BRB gonna throw that initial description somewhere on a LinkedIn post for a remote job

I can appreciate the personal part you added regarding losing faith. I left catholicism in my teens. Too many inconsistencies, too much abuse of power. It started by questioning how multiple christianities could have such different rules, followed by learning how most religion is abrahamic and even more diverse in interpretation, to finally saying fuck all this.

I got FC5 in 2020 and it became hard to stomach. It felt like a real potential reality of the US that year. Cults, vehement religious figures, gun fetish, and a classic Americana setting. The prior titles were all far away, imaginary lands offering even a small degree of dissociation. FC5 was just home. I’d relate it to Harry Potter villains in the sense that yeah, of course we know Voldemort is evil, but Umbridge is the most hated character. Not because she’s worse, but because we know a real-life Umbridge personally.

FC6 hit me kinda hard in a similar way. I got into it about a year ago, not long after the israel/Palestine conflict flared up. There’s a ton of genocidal themes there.

Without seeing what you’ve seen, that honestly sounds more like a symptom of the platform, current internet trends, and algorithm gaming than it sounds like a cheesy viral marketing campaign

Idk, maybe I’m the one who phased out of cup stacking by being old. But still, we can’t be that far off from when explaining cup stacking will sound like how I feel about pole sitting.

Skrillex is sort of the face of mainstreamed dubstep. I just learned his subgenre is brostep. The work that came before him was… Gritty. Close to the Key & Peele skit. The FC3 song is closer to common EDM.

Sierra Leone by Mt Eden is probably what I’d use as an example of the best of traditional dubstep

4 is very similar to 3, in my opinion. It generally ranks lower than 3, but I’d attribute that to 3 defining expectations and 4 meeting expectations rather than pulling another groundbreaking move. 3 shared some notable elements with 2 but refined the direction of FC. 2 doesn’t have magic and FC enjoyers begroaned 3’s supernatural element, but here we are.

5 removed the supernatural element and got some mixed feelings. I’d put some of that on the fact that they brought the white American savior trope home to America. Instead of a foreign land under a whimsical authoritarian regime the West likes to go to war with, it’s a religious cult in classic Americana rural towns. It’s like changing from 1990s Batman movies to the Nolan trilogy. Gritty, more realistic, closer to historical fiction than fantasy. It harks back to the 1993 Waco Massacre.

I’ve played 6 on and off over the last few years. I read lots of hate but still enjoyed it. It’s in Cuba, so it was back to being a far-off fantasy for me, with lots of story rooted in the 1960s revolution (though the game is present day). That is until the Gaza war flared up. Suddenly the game got uncomfortable for me. You play as a terrorist group fighting the military. That’s not exactly different from 4. Sure, if you win, it’s a revolution, but if you lose, historical speaking, the winners call it terrorism. I suppose the story could be considered weaker, but it’s a change up. Instead of basing the story on you vs the big bad, it’s rooted more in the friends you make along the way. You’re building a revolution as one faction gathering 3 more.

There’s also 3 half-games. Between the main titles, half of the prior maps for alternate experiments. I’d wait for all the titles to be discounted but would say the halfsies need to be discounted more. Granted, they’re probably all regularly under $20 now anyway.

After 3 came Blood Dragon, using one of the islands for an over the top 1980s synthwave action comedy. It has corny 80s moves in lieu of superpowers. It’s fun.

After 4 came Primal, a prehistoric version of the FC formula. I think it’s neat that they developed a proto-proto-indo-european language for a 10,000BC setting. Spears, slings, clubs, and knives are the weapons here with some grenade-like items. There’s spiritual elements resembling living a mythology. It’s also fun.

After 5, New Dawn is actually a continuation of the story. A quasi-Fallout/Mad Max post-nuke-apocalypse world in which Joseph Seed still lives - and becomes an ally. I think it brought in supernatural powers from nuclear stuff. Probably my least favorite of the 3, but still enjoyable. It also introduced a number of the elements people begroaned in 6, so maybe that’s why I don’t mind 6 as much.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been a halfsies between 6 and, presumably, an upcoming 7. 6 does have some extra story (dlc?) that has you relive parts of the prior titles. I haven’t done them nor read about them much so I can experience them myself.

Make it Bun Dem by Skrillex and Damien Marley

I’m glad you enjoyed the song. I don’t know your age, but seeing that screenshot made me realize how hard it’d be to explain the popularity of dubstep and, in particular, Skrillex to anyone who wasn’t there. Same goes for the immortalization of the “oh my god!” featured in Nice Sprites and Scary Monsters, screamed by the girl who stacked cups in record time. Or stacking cups. This feels like the making of an “onion tied to my belt” type of rambling story. I imagine most of this platform was there for dubstep and that the young adults today had way more internet access than I did as a kid, so it’s probably not even unknown yet.

The song shuffles into my playlist sometimes and takes me back to both that game moment and the generalized memory of blasting that from my ipod nano into my grandpa’s handmedown Ford Taurus with the headphone wire I hardwired into the cassette deck. If you think dubstep sounds bad now, I made it sound worse.

What a coincidence. I looked up the Key & Peele skit about dubstep. My exact generation of Taurus is involved, identified by the circular rear window. The skit is worth it on its own, of course

https://youtu.be/5Kod1q39ddE

This was his breakout and now everyone expects his fake accent! But definitely Chek out his little live action FC3 scene where he tortures McLovin if not already seen (assuming it holds up as well as I remember, being a decade later and a decade older)

FC3 was the first to make drug trips part of story progression (leaving a little leeway for FC2’s malaria bouts). FC4 had a lot of “spiritual” events. FC5 played a lot with Bliss trips. I’m wrapping up FC6 now and was just saying “man, where are all the hallucinatory story arcs?”. Then I did the Oluso mission (panther amigo) and felt at home for a minute. It didn’t last long, but I guess the reward is bringing back a little supernatural power to the game, late in the campaign.

Thanks for all that extra detail. I’ll put it on a watch list to see where it goes. I’ll just go play in traffic for now

How would you describe the driving mechanics? I tried NFS Heat to feel that retro night vibe, but the mechanics were atrocious in my opinion. They’re too arcadey. Forza Horizon has become my standard for a balance between realistic (predictable) mechanics without punishing me for every mistake. I don’t mind Forza Motorsports but I’m more interested in cruising and racing stylistic cars more than perfecting lap times.

Is it open world? Japan and JDM aren’t that big in my automotive enthusiasm scale but there’s something deeply nostalgic when I can ride through some highway lights, virtual or real, that resemble the Japan track from Gean Turismo 1 or 2

I beleive it was a complaint about those 3 actors. “it’s almost the least interesting thing, scoring higher than only these 3 features”

TIL who Aaron Taylor-Johnson is and that he’s continuing the tradition of having two Marvel characters

Ace Combat 4 and 5 both made me feel awesome, then sad, then vengeful, and then awesome in their campaigns. They start as casual arcade styles, throw in some grief, grow the antagonists’ justification, then the skies start speaking Latin and you systematically destroy some megabase. I was fairly young, so now sad Spanish guitar riffs cause me grief when thinking about Yellow 4 and 13. Is that joy? The memory of a fairly casual arcade game weaving in a heartfelt tragic war story?

At risk of making this my only personality trait, Far Cry 2’s desert at night was a treat for me. I seek out similar experiences in real life now. It didn’t necessarily create that desire, but it was my first open world game, if I remember correctly. It didn’t make me jump for joy, it just made me feel serene.

I’m sure it was driven by the memes, but Portal 1 gave me a great sense of accomplishment. It was mild reaction skill with some decent logic puzzles. The build up, the turn, the fight, the final song. Quite a trip.

Overall most joy might go to Forza Horizon 1. First open world Forza title, first (for me?) open world racing game with decent driving mechanics, excellent variety of cars, hit me at my peak interest in house music and other EDM, showed me Colorado scenery I’d see IRL 10 years later, and the campaign was focused around the Woodstock of a [cars X EDM] festival. I wish that was real and I wish the scene would be respectful. But, unfortunately, you can’t control 300 drivers and prevent them from one-upping each other and making it dangerous and disrespectful. And you gotta pay for parking everywhere nice. See: h2o, ocean city Maryland.

Far Cry 2 brought me joy experiencing the open world format. I fell in love with the desert at night there and now I try to visit real life arid regions at night.

FC5 didn’t have towers and FC6, as far as I know, has a single tower that makes a joke about it. I don’t beleive AC Odyssey had those towers, either. Can’t remember Origins. The tower mechanic was also only used to visualize parts of the map, sometimes with a unique goody at the top. It’s back to foot-based map discovery. The busy work here is talking about all the bullshit collectibles and similar scavenger mini quests. AC is full of chests and AC4 had some cave clearing missions and deep sea dive puzzles. You have to go to certain locations or complete a certain number of collectibles to unlock some equipment rather than relying on the campaign alone. 20 hours of story, 100 hours of fetch.

I’ve played this for the first time on and off over the last couple years. This looks the same as my Xbox One playing the One digital version.

30s, New homeowner, wife, house needs repair, cars need repair, wallet needs repair, someone has to cook, full work week, 90 minutes spent on commuting. No kids or pets, but I feel we might have similar availability. And I’m always wondering the same because I’ll never have the time to play like I did as a teen. But, here’s what I have. PC and Xbox.

I generally play one story game at a time. I’ll play for a couple weeks or couple months. I just try to make progress and enjoy it for what it is, not set any goals. How would I know how much time I need anyway? Could be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours per session. Something like Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider(don’t worry, I have bigger triggers next). I’m hoping this month I “finally get around” to Fallout 3, NV, or 4.

I have other options, though, depending on immediate time availability. Some borderline storyless games (maybe with cosmetic reward progression) for the shortest of times or highest of mental fatigue (forza horizon, fortnite, rocket league, ace combat, borderlands). My two slow burn games are Valheim and Elite Dangerous. They both take probably an hour to get up to speed if I’ve been out of it for a few weeks, but I’ll be good for a week between sessions after that. I’ll sink 2+ hours per session into those. Regarding remembering controls, ED amuses me because I use an Xbox controller to play. Every button is mapped and there’s a combo for every (ABXY) + (D-pad or bumpers). 14 buttons and 24 combos. Putting the controller in my hand unlocks subconscious memory of most of them. Even in other games where crouch and jump are shuffled around, it only takes a couple mistakes for me to remember.

It’s not an impressive list, but I try to not beat myself up over it. I’m busy, I’m tired. I stopped being elitist about the Epic and Ubisoft bullshit because I don’t have time to waste giving a fuck. There’s 100 better similar games but this is what I’m doing. I’m sitting down for a good time, not a long time.

Another aspect I had to reexamine was my notion of productivity, progression, and entertainment. Did gaming fulfill a fantasy version of real “campaign” progression? Does the building and repair I do in real life actually contribute to the same feeling of accomplishment as beating a game? Does socializing in real life fulfill that need for story progression? So far… Yes. Mostly. The fantasy game version definitely looks cooler.

Only other comment is about not choosing a title. I wouldn’t play a game I started because I needed to play a newer game before I was left behind. I think it’s been 2 years since I last bought a game. I can’t keep up. I can’t finish what I have. So I more or less decided to work through my library for now. It’s hard to get over the fomo of skipping titles or being multiple titles behind in a series. But so what? I have hyped games from 2015. I have hyped games from 2020. And from 2010. And from 2005. I’m missing newer games hyped in 2023. But in 2026, there will still be hyped games. And 2030. And 2035. I don’t have the time for every title. So I’ll see what’s out when I have room again. For now, it’s just about 4 story game so cycle through. Doesn’t really help you decide, but maybe makes it easier to avoid not deciding.

The Thargoid war seemed pretty exciting. I did some ground-based ship battles and was decent at it, but I couldn’t commit the time for a space battle, for a titan battle, or for a foot battle. I can’t say I want to walk around my ship, but I’d take it if it meant a more realistic transition between ship and foot, though. I still pop in for quick pirate hunting at nav beacons. I’m always getting fomo about the latest credit farms but have given up on owning a carrier. I appreciate the bio exploration as an expansion on long distance exploration since the payout is comparable to casual combat, at least.

But yeah, ultimately, it’s a fairly empty game. Lots of space, little variation. Obviously I enjoyed it enough to put 1000 hours into. No regrets there. But I was very into the lore and community stuff so it was as much roleplay as it was gameplay

I’m guilty of this. So many times, I’ll see something at full price and say I’ll wait to buy it on sale. Then it goes on sale and I don’t feel like spending the money at all. Granted, I’m not trying to sway the market and screaming my bid, this is just my internal monologue. I have a backlog of games and a busy adult life, so it’s not like I’m game-poor. Just regular poor.

About 1000 hours in Elite:Dangerous, my most-played Steam game. Kinda bums me out that it was all 2020-2022 gameplay for the first 900 hours but I haven’t had time to get back into.

Valheim continues it’s slow burn at about 400 hours since 2020.

No times on Xbox games, at least not from the OS. Fortnite has probably become my top game there. Whatever. It’s not just for my entertainment. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey I think had somewhere over 200 hours in the save file time. I’d love to know how many hours I put into Forza Motorsports 4 when custom paint schemes was a technological feat. Ace Combat 4/5/7 also have a ton of replays for me since the bonus medals are so tangible. Far Cry 2 doesn’t have a ton of hours, but I was definitely infatuated with it circa 2010. That night time desert still calls to me