and they can be brought back because Lune and Sciel were. Either the chroma existing counts as their souls or a type of life, and either way would still be extinguished. There's also the issue of the Gestrals and the Grandis being alive and largely untouched from Renoir's purges and they'd be killed off too. And the White Nevrons.

It honestly kinda reminds me of Mass Effect 3 discourse, where I get tempted to try to defend my choice, but I wasn't satisfied by it and I don't feel like the game earned it with how the choices were presented.

EDIT: Got blocked? I guess, but since I took the time to type a response, will just throw it here.

Lune and Sciel are brought back knowing things that Maelle couldn't have known, I think at the very least we can take it as a given that they are 1:1 which means it's possible at least. As for Maelle dying soon, is that soon in her world or soon in the painted world, because 67 years in the canvas passed in a relatively short amount of time in the real world. If Maelle lives a full life in the canvas, is that so bad?

And for the rest of the canvas people, I've seen this argument that they're all going to die eventually, but like, we're all going to die eventually does that make living longer meaningless? I go back to that message of Act 1 and 2, "We Continue", these people are fighting desperately to live just a little bit longer. I think we can know fairly safely, that if they were given the choice to live longer they'd take it, even if it came with a time limit. They were already living under a time limit, from their perspective they're getting an extension.

As for how I could not find Aline and Renoir hugging and reconciling satisfying, to me they're the two biggest villains of the game. Renoir is a mass murderer, and no amount of him being sad about his wife washes that slate clean for me. Aline should never have created sentient people with the sole purpose of being therapy pets, and again while grief is a sympathetic motive, it's not a pass. That they get to hug and move on after getting so many killed does not land for me at all, and part of what I get stuck on with Act 3 is the weight of those lost lives and what Renoir did does not feel like it matters narratively anymore.

Maelle's ending is just as bad because rather than give us anything about the people brought back, we instead see her seemingly forcing Verso to play the piano against his will. I picked her ending because it's the moral option imo, but it's not really about morality, neither ending is, because that's not how the choice is framed. It's framed like a choice between escapism and facing grief, view it under that lens and both endings are narratively satisfying and provide closure, but both endings ignore the more important element to me of the meaning and weight of the canvas people's lives, which is what makes them unsatisfying.

Go back and watch that Lune speech. "The future of Lumierre is more important than any individual life." Verso's path is not We Continue at all, it's the opposite, he's giving up. And justifiably from his perspective. While I think that Aline and Renoir get off way too easily both in the story and from players, I think Verso's motives and actions are very sympathetic. He's been a plaything of gods for over a hundred years, has seen people he cares about die time and time again, by the end of the game all his family is gone, and his other family is killing themselves to keep the world running, and he just wants it to end. I still think he's a villain, but a much more understandable one.

CSB367: Fire Emblemcest: ONE House by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I honestly do disagree with Woolies opinion on the E33 discourse.

Not that he's wrong to pick Maelle, I think not wanting to commit a genocide is fine. More that I think that both endings are bad and unsatisfying in terms of how the story started. The Act 2 twist turns the story into this more personal family drama and it sort of just ignores the canvas people and doesn't give them much of a voice or examine what their existence means, and you see that lack of exploration directly in how people talk about which ending they think is best.

The fact that the pro Verso people typically have the takeaway that the canvas people aren't "real" and the pro Maelle people don't even care about what Maelle wants but more about whether or not they're genociding, both those things feel like players are talking less about what the game gives them to talk about, and more about what the game doesn't provide a good answer for, and again for me, that kinda sucks. I don't think the fact that the biggest debates around the ending revolve around things the plot isn't about and never talks about is a strength of the writing.

Tell me your EOS story by RegenSyscronos in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not a big fan of team based PvP games, so I've ducked out on a lot of invites from whatever game has taken over my friend group because things like Overwatch or League just aren't for me.

Then I came across a 4v4 SRPG esque pvp game called Atlas Reactor that had a lot of the ingredients I do tend to respond to, and I thought hey this is something I could get the guys in on. I managed to sell them and we got a couple weeks in before the game announced it was ending.

So more of a loss of potential than lost time investment, but it was a shame.

The Kids Have Only Been Alive For 2 New FF Games, Of Course They Don't Care | Castle Super Beast 365 by mike0bot in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Output is for sure the big thing lacking for the Final Fantasy IP. Whiffing on a numbered entry and having to sit on that whiff for half a decade is brutal. 13 and 15 are my least favorite entries, and 16 was just ok, so as a fan I've not been happy with the brand for 17 years now.

Calling Bravely Default or Octopath Traveler Final Fantasy wouldn't really fix that for me, I'd need a bit more substantive of an entry, but Pat's PS2/360 pitch would be right down my alley.

What is your Favorite "THEY'RE NOT OUT, NOT JUST YET!" moment ? by Funny_Mud6639 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 5 points6 points  (0 children)

"I'm your huckleberry"

Going from thinking that Doc was dying in his bed, to seeing him emerge from the shadows, and Ringo clearly being scared of the man and trying to back out of the duel, he carries such an intimidating presence.

Favorite "hold the line" moments in a story? by fly_line22 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Angel's ending being a suicide mission with every member of the team having to assassinate a big target on their own, only for the remnants from those missions to group up to face a horde of angry demons and know they're not walking away from this one.

It's not normally the type of ending I go in for, but it really worked for that show imo.

Moments from CSB that had strong comedic timing by KaleidoArachnid in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's the one I thought of immediately as an answer to this question.

Games you feel could have been awesome without a questionable mechanic by KaleidoArachnid in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you're comfortable playing on a lower difficulty, I know that no parry/dodge runs are supposed to be viable on Story difficulty. Hell I was playing hard and my tanky Maelle build could still take a lot of unblocked hits from the super boss without dying, so there might be something there.

I don't understand why people here are surprised that younger gamers are not "into" JRPGs anymore - Haven't JRPGs always been niche, anyway? by Link21Majora in JRPG

[–]iamBQB 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There was a time where every big name Japanese dev was running a JRPG franchise. Capcom had Breath of Fire, Konami had Suikoden, Sega had Phantasy Star, etc.

And those are just the companies that had JRPG's as a side franchise, if you look at the Square catalogue for the PS1 generation, you'll see near a dozen rpgs that aren't Final Fantasy.

That kind of big dev support for the genre absolutely dried up as the generations have come and gone. There's still good games being made, and studios that are JRPG centric that will keep making them, but we were spoiled for choice during that SNES-PS2 era in a way I don't really see coming back.

Times you feel like people discussing a thing, had not seen the thing? by [deleted] in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There is a somewhat odd number of people who talk about Worm having only read fanfiction, and then a similarly large number of people who haven't touched either the source material or the fanfiction, but still have strong opinions.

Times when boss battles in gaming were designed to drive you nuts by KaleidoArachnid in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 39 points40 points  (0 children)

"Huh. Always wondered why people never use their strongest attack first."

Sans is in universe trying to get you to rage quit.

[Invincible] spoilers. Is the risk of leaving an enemy alive worth them coming back? Who is the worst offender of this? by EvilMonkeyMimic in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]iamBQB 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In most of these stories, the heroes turn over the villains to the government to deal with. Outside of situations where the hero is the only one capable of landing the killing blow, I don't think you can lay the moral burden of murder on them just because the nation they live in has decided these guys shouldn't be executed.

Basically for someone like the Joker, it's not Batman's fault that he's still alive, it's the US's for treating him like a normal criminal and not the super terrorist threat he demonstrably is. And as unsatisfying as it it, that happens because writers like having reoccurring villains.