@Cherip-the-Ripper If you go with FromSoftware :
Demon's Souls (remake) if you want something not too long and well organized
Elden Ring if you want something expansive in every way
Bloodborne of course, if you like quicker gameplay and gothic atmosphere
Some will vouch for Sekiro, but I just couldn't get into the flow of the gameplay, and the world didn't do it for it. But some will say it's the best FromSoft game, so who knows.
The Dark Souls series is seminal, especially the first one, but they are starting to feel dated, mainly because subsequent games have refined every aspects.
Other than FromSoft, here are a few games more or less from the same genre that I enjoyed :
Code Vein (as you said)
The Surge 2 (a lot bettter than the first, really well made, with interesting mechanics... just get a bit repetitive in the last third)
Ashen (open-world, minimalistic design, quite enjoyable but far from "great")
Steelrising (I liked the design anbd story, but being part French, I am biased, the gameplay was ok at best)
SINNER: Sacrifice for Redemption (very small game, only a few bosses, but very fun gameplay and design)
Salt and Sanctuary (a fantastic game, Dark Souls in 2D, but really, it's not just a marketing ploy)
Mortal Shell (the world design is really good, no doubt, but there's something in the weight of the gameplay that didn't click with me)
Some will say Nioh (1 and 2) but I really didn't like those games. Besides the Japanese yokai esthetic, which I don't like, it felt repetitive and boring. But some love them...
These are the ones that come to mind. I've tried other but they aren't worth mentioning in my opinion.
@Fiendish-Beaver First, I don't think you're that older than me. At least I wouldn't consider myself young in any way! : ) But if we go with "lived experience" (how I hate this pleonasm!), I have almost 20 years of teaching experience in secondary school, and I can tell you there has been a normalization of certain sexual practices along kids due to porn access and pop culture in these years that are frightening. One good example is incest and Game of Thrones. Never before the series started would have I even imagined my students talking about incest in any positive way, but now it isn't as taboo or viewed as abhorrent (as you say) as before. Pop culture does influence how people, and especially young people, think and view some things. It's not a 1:1 influence, of course, but it's not nothing. When you say "People speaking about it simply reaffirms the fact that the act is abhorrent.", I think you are being very optimistic. If the general reaction around this scene had been disgust, criticism, or even mockery, I would have agreed with you the scene wouldn't matter. But seeing the number of people lauding the boldness, the openness about sex of the devs, people going to great lengths to rationalize the scene ("it's not really a bear") irks me... a lot. The same way people rationalizing incest in Game of Thrones ("they're loving consenting adults") or underage sexualization in anime ("it's not a child, it's a 100 year old vampire") irks me. This makes me think it's not really about the "freedom of choice" the game gives its players.... Don't get me wrong, I love smut. I enjoy exploitation movies, violence and sex as much as any other man. But the point in these content is that you know you're watching something you shouldn't. You know the acts you see are terrible. My issue here is not about the inclusion of such a scene, but about the fact that the scene is viewed as something positive and that the devs thought it would be good marketing materials... and that they were apparently right, since people are seemingly ready to see these things as ok or, worse, good. Of course this small scene in a 200 hour long RPG will not make society shift towards bestiality, I never said that. But shifts in cultural perception can happen slowly, and the fact this scene has been reported this much, and has garnered that much defenders shows that we should be careful about the way we include these things, and how we talk about it, especially around young ones. And to end on a correction : I've never said this article "glorified" bestiality, I don't even get where you took that from. I get the sense you arguing a bit against someone else's views, I hope I'm wrong.
@GamingFan4Lyf On that I agree wholeheartedly, but sadly we don't live in a world where most parents do care about the games their kids play. The number of middle school kids (11 to 14 yo) I've seen who played GTAV (among other mature games) in the last 10 years is, to me, depressing...
@Neverwild Opinions, he! : ) I completely disagree with you and would put DS1, Bloodborne and Elden Ring on top, with both Niohs far far behind any FromSoft game, but that's why it's good more and more fantastic soulslike games are done : players will be able to find games that do appeal to their own specific tastes!
@Cherip-the-Ripper I played and finish Code Vein. I liked it a lot for what it was, but it certainly wasn't on the level of FromSoft's games. I haven't tried WoLong yet, just the demo, and to me, it's more of Nioh, and I don't like both games. While I appreciate the fighting mechanics, the rest of the game doesn't appeal to me.
@Fiendish-Beaver At no point did I tell anyone what to think, I really can't even understand how you came to that conclusion... I say what I think, which I can, about a game, on a gaming forum, and specifically about a scene that is over-mediatised. You really see an issue with this, or is it simply because you disagree with me.
On the second part, you missed the point. The point is not that this specific scene will make people go crazy and corner every bear they see, but that the normalization of deviant sexual acts in mainstream media should be something we are careful about, since multiple studies show this can have negative effects, especially on young people. Now, I can't cite any study specifically about being subjected to content including bestiality, as I am pretty sure until now nobody even submitted it should be acceptable to present bestiality in any other way than deviant/disgusting/immoral. See the first episode of Black Mirror for example.
And if you honestly believe the way we depict sexual acts in media has no impact whatsoever on our sexual practices, well, "then I am afraid it says more about you as an individual than the rest of the civilised world"... ; )
Who told you I didn't reach Larian about it?
Again, I'm not telling anyone what to think about it, I'm expressing my thoughts about something that I deem concerning and that is being reported on and defended repeatedly these last weeks. Why should I "stay clear" of content I find objectionable? Isn't expressing your disagreement with something a legitimate way to engage in conversation? You obviously may and can disagree with my views, so what is exactly your issue with me expressing my thoughts here?
Also, may I know what exactly is your point here? Is it that I am misinterpreting the motivation of the devs or the people reacting positively to the scene? Is it that I am overestimating the impact of the depiction of such sexual acts in media? Is it that you think it's a good thing to depict such acts?
@Fiendish-Beaver Not again with the "it's not really a bear" argument, please. Larian knows exactly why they made this scene, why they marketed it heavily and people reacting positively also know why : because a guy has sex with a bear. Find the excuses you want, the essence of what makes this scene attractive/repulsive to people is the sexual act with a bear.
@StrawberryTurtle Some do jokes, some just enjoy the scene. The thing is when we allow sexual perversion to be included in mainstream media content, this has repercussions. And I prefer to say I oppose it as soon as I am aware than to come back 5 years later and notice I've been blind and silent to it. And please, the effects of the depiction of violence and sexual acts on minds (especially young minds) have been extensively studied and it is not comparable. While watching depiction of fictional violence will generally not make someone violent if they didn't already have tendencies (I hope I don't have to provide sources for this, it has been debunked so many times), watching depiction of sexual acts that include immoral actions (violence, absence of consent, bestiality, incest, ...) has an impact on how these things are viewed, and how likely someone will be doing them. Here are some studies : https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-022-00698-8 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780124662803500099 So yes, the inclusion of bestiality depicted in an empathetic and positive way in a mainstream game should be questioned and it's quite normal that some of us don't think it's a good idea.
@DennisReynolds I really want this and Lords of the Fallen to succeed. I love soulsborne games to death, but the genre has really been dominated by their creators, FromSoft. And to be honest, they have managed to make better games with (almost) every successive game. But we need more competition in the genre. Steelrising didn't cut it for me, except on the design part. And The Surge 2 was good, but got repetitive after a while. While I really like a lot of things in Mortal Shell, there was something missing in the way the movement felt. So hopefully this and LotF will stir up things a bit, before the Elden Ring DLC...
@StrawberryTurtle If people enjoy and applaud the inclusion of bestiality in a game they're waiting for, then yes, I take them at their word. At best, they find this inclusion outrageously sexy. At worst, they condone bestiality. I'm curious, as you've been defending this scene multiple times now : what exactly do you support here? What do you think is good in the scene? I'm just a bit confused as to what exactly your point is here. It seems to me you just want to oppose views you have deemed "close-minded" without really thinking it over, but maybe I'm wrong and you really are trying to make a point and to defend an interesting and progressive point of view.
@StrawberryTurtle If you really "didn't saw anyone calling this scene sexy", then you didn't watch the livestream with the audience eagerly responding to what was shown, and you completely missed the whole point of this issue. I take seriously people seeing bestiality as sexy, yes, this is one of my red lines, we each have our own.
@StrawberryTurtle There is "funny because it's disgusting" (like in South Park) and then there is "funny because it's outrageous and sexy" (like, apparently, it is meant to be here, and it is appreciated by sadly too many people). Not every "funny" is the same.
The sad part is that this cheap marketing tactic is garnering so much positive reaction, especially from the "journalistic" side of gaming.
Larian can put whatever they want in their game, and can decide to use whatever they want in their marketing. But the way people, and gaming news sites, just gobbled up the story, either for the shock value or because they thought it funny/sexy enough to warrant long articles, is depressing.
Sex sells, we know, and I have personally no issue with "sexy" (I even find it missing a bit too much from AAA games lately).. But if we have come to a point where bear sex is viewed as a positive addition to your 100 hour long RPG warranting its special marketing, maybe it's time to review some of the ways we approach sexual content... just a bit... to see where we stand.
@evan23 Yeah, they know exactly what they're doing.
And the worst part : for an extremely small budget, that will make a huge profit, since many many people will buy it, because :
they don't know it's just a port
they don't care it's just a port, they just wnat to be able to play RDR on their current console
they will buy anything RDR related
And Rockstar/Take Two know it... so they do it... it works... and the cycle continues...
Even if I have no way to verify what they say, the fact that they say it so candidly is fantastic. Companies have to understand that customers value honesty and transparency, at least I personally do. After years of gaming plagued by botched releases, this is refreshing.
@GamingFan4Lyf Wow, shame on me, I didn't look at the blogpost, trusting PushSquare to give the most important info in their article. But still, I should have done what I generally do : check the source.
So if I understand well, this is allowing any sound produced by the Tempest 3D Engine to output as Dolby Atmos. So in theory, any game should benefit from it (with various degrees of success). That's quite an achievement and, as you say, it must have been some big collaboration between Sony and Dolby to get this thing working!!!
@Perryg92 True Atmos does already work for UHD Blurays... So you may be right, it's maybe only for internal apps, which would be great for those using them.
But for the games, on Xbox there are few dozens of games that are Atmos compatible https://www.trueachievements.com/dolby-atmos/games , and I would love to see them be so on PS5 too, but that would be a huge blow to the Tempest Engine, since Sony had promised it would come to soundbars and home theater systems after tvs...
I'll keep a very interested eye on this though, 3D surround sound can really be incredible for some games.
Good to know intimacy coordinators don't see any problem in simulated bestiality. Another piece of evidence to show it's just another one of these BS jobs our current society loves to create.
@Damage99 Well, not exactly. I mean, pre-rendered cutscenes, diversity and complexity of set-pieces and environment, all of these will bring the GB count up. So yes, it's not a direct link, but still, if a story based single player game is 100GB, you know it will have a longer campaign than a 20GB one. Unless it is very poorly optimised...
After a bit of research (should have done this before my previous comment), the game should take 15-20 hours for campaign, +10h for completion. Seems fair. https://exputer.com/guides/atlas-fallen-game-length/
Good, this mean it won't be too long and won't overstay its welcome. Based on what I've seen, it looks like fun, kinetic gameplay, but if all is in the desert, a 100 hour campaign would have been tedious. Of course, there's still the possibility of it being not only too long, but with always the same assets used along the campaign... Let's hope not.
But seriously, I'm... not convinced. While I am a fervent admirer of FromSoft, this doesn't make me immediately play it. I'm afraid it looks repetitive in its gameplay and tedium with the micro management of the mechs. But I guess repetitive and tedium could be used to describe Soulsborne games and I love them so, who knows...
I absolutely loved Dragon Quest XI. So I'm down for another round of Dragon Quest, even if the gameplay is different. What I've seen up to now is quite promising!
@LifeGirl 100% agree. Of the 3 very long animes I have watched (Dragon ball, Naruto and Fairy Tail - I've passed Bleach and One Piece), Fairy Tail is the only one that managed to stay consistant until the end, mainly due to some huge revelations they kept until the end, but more importantly because the sense of camaraderie was still present. Dragon Ball switches to "get a more powerful transformation = get the win" after Namek, and no one except Goku (and sometimes Vegeta or Gohan) really did anything... Naruto went too filler-y after a while, with interesting designs, but a paper thin plot stretched over hundreds of episodes. It ended for me with Shikamaru vs Hidan, an incredible fight full of feels and smarts.
I'm completely hooked! The visuals, the characters, the battle mechanics, this game just manage to find the exact balance between complexity and simplicity that I yearn for in JRPGs!
I struggle to see anything interesting in what was shown. Even NFS is trying to shake things up with weird effects and day/night gameplay modifications.
But in general, I'd love a good discussion about open world vs race tracks for racing games. I personally feel open world makes the racing less personal, more bland, less deliberate and induces a lack of set pieces.
While I fully acknowledge that a lot of people enjoy open world racing games, I simply can't see why...
Can they remake Need for Speed III : Hot Pursuit first?
I really don't like open-world for racing games, I prefer handmade race tracks that bring deliberate challenges and set-pieces, and the first Hot Pursuit was a very good example of this (even if I'm sure I would be disappointed if I were to go back to it today... nostalgia ha!)
@Sekijo Don't you think there is a difference between a game inspired by a cartoon that is meant to mock and criticize society's problems and people's behaviors on one side, and on the other side a serious RPG game that is promoting a romance choice including some form of behavior considered illegal/immoral?
At which point did you think while watching/playing South Park that the devs/producers were promoting the idea that bestiality was good, or even ok?
Here in this game we have the clear promotion of such behavior. And it is included in the marketing of the game just to create controversy while appealing to what they think their main audience want... which is a frightening thought if they are right.
Now, don't get me wrong : I am against censorship of content meant for adults (and even there, how strong will the "For adults" part of this game be enforced?), so if the devs want to depict bestiality in a positive way, they can. I'm just disappointed and disgusted at the positive reactions to it.
@NEStalgia I played Divinity 2 on console and it's glorious, I never felt the lack of mouse hindered my enjoyment so I'd say go for it. At least, grab it on sale you can get it dirt cheap nowadays.
@NEStalgia Frankly, something doesn't have to be Marvel/Star Wars level of mainstream to be mainstream. When you say Dungeons & Dragons, a lot, and I mean a lot, of people will at least have an idea of what I'm talking about. And it's growing. Don't forget that the nerds of the 80s-90s (me included) are in our 40s-50s now, and we manage the brands' awareness.
As for Baldur's Gate 3, it is going to be one the major video game release of 2023, at least if you exclude all the multiplayer focused games. Not calling it mainstream is a stretch. It's not Spider-Man 2 level of awareness, but still.
1-Violence and sex are not the same topics, and don't necessitate the same approaches, as laws and morality have shown in every society. Others in this thread have given examples for this (some even have seen their comment deleted just for this... weird). Different ethical dilemmas, different rules.
2-What's your point exactly? Is it : we did a bad job about violence, so let's do the same bad job about bestiality? Or is it that violence is ok, therefore bestiality is ok too?
Sorry to burst your bubble, but D&D is mainstream now. I know a lot of people want to pretend their nerdy hobbies (mine too!) are still niche, but they're really not.
@Kylekgh Would you hold the same views if the character in question was transforming into a 10 year old kid instead of a bear? I hope not.
Therefore, since you have your own limits, you should expect other people to also have limits of their own, and bestiality is quite a common ethical limit to sexual intercourse (and its depiction in art and entertainment) in most societies... don't you think?
@ShadowofSparta "but in a funny and silly way" So we're officially in the "bestially is a funny kink like any other" time period now? I though it was slippery slope fallacy to say we were going towards this?
@themightyant I totally get what you mean with the feeling of a lack of progression after some time, and this is where the free updates and the DLCs came in. Between making the game fully customizable, new biomes, new weapons, new unlockables, new modes and so on, you really get enough variety to motivate you into playing again.
Need repeating : this is one of the best games on the PS4. Fantastic gameplay, wonderful pixel art, engaging game loop, great music and absolutely incredible support from the team.
Very glad to see it with a native PS5 version, İ hope it will bring even more people to it.
I've tried the demo and it's obviously an humongous fantastic RPG. But damn the characters look boring!
I never felt even a little empathy or connection to these plastic faced characters, talking like they were out of a low budget fantasy movie. Add to that a very bland character design and I'm afraid I won't be invested in them enough to see the game to the end...
@KidRyan In a way, you're not wrong : there is absolutely nothing that looks like even remotely interesting in this battle pass.
But at the same time I don't think the "it's just cosmetics" is a good one. How the game, and your character, looks is very closely tied to your enjoyment of the game... and producers know that well : this is why they sell cosmetics!
The "it's just cosmetics" is pure corporate BS that has been repeated so many times people have started believing it.
Comments 1,111
Re: Lies of P Goes Gold with September PS5, PS4 Launch Looming
@Cherip-the-Ripper If you go with FromSoftware :
Demon's Souls (remake) if you want something not too long and well organized
Elden Ring if you want something expansive in every way
Bloodborne of course, if you like quicker gameplay and gothic atmosphere
Some will vouch for Sekiro, but I just couldn't get into the flow of the gameplay, and the world didn't do it for it. But some will say it's the best FromSoft game, so who knows.
The Dark Souls series is seminal, especially the first one, but they are starting to feel dated, mainly because subsequent games have refined every aspects.
Other than FromSoft, here are a few games more or less from the same genre that I enjoyed :
Code Vein (as you said)
The Surge 2 (a lot bettter than the first, really well made, with interesting mechanics... just get a bit repetitive in the last third)
Ashen (open-world, minimalistic design, quite enjoyable but far from "great")
Steelrising (I liked the design anbd story, but being part French, I am biased, the gameplay was ok at best)
SINNER: Sacrifice for Redemption (very small game, only a few bosses, but very fun gameplay and design)
Salt and Sanctuary (a fantastic game, Dark Souls in 2D, but really, it's not just a marketing ploy)
Mortal Shell (the world design is really good, no doubt, but there's something in the weight of the gameplay that didn't click with me)
Some will say Nioh (1 and 2) but I really didn't like those games. Besides the Japanese yokai esthetic, which I don't like, it felt repetitive and boring. But some love them...
These are the ones that come to mind. I've tried other but they aren't worth mentioning in my opinion.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Lord Swen Vincke Unprepared for How Completely Viral That Bear Scene Went
@Fiendish-Beaver First, I don't think you're that older than me. At least I wouldn't consider myself young in any way! : )
But if we go with "lived experience" (how I hate this pleonasm!), I have almost 20 years of teaching experience in secondary school, and I can tell you there has been a normalization of certain sexual practices along kids due to porn access and pop culture in these years that are frightening. One good example is incest and Game of Thrones. Never before the series started would have I even imagined my students talking about incest in any positive way, but now it isn't as taboo or viewed as abhorrent (as you say) as before. Pop culture does influence how people, and especially young people, think and view some things. It's not a 1:1 influence, of course, but it's not nothing.
When you say "People speaking about it simply reaffirms the fact that the act is abhorrent.", I think you are being very optimistic. If the general reaction around this scene had been disgust, criticism, or even mockery, I would have agreed with you the scene wouldn't matter. But seeing the number of people lauding the boldness, the openness about sex of the devs, people going to great lengths to rationalize the scene ("it's not really a bear") irks me... a lot. The same way people rationalizing incest in Game of Thrones ("they're loving consenting adults") or underage sexualization in anime ("it's not a child, it's a 100 year old vampire") irks me. This makes me think it's not really about the "freedom of choice" the game gives its players....
Don't get me wrong, I love smut. I enjoy exploitation movies, violence and sex as much as any other man. But the point in these content is that you know you're watching something you shouldn't. You know the acts you see are terrible. My issue here is not about the inclusion of such a scene, but about the fact that the scene is viewed as something positive and that the devs thought it would be good marketing materials... and that they were apparently right, since people are seemingly ready to see these things as ok or, worse, good.
Of course this small scene in a 200 hour long RPG will not make society shift towards bestiality, I never said that. But shifts in cultural perception can happen slowly, and the fact this scene has been reported this much, and has garnered that much defenders shows that we should be careful about the way we include these things, and how we talk about it, especially around young ones.
And to end on a correction : I've never said this article "glorified" bestiality, I don't even get where you took that from. I get the sense you arguing a bit against someone else's views, I hope I'm wrong.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Lord Swen Vincke Unprepared for How Completely Viral That Bear Scene Went
@GamingFan4Lyf On that I agree wholeheartedly, but sadly we don't live in a world where most parents do care about the games their kids play. The number of middle school kids (11 to 14 yo) I've seen who played GTAV (among other mature games) in the last 10 years is, to me, depressing...
Re: Lies of P Goes Gold with September PS5, PS4 Launch Looming
@Neverwild Opinions, he! : )
I completely disagree with you and would put DS1, Bloodborne and Elden Ring on top, with both Niohs far far behind any FromSoft game, but that's why it's good more and more fantastic soulslike games are done : players will be able to find games that do appeal to their own specific tastes!
Re: Lies of P Goes Gold with September PS5, PS4 Launch Looming
@Cherip-the-Ripper I played and finish Code Vein. I liked it a lot for what it was, but it certainly wasn't on the level of FromSoft's games.
I haven't tried WoLong yet, just the demo, and to me, it's more of Nioh, and I don't like both games. While I appreciate the fighting mechanics, the rest of the game doesn't appeal to me.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Lord Swen Vincke Unprepared for How Completely Viral That Bear Scene Went
@Fiendish-Beaver At no point did I tell anyone what to think, I really can't even understand how you came to that conclusion... I say what I think, which I can, about a game, on a gaming forum, and specifically about a scene that is over-mediatised. You really see an issue with this, or is it simply because you disagree with me.
On the second part, you missed the point. The point is not that this specific scene will make people go crazy and corner every bear they see, but that the normalization of deviant sexual acts in mainstream media should be something we are careful about, since multiple studies show this can have negative effects, especially on young people. Now, I can't cite any study specifically about being subjected to content including bestiality, as I am pretty sure until now nobody even submitted it should be acceptable to present bestiality in any other way than deviant/disgusting/immoral. See the first episode of Black Mirror for example.
And if you honestly believe the way we depict sexual acts in media has no impact whatsoever on our sexual practices, well, "then I am afraid it says more about you as an individual than the rest of the civilised world"... ; )
Who told you I didn't reach Larian about it?
Again, I'm not telling anyone what to think about it, I'm expressing my thoughts about something that I deem concerning and that is being reported on and defended repeatedly these last weeks. Why should I "stay clear" of content I find objectionable? Isn't expressing your disagreement with something a legitimate way to engage in conversation? You obviously may and can disagree with my views, so what is exactly your issue with me expressing my thoughts here?
Also, may I know what exactly is your point here? Is it that I am misinterpreting the motivation of the devs or the people reacting positively to the scene? Is it that I am overestimating the impact of the depiction of such sexual acts in media? Is it that you think it's a good thing to depict such acts?
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Lord Swen Vincke Unprepared for How Completely Viral That Bear Scene Went
@Fiendish-Beaver Not again with the "it's not really a bear" argument, please. Larian knows exactly why they made this scene, why they marketed it heavily and people reacting positively also know why : because a guy has sex with a bear. Find the excuses you want, the essence of what makes this scene attractive/repulsive to people is the sexual act with a bear.
@StrawberryTurtle Some do jokes, some just enjoy the scene. The thing is when we allow sexual perversion to be included in mainstream media content, this has repercussions. And I prefer to say I oppose it as soon as I am aware than to come back 5 years later and notice I've been blind and silent to it.
And please, the effects of the depiction of violence and sexual acts on minds (especially young minds) have been extensively studied and it is not comparable. While watching depiction of fictional violence will generally not make someone violent if they didn't already have tendencies (I hope I don't have to provide sources for this, it has been debunked so many times), watching depiction of sexual acts that include immoral actions (violence, absence of consent, bestiality, incest, ...) has an impact on how these things are viewed, and how likely someone will be doing them.
Here are some studies :
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-022-00698-8
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780124662803500099
So yes, the inclusion of bestiality depicted in an empathetic and positive way in a mainstream game should be questioned and it's quite normal that some of us don't think it's a good idea.
Re: Lies of P Goes Gold with September PS5, PS4 Launch Looming
@DennisReynolds I really want this and Lords of the Fallen to succeed. I love soulsborne games to death, but the genre has really been dominated by their creators, FromSoft. And to be honest, they have managed to make better games with (almost) every successive game.
But we need more competition in the genre. Steelrising didn't cut it for me, except on the design part. And The Surge 2 was good, but got repetitive after a while. While I really like a lot of things in Mortal Shell, there was something missing in the way the movement felt.
So hopefully this and LotF will stir up things a bit, before the Elden Ring DLC...
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Lord Swen Vincke Unprepared for How Completely Viral That Bear Scene Went
@StrawberryTurtle If people enjoy and applaud the inclusion of bestiality in a game they're waiting for, then yes, I take them at their word. At best, they find this inclusion outrageously sexy. At worst, they condone bestiality.
I'm curious, as you've been defending this scene multiple times now : what exactly do you support here? What do you think is good in the scene?
I'm just a bit confused as to what exactly your point is here. It seems to me you just want to oppose views you have deemed "close-minded" without really thinking it over, but maybe I'm wrong and you really are trying to make a point and to defend an interesting and progressive point of view.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Lord Swen Vincke Unprepared for How Completely Viral That Bear Scene Went
@StrawberryTurtle If you really "didn't saw anyone calling this scene sexy", then you didn't watch the livestream with the audience eagerly responding to what was shown, and you completely missed the whole point of this issue.
I take seriously people seeing bestiality as sexy, yes, this is one of my red lines, we each have our own.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Lord Swen Vincke Unprepared for How Completely Viral That Bear Scene Went
@StrawberryTurtle There is "funny because it's disgusting" (like in South Park) and then there is "funny because it's outrageous and sexy" (like, apparently, it is meant to be here, and it is appreciated by sadly too many people).
Not every "funny" is the same.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Lord Swen Vincke Unprepared for How Completely Viral That Bear Scene Went
The sad part is that this cheap marketing tactic is garnering so much positive reaction, especially from the "journalistic" side of gaming.
Larian can put whatever they want in their game, and can decide to use whatever they want in their marketing. But the way people, and gaming news sites, just gobbled up the story, either for the shock value or because they thought it funny/sexy enough to warrant long articles, is depressing.
Sex sells, we know, and I have personally no issue with "sexy" (I even find it missing a bit too much from AAA games lately).. But if we have come to a point where bear sex is viewed as a positive addition to your 100 hour long RPG warranting its special marketing, maybe it's time to review some of the ways we approach sexual content... just a bit... to see where we stand.
Re: Poll: Will You Be Buying Red Dead Redemption on PS4?
@evan23 Yeah, they know exactly what they're doing.
And the worst part : for an extremely small budget, that will make a huge profit, since many many people will buy it, because :
And Rockstar/Take Two know it... so they do it... it works... and the cycle continues...
Re: WrestleQuest Hit with Unexpected Stunner, Launch Delayed By Progression Bug
Even if I have no way to verify what they say, the fact that they say it so candidly is fantastic. Companies have to understand that customers value honesty and transparency, at least I personally do.
After years of gaming plagued by botched releases, this is refreshing.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Pre-Orders Skyrocket on PS5 Following PC Launch
@NEStalgia Do you still think Baldur's Gate is niche and not mainstream?
Re: New PS5 Firmware Beta Starts Today, Bigger SSD and Dolby Atmos Support
@GamingFan4Lyf Wow, shame on me, I didn't look at the blogpost, trusting PushSquare to give the most important info in their article. But still, I should have done what I generally do : check the source.
So if I understand well, this is allowing any sound produced by the Tempest 3D Engine to output as Dolby Atmos. So in theory, any game should benefit from it (with various degrees of success). That's quite an achievement and, as you say, it must have been some big collaboration between Sony and Dolby to get this thing working!!!
Re: New PS5 Firmware Beta Starts Today, Bigger SSD and Dolby Atmos Support
@Perryg92 True Atmos does already work for UHD Blurays... So you may be right, it's maybe only for internal apps, which would be great for those using them.
But for the games, on Xbox there are few dozens of games that are Atmos compatible https://www.trueachievements.com/dolby-atmos/games , and I would love to see them be so on PS5 too, but that would be a huge blow to the Tempest Engine, since Sony had promised it would come to soundbars and home theater systems after tvs...
I'll keep a very interested eye on this though, 3D surround sound can really be incredible for some games.
Re: New PS5 Firmware Beta Starts Today, Bigger SSD Support, Extra Features
About Dolby Atmos : no game on the PS5 supports it right? It's for UHD BluRays only?
Re: Larian Employed Intimacy Coordinators to Aid in Developing Baldur's Gate 3's Sex Scenes
Good to know intimacy coordinators don't see any problem in simulated bestiality. Another piece of evidence to show it's just another one of these BS jobs our current society loves to create.
Re: PS5 Action RPG Atlas Fallen Has a Pleasingly Small File Size
@Damage99 Well, not exactly. I mean, pre-rendered cutscenes, diversity and complexity of set-pieces and environment, all of these will bring the GB count up.
So yes, it's not a direct link, but still, if a story based single player game is 100GB, you know it will have a longer campaign than a 20GB one.
Unless it is very poorly optimised...
Re: PS5 Action RPG Atlas Fallen Has a Pleasingly Small File Size
After a bit of research (should have done this before my previous comment), the game should take 15-20 hours for campaign, +10h for completion.
Seems fair.
https://exputer.com/guides/atlas-fallen-game-length/
Re: PS5 Action RPG Atlas Fallen Has a Pleasingly Small File Size
Good, this mean it won't be too long and won't overstay its welcome.
Based on what I've seen, it looks like fun, kinetic gameplay, but if all is in the desert, a 100 hour campaign would have been tedious.
Of course, there's still the possibility of it being not only too long, but with always the same assets used along the campaign... Let's hope not.
Re: Elden Ring Dev's Armored Core 6 Looks Sublime in PS5, PS4 Gameplay Showcase
Wow, that's a lot of grey here!!!
But seriously, I'm... not convinced. While I am a fervent admirer of FromSoft, this doesn't make me immediately play it. I'm afraid it looks repetitive in its gameplay and tedium with the micro management of the mechs. But I guess repetitive and tedium could be used to describe Soulsborne games and I love them so, who knows...
Re: Infinity Strash: Dragon's Quest Characters Detailed Along with 16 Minutes of Gameplay
I absolutely loved Dragon Quest XI. So I'm down for another round of Dragon Quest, even if the gameplay is different. What I've seen up to now is quite promising!
Re: PS5 Open World Star Wars Outlaws Will Let You Work for Jabba the Hutt
@DennisReynolds Reading your comment with the voice and facial expressions of your avatar makes it sound sooooo sarcastic, manipulative even!!!
Re: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Returns to a Simpler Time with 'The 23rd World Tournament' DLC on PS5, PS4
@LifeGirl 100% agree. Of the 3 very long animes I have watched (Dragon ball, Naruto and Fairy Tail - I've passed Bleach and One Piece), Fairy Tail is the only one that managed to stay consistant until the end, mainly due to some huge revelations they kept until the end, but more importantly because the sense of camaraderie was still present.
Dragon Ball switches to "get a more powerful transformation = get the win" after Namek, and no one except Goku (and sometimes Vegeta or Gohan) really did anything...
Naruto went too filler-y after a while, with interesting designs, but a paper thin plot stretched over hundreds of episodes. It ended for me with Shikamaru vs Hidan, an incredible fight full of feels and smarts.
Re: PlayStation's Rhythm RPG Sensation Patapon Primed for Spiritual Successor
@Wraggadam Good point!
Re: PlayStation's Rhythm RPG Sensation Patapon Primed for Spiritual Successor
Great, it's time Patapon comes back, these were very enjoyable games!
A little nitpick : if your logo needs a rewrite in a readable font just under it, then your logo is not good.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 485
Octopath Traveler II
I'm completely hooked! The visuals, the characters, the battle mechanics, this game just manage to find the exact balance between complexity and simplicity that I yearn for in JRPGs!
Re: Explore Hong Kong in Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown's First Gameplay, Beta Coming Soon
I struggle to see anything interesting in what was shown. Even NFS is trying to shake things up with weird effects and day/night gameplay modifications.
But in general, I'd love a good discussion about open world vs race tracks for racing games. I personally feel open world makes the racing less personal, more bland, less deliberate and induces a lack of set pieces.
While I fully acknowledge that a lot of people enjoy open world racing games, I simply can't see why...
Re: Need for Speed: Most Wanted Remake Seemingly Outed by Voice Actor
Can they remake Need for Speed III : Hot Pursuit first?
I really don't like open-world for racing games, I prefer handmade race tracks that bring deliberate challenges and set-pieces, and the first Hot Pursuit was a very good example of this (even if I'm sure I would be disappointed if I were to go back to it today... nostalgia ha!)
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
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Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
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Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
@Sekijo Don't you think there is a difference between a game inspired by a cartoon that is meant to mock and criticize society's problems and people's behaviors on one side, and on the other side a serious RPG game that is promoting a romance choice including some form of behavior considered illegal/immoral?
At which point did you think while watching/playing South Park that the devs/producers were promoting the idea that bestiality was good, or even ok?
Here in this game we have the clear promotion of such behavior. And it is included in the marketing of the game just to create controversy while appealing to what they think their main audience want... which is a frightening thought if they are right.
Now, don't get me wrong : I am against censorship of content meant for adults (and even there, how strong will the "For adults" part of this game be enforced?), so if the devs want to depict bestiality in a positive way, they can. I'm just disappointed and disgusted at the positive reactions to it.
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
@NEStalgia I played Divinity 2 on console and it's glorious, I never felt the lack of mouse hindered my enjoyment so I'd say go for it. At least, grab it on sale you can get it dirt cheap nowadays.
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
@NEStalgia Frankly, something doesn't have to be Marvel/Star Wars level of mainstream to be mainstream. When you say Dungeons & Dragons, a lot, and I mean a lot, of people will at least have an idea of what I'm talking about. And it's growing. Don't forget that the nerds of the 80s-90s (me included) are in our 40s-50s now, and we manage the brands' awareness.
As for Baldur's Gate 3, it is going to be one the major video game release of 2023, at least if you exclude all the multiplayer focused games. Not calling it mainstream is a stretch. It's not Spider-Man 2 level of awareness, but still.
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
@Matroska 2 points :
1-Violence and sex are not the same topics, and don't necessitate the same approaches, as laws and morality have shown in every society. Others in this thread have given examples for this (some even have seen their comment deleted just for this... weird). Different ethical dilemmas, different rules.
2-What's your point exactly? Is it : we did a bad job about violence, so let's do the same bad job about bestiality? Or is it that violence is ok, therefore bestiality is ok too?
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
@Dimitris670 So the "200 year old vampire that looks like a 10 year old girl" in a hentai is not a child, is that it?
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
@NEStalgia 208 million $ for the Honor Among Thieves movie https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1879410177/
Hasbro buying just D&D Beyond for almost 150 million $. https://www.xfire.com/hasbro-wotc-dnd-beyond-dungeons-and-dragons-fandom-150-million/
Articles in mainstream media : https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/13/dungeons-dragons-had-its-biggest-year-despite-the-coronavirus.html
Wizards of the Coast passing 1 billion $ revenue : https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/wizards-of-the-coast-billion-dollars-revenue/
A 7 hour developper panel about an upcoming CRPG with more than 650k views on Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW846h6FyU4
Sorry to burst your bubble, but D&D is mainstream now. I know a lot of people want to pretend their nerdy hobbies (mine too!) are still niche, but they're really not.
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
@Kylekgh Would you hold the same views if the character in question was transforming into a 10 year old kid instead of a bear? I hope not.
Therefore, since you have your own limits, you should expect other people to also have limits of their own, and bestiality is quite a common ethical limit to sexual intercourse (and its depiction in art and entertainment) in most societies... don't you think?
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
How the world has changed :
Kotaku (and the comments) in 2015 remembering Sonic kissing a woman : https://kotaku.com/remember-when-sonic-kissed-a-woman-1731219760
Same Kotaku (and the comments) in 2023 applauding being able to have sex with a bear in a mainstream RPG : https://kotaku.com/baldurs-gate-3-halsin-romance-sex-scene-bear-karlach-1850615466
But saying bestiality is being banalized is conspiratorial and a slippery slope, right?
Re: Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban For Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3
@ShadowofSparta "but in a funny and silly way"
So we're officially in the "bestially is a funny kink like any other" time period now? I though it was slippery slope fallacy to say we were going towards this?
Re: Wild Card Football Marks the Long-Awaited Return of Arcade Football on PS5, PS4
@Cutmastavictory What's that "sockeur" thingy you're talking about? Is it French?
Re: Wild Card Football Marks the Long-Awaited Return of Arcade Football on PS5, PS4
"football" - quotes needed in the title
Re: Viral Hit Placid Plastic Duck Simulator Brings Sony's Tech Demo Full Circle on PS5, PS4
Is that the Stanley Parable narrator?
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for July 2023 Leaked Early
If true it's fantastic :
Re: Dead Cells' Free PS5 Upgrade Promises Next-Gen Features This Week
@themightyant I totally get what you mean with the feeling of a lack of progression after some time, and this is where the free updates and the DLCs came in.
Between making the game fully customizable, new biomes, new weapons, new unlockables, new modes and so on, you really get enough variety to motivate you into playing again.
Re: Dead Cells' Free PS5 Upgrade Promises Next-Gen Features This Week
Need repeating : this is one of the best games on the PS4. Fantastic gameplay, wonderful pixel art, engaging game loop, great music and absolutely incredible support from the team.
Very glad to see it with a native PS5 version, İ hope it will bring even more people to it.
Re: Devil May Cry Designer Crafts Magnum Opus with Final Fantasy 16
I've tried the demo and it's obviously an humongous fantastic RPG. But damn the characters look boring!
I never felt even a little empathy or connection to these plastic faced characters, talking like they were out of a low budget fantasy movie. Add to that a very bland character design and I'm afraid I won't be invested in them enough to see the game to the end...
We'll see, I hope I'm wrong...
Re: Street Fighter 6's Battle Pass Brings the Heat with Retro Games, Classic Music, and More
@KidRyan In a way, you're not wrong : there is absolutely nothing that looks like even remotely interesting in this battle pass.
But at the same time I don't think the "it's just cosmetics" is a good one. How the game, and your character, looks is very closely tied to your enjoyment of the game... and producers know that well : this is why they sell cosmetics!
The "it's just cosmetics" is pure corporate BS that has been repeated so many times people have started believing it.