We acknowledge that the game is a work of fiction. Historical fiction, but fiction none-the-less.

If every fifth character is also black, I think there is a point that can be made about verisimilitude and taking liberties; but since we know he really existed and that there has been debate on what he did, having a work of fiction that portrays him as a samurai under Nobunga doesn’t seem unreasonable.

To compare, we know that Leonardo Di Vinci didn’t hand out guns to people or build functional flying machines - but we know he designed all sorts of stuff ahead of its time, so it kinda fits in a fictional story with him in.

But only one of those seems to draw huge amounts of complaints online… And it’s actually the less historically accurate one.

That’s a potentially interesting definition.

Dream Daddy, the daddy dating sim isn’t a woke game in this context because the conceit of it being an LGBT friendly town with a bunch of single gay dads makes it all make sense.

But a game set in 1300s Japan with a lesbian white protagonist would be woke because that seems incongruous?

But Dragon Age was never good, either.

The first one was mediocre at best with some good ideas, and it was all downhill from there.

The writer here, rereporting another interview seems fairly Musk tolerant.

RDJ probably is too. But at least he’s calling him on a few things.

Fair enough.
Be the change you want to see and all that.

I personally love the mad spelling, but I can understand that other folks don’t.

They’re old English letters used for writing the two different “th” sounds English has, which are fairly rare phonemes.

It’s certainly simpler, I’ll give you that.
It takes too much mental energy to read that document.

May I ask why at all?

There is a baseline of quality that is hard for a plucky individual to match outside of mono-medium media.

While it is possible for good video games to be produced by a single indivudal or very small team, it is a lot of work on their part and hard to do if worried about paying for food, rent, etc.

Filmic media (is there a good noun that joins movies and fiction TV shows as a unified object?), a solid level of difficulty above that.

Or maybe in a post-modern world we use (mostly empty) signifiers to give ourselves meaning and show allegiance to a subculture.

Its why we pepper our speech with allusions and cultural in-jokes - but where in the past they were tied to more concrete ideology, now they are simply signs that one has consumed the same media as someone. And the existing signifiers have more cultural clout than new ones, except to signify an interest in non-mainstream cultural products.
For the self has become simply a vessel for consumption. There is nothing beyond the consumption of product.
Especially as public allegiance to a non-neoliberal ideology is seen as uncivil. Unsurprisingly more peaceful Left-wing ideologies less civil and more incorrect that violent far Right ones, because the Left will always be more critical of consumption as the purpose of life.

Despite being wrong, Fukuyama’s inflammatory title has polluted the mind of the Anglophone and European cultural zone.

Do you plan to do all digraphs, or just th?

Will you split out the different vowel phonemes to their IPA?

I’m just intrigued by the thought process behind your choice of typed characters.

That’s fair.

I’m a massive nerd for level design, and in my mind massive sprawling (especially proceedurally generated) maps/levels are a scourge on modern gaming.

I don’t think it’s hugely controversial, but I view E1M1 as possibly one of the best levels ever designed. But then again I also view Doom as more like a dungeon crawler RPG that just happens to be first person and real time, so who knows?

I think I also tend to be more into simpler games than ones with too many bolted on systems, which might also be why I tend to favour older ones (or indie ones).

Maybe that’s the point? Newer Doom games aren’t especially top tier FPSs, and you can find better examples of them (Bioshock (not so modern anymore), the alien-dinosaur-robot spaceship thing, and probably others). So they don’t make the list, and then Doom holds the classic place and genre defining status. (Hexen and Strife were never gonna make the list).

I agree that Super Mario Bros could do with a new lick of paint (and think Nintendo has given it more than a few of them) to bring it up to par. Doom, I’m less sure needs updated graphics, but I don’t think it’d hurt if it kept everything else the same.

(Favourite Doom levels are probably E1M8, E2M9, and some D2 and TNT and Plutonia levels I can’t call to mind off the top of my head.)

I’ve come to the conclusion I’m incredibly biased on this matter and also that you’re entitled to your own opinion, and appreciate that you’ve responded kindly and patiently.

You sound unsure.

What are your specific feelings on Knee Deep in the Dead level design? Do you enjoy inventory management?

What’re your views on original Super Mario?

In which aspects?

I think the level design holds up incredibly well, and in fact is an example of what to do. It’s also not overencumbered by modern bloat.

Have you played it?

Quick question: have you played original Doom?

I kinda agree, but B2/W2 was actually peak Pokémon. You should give those games a go, it’s samey but polished to rubbish-bag shiny perfection.

Mostly agree… Not sure why you think it’s limited to Western countries though unless you’re including India and China as well as Japan as Western.

And since it’s a feature of Capitalism, I don’t imagine the rest of the world is immune to it.

For me it took away the joy of the puzzles and building on a theme that the older Zeldas did.

I’ve not played TotK so maybe it brings back more of the dungeon feel from the older ones that I enjoyed, but I don’t have huge amounts of time for gaming these days.

The sheer joy of MGS2 the first time. The mix of shock and shlock at Ocelot’s possession by Liquid’s arm. Being totally stumped by “Fission Mailed” the first time it came up. Getting annoyed at the swimming section with Emma.

With MGS3, slowly realising the wide ranging freedom in how one interacted with the game world. Watching my brother get slaughtered by crocodiles. The bizzareness of the pain and his bees.

They’re both well made engrossing games with a serious point but don’t let that get in the way of fun experiences.

I can never decide if MGS2 or MGS3 make my list of best video games of all time.

Both continue to be amazing.

I recall a lot of AW1 being a fun challenge on Nightmare, but I was also playing it with a bunch of friends and we were chatting and socialising at the same time.
I do recall some enemies and segments feeling artificially hard though.

Good luck and enjoy it.