Lurker > xXfireglzXx

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

Rock and Stone

DRG, Rimworld, and Pokemon are the ones I've played from your list.

Rock and Stone! It never gets old.

11- Rune Factory 4

8.8/10 If Stardew Valley didn't exist, I could say this is hands down the best Farming sim I'd ever played....but you'll notice that Stardew Valley isn't on this list. With Stardew, I finally reached the point of nothing left to really do. Rune Factory 4, through having actual difficulty and a more fleshed out combat system really keeps that from happening. The cast is mostly great, even the lackluster villagers are "Fine". The town feels like a town, with villagers frequently interacting with each other and tons of unique events that trigger seemingly randomly. It has a story, but it's just "okay". It feels very generic and very much so like a vessel for the gameplay to really shine through. But between what feels like an almost perfected farming sim and combat that while somewhat shallow in practice, has a ton of depth in equipment farming and crafting, as well as procuring the best materials you need to do so. There's an unreal amount of depth hidden below the surface of almost every mechanic in this game and it feels almost surreal when you finally see something like a tutorial for maxing equipment and you realize how much the game just does not tell you. Oh well. And just for reference/arguments sake; Dolce best girl, Leon best boy.

10- Divinity 2: Original Sin

9/10. It's an almost perfect RPG for me, giving me nearly everything I want from a big-ass sprawling RPG. Multiple methods of play? Check. Fair difficulty and damage scaling? Check. Ability to ruin the fair difficulty and damage scaling through abuse of mechanics? Check. Ability to turn your primary protagonist into a walking god capable to dismantling even the strongest enemy in minutes? Oh you best believe it. There's just so many ways to play Div 2, and it's surprising because ultimately it is a linear game. You have all these interesting characters that can be your party members, or you can say "Fuck it" and go with just one person, or alone and take advantage of the perks of the "Lone Wolf" skill. A lot of the decisions remind me of the old Bioware RPG's, but there not being a tacked on morality system or something of the nature is honestly a great decision. Sometimes, I want to make a "bad" decision, without fucking over my build or playthrough by doing so. It also isn't quite as comically evil as a lot of RPG's that give you the option. You're not going to rob a woman of the last memento of her husband, sell it for 500 credits, and then murder her for it not being worth more. No stupid bullshit like that. A lot of the sidequests have tons of depth to them, which is honestly the draw of the game. The story is good, the sidequests are good, the mechanics are good. The pacing is bad, but that's also because of the internal obligation you feel to complete side quests to stay properly geared and leveled for the main story content.

9- There is no number 9, I listed Monster Train twice in the OP and only caught it afterwards. Why omit 9 in particular you ask? Yeah.

8- Persona 4 Golden

9/10 Honestly even as I'm writing this I'm having second thoughts about moving it back to 10 behind Divinity 2. Persona 4 is more aloof and fun than Div 2, and it has a lot more interaction between the cast, but it is not a game without flaws. First, the good. P4G has the best grinding mechanic I've ever enjoyed in an RPG with Shuffle Time. It's amazing and somehow turns what should be the worst part of the game with it's (mostly)randomly generated story dungeons, into an absolute timesink where you don't even notice you've been killing shadows for the last hour. The first 80% of the game is highly enjoyable, the primary antagonist would have really benefitted from being fleshed out more, and honestly, external content(P4G anime) feels somewhat required if you want to elevate the protagonist and the story overall. My biggest gripe is that everything that comes after December is bad. Not "Alright", not "Fun, but...." It's bad. It's tedious, it makes the game feel like it's dragging, and ultimately, over time it completely removes any sense of scale and finality that the game had going for it. And that sucks, because the final, final, final boss theme is probably the best song in the game and it's honestly tainted by the journey it took to get there being so lackluster. I know Golden added a ton of unique interactions and original scenes, and that's great, because that's the strength of the game, but these new endings are absolutely "not it" and I cannot believe that nobody stopped them at some point and explained to them that they were damaging the story of the original by including it.

14- Pokemon Violet

8.2/10 Sword and Shield was an ambitionless mess of a game. There were several points where playing through it that it felt like it was made out of obligation, rather than ambition. Violet doesn't have that problem, instead its ambition outweighs its competency. From the stupid fucking minimap, to the constant slowdowns and graphical glitches, Pokemon Violet just can't get out of its own way. I'd go as far as to say that of everything new innovated, there wasn't a single thing introduced that I didn't like or think of as an improvement. That's honestly huge for Gamefreak, who is often regressive in their changes from generation to generation. Tera-type changing is the best mechanic that they've ever introduced(Better than Megas, I said it.) and Tera raids are so much better than Dynamax raids that it honestly doesn't even deserve a comparison. I play competitive as well, usually floating between 100-1000 in Master Ball when I binge, and this meta was way more enjoyable that Sw/Sh as well(Until the fissure bullshit happened). The only real complaint from a design perspective is that the new introductions are so strong and relevant that it really sorta hurts a lot of the existing choices of pokemon. There's quite a few pokemon introduced that competitively can be summed up as "X, but better!" Still, the best story since B/W, a passable overworld, and tons of quality of life improvements mean that despite it legitimately sucking in some aspects, it's still a game worth playing within the franchise. I don't know where it falls for me among the series, but it's probably top 3 tbh.

13- Neo: The World Ends With You.

8.5/10 This game was designed to fail financially, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. A sequel, directly linked to its predecessor through story, more than a decade and a half after the original released. Difficult to pick up and play, with a combat system that has a "epiphany point" once you finally adjust to everything going on. The visuals are crisp, the soundtrack is amazing, and the story is good by JRPG standards and alright by non JRPG standards. TWEWY has always been a character focused series, and this game certainly nails the characters and cameo's that appear throughout. The pacing of the story is weird, but it's intentional so you can't really complain about it. Really, my biggest complaint is about the sheer inaccessibility of the game. The story is even more hidden within secret reports than the last one and honestly somewhat incoherent if you never played the first game. A lot of the references also don't make sense without prior knowledge, and there's even a point where I, who played the original game multiple times, had to look on youtube for context to a scene where I didn't recognize the character who was driving the plot(Final Remix things apparently.) Ultimately, it's a good game I can't recommend because I'd have to recommend the original with it, and I can't even do that because every rerelease of it that isn't on the DS is lacking in some way compared to the original.

12- Monster Train: First Class

8.7/10 And now I'm realizing that I have it listed twice in the OP. Oh well. Really fun roguelike deck building game which has better design for the main game than it does the DLC. Unfortunately, the DLC limits a ton of potential deckbuilding options because it's so incredibly focused on scaling your DPS up as opposed to all else. This eliminates a ton of potentially viable strategies that absolutely work in the base game and really hurts the game overall. With that said, fusion is really cool, divine shards are really cool, and the entire idea behind trading immediate gain for stronger enemies down the line is a great concept. Tons of playtime in the game too, and it functions great on Switch. Having just recently beaten divinity 25 with all 30 class combinations, I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of the purchase, and it's honestly one of those games where I'll binge it for a couple of weeks, put it down for a couple of months, and then eventually come back to it refreshed and happy to play it again. There's a lot of value in that type of game and this exemplifies the concept as a whole.

Man, I cannot wait to see him devolve into what is basically a sovereign citizen with his defenses.

THE LIST:

Neo: The World Ends With You
Fire Emblem: Three Hopes
Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5: Strikers
Persona 4 Golden
Hypnospace Outlaw
Rune Factory 4
Monster Train
Rimworld
Deep Rock Galactic
Pokemon Violet
Divinity 2: Original Sin
Monster Sanctuary
Monster Train: First Class
Slay the Spire
SM64 Romhack B3313( 0.7)

16- Monster Sanctuary

Game is still good. A solid 7.5/10 for sure. Honestly, there really isn't a "Bad" game on this list because I don't seek them out. The issue is that there's certain team compositions that are flat out better than others, and certain that really can't be used later into the game or against some of the optional content. I got lucky and got my 1-eyed Pikachu early to carry me through the rest of the game, but there's a lot of "useless" monsters and no real way of identifying them early until you understand more about the game's mechanics and what it really values. The story exists. The soundtrack is good, and there's a lot of content for what you're paying for. It's a perfectly fine game to sit and enjoy while disassociating from whatever ails you, the grind isn't tedious and the skill trees are all pretty fun to navigate. It doesn't do anything special, but it doesn't really do anything poorly either.

15- Fire Emblem: Three Hopes

8/10 There's a lot about this game I actually enjoyed more than Three Houses. Shez is a way more interesting protagonist than Byleth, Arval is way more active in the story than Sothis, and the cast of characters doesn't relentlessly jerk off the protagonist every time a meeting is called. A lot of the music remixes hit just right, and between Heaven and Earth is an incredible remix in particular. The story is about as good as a "Alternate reality" story can be, and the map design is surprisingly good for a Dynasty warriors style game. A lot of the side objectives hit the right balance between being piss easy and frustratingly difficult, where you might have to redo the level, but you understand exactly what you did wrong while you're doing so. Unfortunately, the idea of replaying half of the exact same game to get to the original content with each of the Three Lords is as mind-numbingly stupid as it sounds. I got halfway through my first replay and just stopped. It's not a riveting enough genre for sustained replay, and although the story structure is about as interesting as it could be, once you know the twists and hooks it really suffers during subsequent replays. Still a fun game, worth playing, with a banger of a soundtrack.

There's also a couple of savory ones I've tried that aren't too bad. Black sesame was way better than I thought it would be.

From full charge to 79% during a 20 minute drive to the grocery store. It needs to survive until October.

External batteries and frankenphone it is until then I guess.

Make it a streaming slice of life show. First 6 episodes played straight, when the hosting website detects the user has watched the first 6 episodes, they are replaced with slightly different episodes with small unsettling inconsistencies. From episodes 7 onward, begin a slow unraveling of the setting. Sudden jump cuts, dutch angles of nothing in particular while characters are interacting, and let it become more and more unhinged in production until you eventually hit the big tipping point.

Then back to playing it straight for Monika, because she's in control of the production the whole time.

I agree with your opinion, but I have it equal to Pikmin 2. Both are openly flawed games that still innovated things that are absolutely positive overall for the series, but have certain elements of tedium that honestly feel sort of inexcusable.

IceCreamOnStero posted...

Its 1. You have to remember that for 90% of the arc, every single person on Namek was a dustmite compared to Frieza. He's not in a hurry because he doesn't really need to be.

Yeah, but in those two scenarios the literal reason he's on the planet is about to be taken away from him.

It's just sorta wild, because from that point forward it's all about establishing how many orders of magnitude stronger he is than anyone else who is present.

LeCh0nk posted...

All of it. Watch the abridged series.

https://streamable.com/kwpniu

The arc goes out of its way to show us that higher power level means faster flight. We see it with Dodoria chasing the boys, we see it again with Vegeta realizing one of his Dragonballs was stolen, and a third time when the Ginyu force arrives up on planet and arrives almost instantly.

But Frieza? He's moving comparatively slow as hell in his hover car. First on his way to Guru for the information that would literally fulfill his wish of immortality, and again when he realizes that Vegeta/Krillin/Gohan/Dende are in the act of digging up and wishing on the Dragonballs. Frieza is strong as fuck, and there's no way he's ever far enough away to travel to wherever he's going pretty much instantly at his strength. So either

1. The hovercar gimps his speed super hard and he's truly just unwilling to walk because the ground is beneath him(Figuratively and literally)
2. It's just really dumb.

DBZ superfans, which is it?

WingsOfGood posted...

they purposely don't want to

these users are looking for the lowest fruit possible so they can turn their brain off and say he is dismissed

I'll be honest, those in this topic who are doing so actually make this hearing more credible in my eyes by doing so.

You've got one poster who acts as almost exclusively as a mainstream news aggregate website and might not actually exist outside of such a purpose and another one who seemingly takes anything that they don't personally ascribe to as an attack on their very existence. They're like the Monty Hall problem of posters. I was firmly on the "Aliens don't exist" door but having read through the topic and seeing them hovering near door #1 I'm switching to door 2 or 3.

Shouldn't even be a story tbh. Stupid people make stupid decisions that lead to their deaths all the time.

I'm honestly so apathetic towards the whole thing. He chose death. That should be both his end and the end of any stories related to him.

Adachi gets made way better by the P4G anime. Makes the whole "mirror of Yu" aspect feel less forced and gives them a link through their them both being in a constantly introspective state. Adachi's concludes with nihilism and Yu's with belief. Yu acknowledging they can't co-exist and outright rejecting him was also a nice touch.

In the games alone though? Probably Akechi. Adachi is a lot less interesting without the added context, he's just a bored misanthrope with some funny lines. Akechi's jealousy of Joker feels more legitimate than Adachi's hatred of Yu.

It's Peter Thiel and the fact that he's not on your list proves how good he as at the influence he moves.

BurmesePenguin posted...

That is nonsense.

How so? Yalbadoth is some omnipotent destiny deciding god.....except for when he decides to have a bit of fun pretending to be Igor and channeling his inner Jigsaw to have Joker "Play a game." I can't even say it's out of character because Yalbadoth has no character. This is the issue with an omnipotent being as a Villain in general. Maruki acting out of his own weakness is a good motivation because you have the ability to converse and exchange ideas, even if it's ultimately pointless due to the steadfastness of each person's ideology.(Which, honestly, you can't even say. Maruki doesn't let Akechi exist the way he did if he truly believed in his own actions. Akechi is there because Maruki is aware of the flaws in his ideology and I think while he doesn't want to be stopped, he does want to be challenged.) There's even conversations in early may where he straight up admits that he's speaking about his ideas from a place of weakness, and if he was a stronger individual he wouldn't be pursuing any of this.

The twins shit is stupid and there just to make people who completed their social link feel better about having done so. There's no real foreshadowing and it basically comes out of nowhere to most players.

Joker staying completely silent about the Velvet room is really stupid as well, but that's stupid in Persona 4 as well. It's almost like a Persona stupid story staple at this point.

BurmesePenguin posted...

As I said in the other topic, it doesn't matter how much more interesting Maruki is as a character than Shido or Yaldabaoth. Fact remains that the story had a proper ending and welding a random bonus episode onto the end of it doesn't make it better, even if the episode itself was actually good (it's not). The 80 - 100 or whatever hour main game has a structure that concludes and doesn't include the Royal scenario in that conclusion.

The original ending post Shido feels every bit as "Tacked on" as the bonus content from Royal does. Both needlessly increase the scope and scale of the final big bad, but it's less egregious with the Royal content because at that point the original game has already fucked up the scale of the conflict with Yalby so there's not a whole lot more they can add to the stakes in terms of absurdity.

Doe posted...

Seems like a steep learning curve to this game. Sophia has a perfect mechanic with her yoyos for example. But I still don't have a good grasp of the basic mechanics. Like it's not clear when an enemy needs to be all out attacked to die vs when it can just have its health dropped to zero.

A lot of the combat is about continuously triggering weakness in the enemy you're fighting and using that to constantly chain 1-more's and All-out attacks. You shouldn't ever HAVE to hit an All-out attack to finish an enemy, it just causes the "Potential"(Fake?) health bar to be triggered immediately and go down. The issue starting out is that you have very little SP and no real way to regain it, so combat is much tougher early than it is late(Weird, right?)

Most characters standard--->standard------>standard------->Heavy attack chain triggers their element, which is your only real way to take advantage of enemy weaknesses early in the game. Try to always be triggering weaknesses whenever possible and you should have a bit of an easier time with everything.

It will get easier once you have more SP to work with though. Cycling though your team to conserve SP for whoever you need to hit a bosses weakness is a legitimate strategy, especially on higher difficulties.

Maruki's ideal is basically the idea of seperating cause from effect. He wants only the effect, but doesn't care if the cause is how they got to that point.

The real insidious part about Maruki's "Reality" is how prone to confirmation bias it is. He thinks he's making everybody happy, but the truth of the situation is that the people that he's generated based on his perceptions and memories of them are happy. He looks at that and thinks, wow, a world without suffering is great, but it's like writing a novel and being the only one to read it while going, Wow, I'm really good at writing characters.

Joker is the only one who can even CHALLENGE his world view, and that's the fucked up part of the whole arc. Although, you could argue that Akechi being "generated" the way he was is indicative of Maruki knowing what he was doing was wrong. If he believed Akechi's worldview was what was making him unhapy, he would have been obligated through his philosophy to override his conginition of it when he brought him back.

The Shaggy defense is the play here. Hope they don't have screenshots, wipe all personal information off the profile and vehemently deny the incident ever happened.

It's a Subway manager, so the chances of them ever screen grabbing any of it is low. Probably doesn't even know you can delete posts.

I'm okay with it. Board of directors will realize the most replaceable cog of the machine soon enough if they continue down this path.

I thought it was too late in the year for Mason Bees. Any idea as to what's happening?

AndreLeGeant posted...

Judges don't understand antitrust law.

They can't acknowledge it. We've gone so far past the point of monopolies and competitive fairness at this juncture that if we suddenly started enforcing antitrust laws properly you'd see a corporate revolt.

Deep roads has loot at least so my brain gets that dopamine hit every once in a while.

The Fade to me feels like someone played either Kameo, or Threads of Fate, thought it was the coolest shit ever and wanted something similar in DA:O.

CE is too small and insular a community for people to fall for the same trolls in every topic. It's kind of mind blowing.

Not Fire Emblem.

Not most RPG's.

Someone help me out here.

CyricZ posted...

Like this isn't wish fulfillment or anything but it is BONKERS to me in retrospect how there weren't BODIES scattered outside the Capitol once all was said and done.

There was a really good NPR story about the officer who was filmed wearing a trump hat who got blacklisted from the department because he had requested backup earlier in the day. The whole situation is a fucking mess.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/20/1150316026/jan-6-attack-tarik-johonson-former-police

I got the hat from one of the demonstrators outside on the first attempt. And the guy just stuck the hat on my head when I was walking through the crowd. And so when he put the hat on my head, he wanted the hat back. So we were talking. So I was trying to get him to let me keep the hat. And it was another one on the other side. And he asked me, he says, "What are you talking about to him?" and I was like, "I'm trying to keep this hat, but your friend wants his hat back." Now, I don't know if they knew each other, but I just said that. So he says, "Well, you can have my hat." So I was like, "Thank you."
Why did I want the hat? I thought the hat could be a de-escalation tool and a way to protect myself, since people would be less likely to attack me if I was wearing a MAGA hat. That's why I wore the MAGA hat.
I kept it on. I was on the West Front. And I saw more violence combined that day than my entire life.
So, yes, I was scared to death [...] And so when I walked outside and looked at the steps, and I needed to go up to get those officers, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. I looked at the steps and I was like "Oh Jesus Christ, I'm not going up there."
So I go over the radio and try to talk to the officer, and I say something to the effect, 'Try to talk your way down, be nice' because I didn't want to go up there. So then he says something to the effect that "We were just gassed and maced, so that's not our situation." So I was like "(sigh) I guess I gotta go up." So I went over the air to ask somebody for a megaphone or bullhorn, so I could go up there and get the officers myself. And I got somebody to give me a bullhorn. And that's when I made the attempt with officers first.
So when I got up there to the top of the steps, went into the big set of double doors, and I saw some officers, and I just told them to follow me out. You know, it was loud in there. So I turned around and walked back out. And then when I got back down, you know, I tried to see who I had. I didn't get anybody. So on the second attempt, because I was standing outside with the hat on at one point. And then these two guys come up to me, and one of the guys says "What do you think about what's going on out here?" And I looked at him, and I said, "This is terrible. Most of the people here, most of my co-workers, voted for Trump, and we're getting beat up. But the people watching this are laughing at us." And then he asked how could he help. And I said, "Well, I got some officers trapped at the top of the steps, and I need help getting them out." And he said "Sure."... He basically led me up the steps.
We walked up there, and once we got up to the top of the steps.... I was specific in my direction. I said "Listen, hold on to the person in front of you and we're marching out." And then at some point, a hole opened up, and we ran out of there.

I only heard one commander over the radio senior commander and that was Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman. So I heard her, so I said something to the effect that, "the Capitol is breached, we have hundreds of demonstrators in the building, what do you want us to do? We need some direction."
I didn't hear anything so I was thinking "Oh Jesus Christ, we're going to die here." So shortly after that, I asked for permission to evacuate the Senate before we didn't have another chance to later. I didn't get a response, so I did it anyway.
I even said it on the radio that I'll take the 550 or the 534, which are our disciplinary codes. I knew I would get in trouble, but it was more important to get those members of Congress out of the building. So I called for the evacuations of the Senate and shortly after that, the House.

My last day of working was on January 6th 2021. I was out for those two days after that to get tested for COVID. Having COVID would be a big deal for me and my family, because my daughter was born prematurely, and she had respiratory issues. So I isolated in my basement. And I was out, got tested on that Friday and then I got suspended from the Capitol Police on Saturday morning. After being out, I was out approximately 17 months before returning to work, but I didn't return. I came, I processed in, put leave in for a couple of months basically, while I was looking for another job and then I processed out.
They didn't tell me initially why I was suspended. They just told me I was suspended. They came to my house Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon, and the investigator retrieved my badge. My gun was still at work. So they went to my locker and got my gun out. We filled out the paperwork for my suspension to take effect. So I was suspended on January ninth, but later I was told it was for wearing the MAGA hat, and I saw that later. I guess it was a press release or statement that Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman put out. But yeah, I knew I was basically suspended because I was wearing the MAGA hat on January 6.

Let's say you read some really pretentious, "My farts cure cancer" level garbage. Is it moddable to post a vocaroo/voiced version of the post with how you imagine the poster sounds typing it out?

Asking for a friend.

I'll be honest, everything before Xbox/GameCube was "Bad graphics" in my mind.

Everything after ranges from "Decent/good" but I get so much less out of any graphical jump post GameCube.

I honestly don't care if graphics improve from PS4 era ever again. I was playing the new hitman on a 3080, and all I really thought during the intro was, "This game looks nice." I don't need to be able to see the stretch marks on the main character of TLOU3 when the sun hits them. It just doesn't matter to me.

It's weird how CE is so small and insular and yet they struggle to remember which posters literally just take opposition stances to troll people.

bfslick50 posted...

I like it. A movie across a multiverse should have multiple versions.

Exactly. It could even be a super minor plot point in the future film,

"In another universe maybe you even said (Dialogue line from other version) instead."

Just really hammer home that each different decision creates a different split, no matter how slight.

Getting awfully close to artificial immortality here. If an AI can learn and simulate the behavior of a person, and you can create a synthetic version of a person, we're really just a combination and implementation away from being able to install "mock consciences" from the dead.

Awesome idea to ensure rewatches.

You could really fuck up some people if you did something like this with a different genre. Say....surreal horror?

"Listen, we could finish this game and make sure the story answers every question that we've been setting up for the last 40 hours and provides a satisfying ending..."

"......or we can start development on the DLC and subsequent game and make more money."

I don't know why anyone would hate Brie Larson. She's just boring tbh. It's like hating cottage cheese.

I'm only really familiar with 3, 4, and 5, so someone fill me in if I'm missing someone major.

But yeah, Joker is basically master of all cuisines by the end of strikers, and can copy pretty much any recipe seamlessly. Maybe Sojiro, but we only see him make Curry and Coffee really.

I remember Shinji cooks a bunch too.

One is superfluous because every car already has a fuel gauge.

On the other hand, I've seen so many accidents from someone turning right into someone taking a U-turn at an arrow instead of a regular left.

7/10.

Angry bump. Slept on it, still pissed.

The urgent care from hell. Tried to pay it online, their online portal was down, paid it over the phone. Have the credit statement and the transaction ID proving I paid it.

Can I just call up the urgentcare billing and tell them to fix their shit, or do I have to go through collections now to deal with this garbage?

Also, what's the best way to deal any sort of punitive damage to these fucks for pulling this shit?

The real reason we will never see automated truck drivers is because the idea of a corporation assuming sole liability in the result of an accident will NEVER happen.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Their bench looks like one of the, "Health and Safety protocol" teams from Covid-era NBA.

Euripides posted...

The NBA salary cap is meaningless

The only reason the Wizards made this move is because they have a new regime, and they're in cap hell.

There's going to be a huuuuuuuuuuge free agent class when the new CBA hits and mid tier players are suddenly getting offered a lot less money, these are the types of signings Washington's new FO will prioritize.

I play undocked unoptimized ports on my first generation Switch because I enjoy sympathizing with my console as it does its best to chug along while horribly underequipped for the tasks it will be faced with, straining itself more and more until it stumbles, fails, and dies.

P4 before strikers, P5 after strikers.

Sorta horseshit that 80% of the genuine interaction for the P5 cast comes in Strikers tbh. This could also be recency bias, considering I beat P4G 2 months ago and Strikers 2 days ago.

It's honestly a pretty typical Shounen. If you're looking for something different, or with dialogue that doesn't sound like it's recycled from every anime ever, try something like Oddtaxi.

Bass posted...

Huh, this topic made me realize my account just turned 18 a few months ago.

Damn, I'm a month behind you.

No. Basically had the same quality structure as game of thrones. Where it starts out pretty decent, peaks just before the midpoint, and then divebombs into the center of the Earth's core.

The last season might be one of the worst pieces of media ever released from a quality comparison standpoint.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


A rule is followed because the individual believes that doing so results in the best outcome for themselves. If you're reliant upon enforcement to stop someone from breaking a law you've already passed the tipping point. The key with enforcement is that it can only occur AFTER the law is broken. The damage is already done and likely the only applicable punishment is purely punitive in a lot of cases. You can't revive the dead, but you can jail the perpetrator.

You can look at something like religion(which I'm neither arguing for or against tbh, that ship has sailed.), which had/has people convinced that even if conventional enforcement didn't catch them, some almighty ethereal being would punish them for their wrongdoing. If they commit a sin, nothing happens, there isn't some divine intervention smiting them the moment they act unlawfully...but the idea of eternal damnation acted as an effective enough deterrent that people believe acting lawfully is ultimately the best outcome for them. As long as you somehow have the majority of people convinced that it's in their best interest NOT to commit a crime, then you have an additional layer of societal pressure inhibiting people from doing so.

So, you look at our current state of affairs. Our leaders regularly break the law without repercussions and wealth generally acts as a legal shield for those who have it. People struggle to make ends meet, and as the CDC just stated, depression is at an all time high. You have the news convincing people that not only is the world dangerous, but everyone who doesn't believe what they do is a violent menace coming for everything they know and love. For the majority of people, committing a crime appears more reasonable than ever before because not only is there not societal pressure not to, but those who do so are often rewarded in the short term before anything negative even happens(Look at Theramos and FTX for examples of such.); or their situation is already shitty enough that there's literally no outcome worse than the one they're already faced with on a daily basis. "Nothing to lose". So, in an increasingly secular society, what pressures are applied to encourage the average citizen to NOT break the law? Gun violence is the most insidious of the existing outcomes, but it's not the only enforcement being tested right now, just the most visible.

What is going to down the road replace religion as a way to keep a modern secular society in check? You see it already happening in China and elsewhere. Once you're able to maintain surveillance on your citizens and your citizens are AWARE of the fact that they're being watched/monitored and at risk of having their social or financial credit impacted, that becomes the modern deterrent for the average person not to commit crimes. A return of an existential threat required to "keep people in-line." Again, you've allowed society to create its own deterrent through fear of potential consequences, which is the most effective way to become "lawful" as a nation. I truly believe that American leadership condemns mass surveillance only until the existing model becomes viable for us to implement as a whole, because it just makes sense from the perspective of those in charge/control of a modern society. I could even be convinced that the reason we won't see gun control of any significant nature in my lifetime is because gun violence makes the future case for mass surveillance that much easier for the government. Like the modern Republican MO of claiming a problem is "Unsolvable", destroying every viable solution, and then going, "See? Unsolvable."