Poll of the Day > I hate Square Enix

(+) Yeah! (+)

That's a good place to be and honestly, it's best to hate all companies by default.

Judgmenl posted...

The last Hitman game I genuinely enjoyed was Absolution.

Absolution is an abomination and you should seriously reconsider your tastes if you enjoyed it.

At least they're finally getting someone to remake Front Mission 2, that needed a remake 15 years ago. If it sells, then a remake of 2089-II might be made.

Zareth posted...

Absolution is an abomination and you should seriously reconsider your tastes if you enjoyed it.

I don't know if I would go that far but, yea, it is clearly the worst of the series.

Everything is just so linear and laid out for you that it is almost impossible to discover "new things" when replaying the game. The only reason to replay is to acquire different "kill methods" that you didn't before, and even then it is only small variations on the path.

The newer trilogy is so much better in every way. There are less levels in each game, sure, but each level has so many options that you can play them a dozen times each and still not see every possible thing there is to see. And the game rewards you so much for replay by giving you different load-outs, new starting locations, new challenges, etc.

DeathMagnetic80 posted...

I was class of '99, so I'm probably extra nostalgic for the 90s, just because I had such a short window of my young adulthood where things seemed normal. 9/11 happened a little after I turned 21 and the world has kind of sucked since then.

I think that's mostly just an age thing. Generally speaking, depending on how socially adept one is as a teenager, either high school or college are going to be the high point of many people's lives, since that's a period where they have relatively few responsibilities and can mostly ignore how much the world sucks. Really, the world has always sucked and is always going to suck. The only thing that changes is how it sucks, so if we're fondly remembering a period because we don't remember it sucking, that's purely because that was a time when we had the privilege to ignore the suckitude, but because it actually didn't suck.

adjl posted...

I think that's mostly just an age thing. Generally speaking, depending on how socially adept one is as a teenager, either high school or college are going to be the high point of many people's lives, since that's a period where they have relatively few responsibilities and can mostly ignore how much the world sucks. Really, the world has always sucked and is always going to suck. The only thing that changes is how it sucks, so if we're fondly remembering a period because we don't remember it sucking, that's purely because that was a time when we had the privilege to ignore the suckitude, but because it actually didn't suck.

I know youth nostalgia is a thing...but really, by more objective measures I think the 80-90s actually hold up pretty darn well. It was pre-toxic internet, the US was at a high point, we were largely pre (open) culture wars, etc. The only good things added post-90s are phones/Amazon/etc technical conveniences. The 80-90s weren't perfect by any means, but if nothing else there were some fairly consistent values and a sense of "us".

Did it exclude some people? Sure, but I will honesty say I believe mainstream culture was reaching out to those who were excluded better in the 90s than all of the hyper partisan crap that's happening today. To point: there need to be accepted mainstream values and a happy sense of "us" to make people want to meet there in the middle. That existed to a degree then. It doesn't now.

I don't want to over-romanticize the 90s, but I don't believe it would be right to dismiss it as nostalgia either. Those who prefer the US of today are largely those who view themselves as part of a small "tribe" within the US that's been empowered by the internet/etc. There's nothing wrong with that at a high level (it's better in some cases than others) but it has killed the mainstream culture of the past. To anyone who would say that's not a bad thing, I would say "do you really think you're going to enjoy what comes next?" It's easy to tear down. Building up is hard (and NEVER perfect).

Not sure why I'm going off on this in a SE topic.

when you bought a game in the 90's, you bought a whole complete game. period.

nowdays you buy half games with the other half being blocked behind dlcs, season passes etc
there isn't a healthy relationship between the consumer and the company anymore, you feel that one way or another the other side is doing underhanded things to squeeze your money, yes there were things like that in the 90's as well but it's a lot more mainstream to the point where a game not doing that is rare

Wanded posted...

when you bought a game in the 90's, you bought a whole complete game. period.

nowdays you buy half games with the other half being blocked behind dlcs, season passes etc
there isn't a healthy relationship between the consumer and the company anymore, you feel that one way or another the other side is doing underhanded things to squeeze your money, yes there were things like that in the 90's as well but it's a lot more mainstream to the point where a game not doing that is rare

Mostly, I think that just means you need to get out of the AAA space. There are plenty of games that either have no post-purchase monetization at all or for which DLC is more akin to the expansion packs that were not uncommon in the 90's (which I actually do like: being able to buy more of a game I really enjoy is a good thing, in my books). The AAA market just doesn't do much of that, because being beholden to shareholders and giant budgets mean there's a lot of incentive to squeeze every possible cent out of players. Focus on smaller studios that are making games for the love of making games, and there's lots of great stuff out there.

wpot posted...

It was pre-toxic internet, the US was at a high point, we were largely pre (open) culture wars, etc. The only good things added post-90s are phones/Amazon/etc technical conveniences. The 80-90s weren't perfect by any means, but if nothing else there were some fairly consistent values and a sense of "us".

Most of that roughly translates to "it was easier to ignore the world's problems and people that disagree with me." There's certainly merit in saying that that's better for one's mental health (see: the whole concept of "doomscrolling" that has grown out of social media providing a more comprehensive picture of all the terrible things that are happening at any given time), such that knowing when to disconnect is a valuable skill to develop, but calling it objectively better is definitely a stretch.

adjl posted...

Mostly, I think that just means you need to get out of the AAA space. There are plenty of games that either have no post-purchase monetization at all or for which DLC is more akin to the expansion packs that were not uncommon in the 90's (which I actually do like: being able to buy more of a game I really enjoy is a good thing, in my books). The AAA market just doesn't do much of that, because being beholden to shareholders and giant budgets mean there's a lot of incentive to squeeze every possible cent out of players. Focus on smaller studios that are making games for the love of making games, and there's lots of great stuff out there.

Most of that roughly translates to "it was easier to ignore the world's problems and people that disagree with me." There's certainly merit in saying that that's better for one's mental health (see: the whole concept of "doomscrolling" that has grown out of social media providing a more comprehensive picture of all the terrible things that are happening at any given time), such that knowing when to disconnect is a valuable skill to develop, but calling it objectively better is definitely a stretch.

Nah.

Judgmenl posted...

All nostalgia is awful.
Create and embrace new things.

https://youtu.be/1SNRULEnTVQ

I have no issues with that scene.

adjl posted...

Most of that roughly translates to "it was easier to ignore the world's problems and people that disagree with me."

Kind of, but that's not framed correctly. Are there problems? Absolutely. However, the internet is being used to push the most extremely emotional manifestations of problems. That has the effect (often desired by the poster) of driving people apart into tribes and making compromise impossible. Problems can't be ignored, but it's extremely counterproductive to interact with them in the way we are currently interacting with them. There's no storage of bad actors (i.e. Russia) pulling up and promoting the most extreme stuff on both sides of the political system to take us down.

So: the calm of the 90s absolutely had real value. Some big problems can't be seen as well during a calm, it is true, but society can actually SOLVE problems (even if slowly or impractically) during calm. A tribal society can't solve problems in any lasting way: it can only fight until one tribe wins. A society needs to have some semblance of agreement regarding "who we are and what we value", even if imperfect, to function. In the US it has obviously been a problem that minorities have had less say in that vision and that is 100% wrong. I'm just pointing out the reality that a nation can't succeed without a sense of "us" and, despite good intentions on the part of (in my view) the left...we are getting further from such a sense. Not closer.

So...society is really too complicated to be judged "objectively" by our human brains. ...but if you ask me, I take society in the 90s.

Judgmenl posted...

I have no issues with that scene.

Interesting... since it's both old and I posted it out of nostalgia.

adjl posted...

I think that's mostly just an age thing. Generally speaking, depending on how socially adept one is as a teenager, either high school or college are going to be the high point of many people's lives, since that's a period where they have relatively few responsibilities and can mostly ignore how much the world sucks. Really, the world has always sucked and is always going to suck. The only thing that changes is how it sucks, so if we're fondly remembering a period because we don't remember it sucking, that's purely because that was a time when we had the privilege to ignore the suckitude, but because it actually didn't suck.

I mean, part of it was I was at the perfect age where a bunch of my friends and family went off to war after 9/11 (some had signed up for the military in '99 and 2000) Luckily none of them died, but I have a few suffering from PTSD because of what they saw in Iraq and Afganistan.