Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[SturmChurro]

Garbage internet back to it's usual. I didn't even get 24 hours of internet access without drops. Dropped (at least) once this morning, and SEVERAL times over the course of an hour this evening. Fun.

Funnily enough, it's a good thing, I was getting burned out of Lost Ark when I did. I've been playing games that don't need internet lately, in-between attempting to do my daily activities on my sorceress in Lost Ark. Finally got around to Pathfinder: Kingmaker, don't really like the art style, at all, but the game is alright, I suppose. I should finally get around to playing Wrath of the Righteous soon. That was recommended to me several months back in this thread.

Sucks that I'll have to prog Valtan with this, but, at least, I have my sorceress good to go already.. FFXIV, I just don't want to risk disconnecting from group content.. still shelved.. I only needed like 18 (?) or so more CC wins for the Gloria mount too.

[Fukuro]

So...
Uh...
Apparently Blizzard has a '' diversity tool '' that calculates how '' diverse '' characters are in their games now... This is so dystopian lol.

https://www.activisionblizzard.com/n...ity-space-tool

How in the hell does this even work and how is it calculated?
How do you calculate diversity for body type?
Something tells me that well-endowed women wouldn't be counted as more diverse but they should be because they're more rare ( and Overwatch basically has none too ).

Is it just me too or does it kinda come across as bizarrely racist to judge some cultures as '' more diverse '' compared to each other especially in a global context?
It's like some weird exoticism and like how do you even judge this?
Is Egypt '' more diverse '' than South Africa?

I think Western devs have just lost their minds...
How can someone put this together and not grasp how insane it is?
It honestly comes across like an April first joke only that it isn't and it's 100% serious.

Apparently it‘s getting already incredible backlash online.

[RobynDaBank]

Apparently it‘s getting already incredible backlash online.

I'm never gonna enter Twitter (which is where I bet the backlash is concentrated), but I bet the people who work there are doubling down instead of being quiet/embarrassed.

[Lauront]

I won't get too detailed on these forums, but basically, yes, I do believe it is pretty racist in general.

It's not, when it's done right. It's just usually ham-fisted, and done for 'the sake of 'diversity'. It's done like it's a scoreboard of how many diversity 'points' they can get. As an example, of ways it's done right, I like how races in Elder Scrolls are done. It's diverse, and it makes sense in the setting. I'd rather they celebrate any particular race's culture, rather than appropriate.

It's as good a sign as any to me to keep away from a game, when it lazily begins copy/pasting this tokenistic push to "diversity" from the real world, which even then is something that is sloppily and inconsistently championed as an ideal. In a fictional setting, it must make sense within the game's writing for me to take it seriously, and then should be done so as to intrigue me.

That's the price of doing business in America. ActiBlizz isn't the first and won't be the last. You can do just about anything and if you prove that you are trying most people will forgive and forget.

And honestly the fact that we can at least Whistleblow here is a good thing. People tend to not know that most Eastern(Japan included) countries have laws in place that even if you are telling the truth, that if you bring a negative light on a company they can sue you for Defamation.

Something that stuck out to me whas this thing is I recall occurring at a previous employer - during a call advertising recruitment for some roles, without being too specific, the hiring manager was a gentleman from Asia, and at some point he was asked how they try embed "inclusion" into their hiring for the role. His response was he does not care for that sort of thing, his concern is merit and ability to do the job, and not whether you're caucasian, asian, male, female etc. This was immediately followed up with some damage control PR-style response from one of the HR staff on the call, making sure to repeat as many of the usual nice-sounding buzzwords as she could. I found his approach refreshing by comparison to this stale tokenism. Obviously I think workplaces should be harassment free etc., but this painting by the numbers approach many corporations now take is repulsive to me, and glosses over many valid reasons for differing demographics within a position, purely fixating on whether X% in the broader population is exactly reflected in their role distribution... there are many reasons why this sort of approach is misguided, at best.

Apparently it‘s getting already incredible backlash online.

Good.

[Kolsykol]

Garbage internet back to it's usual. I didn't even get 24 hours of internet access without drops. Dropped (at least) once this morning, and SEVERAL times over the course of an hour this evening. Fun.

Funnily enough, it's a good thing, I was getting burned out of Lost Ark when I did. I've been playing games that don't need internet lately, in-between attempting to do my daily activities on my sorceress in Lost Ark. Finally got around to Pathfinder: Kingmaker, don't really like the art style, at all, but the game is alright, I suppose. I should finally get around to playing Wrath of the Righteous soon. That was recommended to me several months back in this thread.

Sucks that I'll have to prog Valtan with this, but, at least, I have my sorceress good to go already.. FFXIV, I just don't want to risk disconnecting from group content.. still shelved.. I only needed like 18 (?) or so more CC wins for the Gloria mount too.

Kingmaker is really good, the combat is a bit all over the place in regards to balance it kinda felt like things were either too easy or too hard.
But other than that it's great and I really liked the dungeon crawl DLC too.
The companions from the DLC were great too I liked their storyline a lot.

I don't rly like the overall DnD-style artstyle either it's just too boring and basic imo but Kingmaker is a bit better than usual imo in that regard.
It still has the issue tho with looking pretty generic, like why does Octavia just wear generic wizard robes considering her personality lol?
Biggest issue I have in these types of games is that characters that aren't random NPC's end up looking like random NPC's ( even the PC most of the time tbh ), even when their characters are meant to be more flashy and expressive.
I'll just never understand this obession with making '' average '' looking characters in Western fiction it's so boring to me I don't play games for average people lol, it kinda defeats the purpose of fantasy for me.

Edit: You actually reminded me of Wrath of the Righteous now, I haven't played that yet either and I really want to try out Ice Witch.

in the broader population

I think the whole '' mass appeal '' gets into what I mentioned too, I think what it tends to mean is '' offend no one, play it ultra safe '' and it usually ends up being boring.
Basically none of these games have memorable character designs, there's a reason why Eastern games tend to be praised and more recognized and remembered for their character designs.
And even in the West I think that when most of us think of our favorite designs it's probably fairly common to think way back and we don't exactly think of recent examples or at least not big AAA titles today.
Like who tf actually gets excited about brunette girl with ponytail in jeans and tank top number 9981358715?
There's people that are enthusiasts about '' realistic '' armor and all that, but I rly don't think that even they remember or get especially hype about it on an actual visual level.
It kinda ends up being just another blank slate in the sea of boredom and it doesn't stand out at all.

Something being average, realistic, practical etc doesn't make it a good design.
And I think that most people will find the average person a lot less enjoyable, fun and less memorable than an exceptional person.
'' Mass appeal '' doesn't actually appeal to anyone, it just doesn't particularly offend anyone either it's safe and boring it's just designed to not lose anyone but it's also not designed to win anyone over either.

I think we're seeing this too with '' evil races '' in fantasy for example, it offends a very vocal small minority of people who are perpetually offended by these things.
But I think the trope overall appeals to significantly more people and makes a lot of fantasy more enjoyable ( I actually enjoy playing evil races myself too ), but it's just safer to erase and rewrite it than it is to actually have it be there.
Devs and writers are just too obsessed with offending no one to the point it's just compromising things.

[SturmChurro]

It's as good a sign as any to me to keep away from a game, when it lazily begins copy/pasting this tokenistic push to "diversity" from the real world, which even then is something that is sloppily and inconsistently championed as an ideal. In a fictional setting, it must make sense within the game's writing for me to take it seriously, and then should be done so as to intrigue me.

It can be done right, and add a lot to a world's setting. It's too bad it typically isn't done the 'right' way very often.

Kingmaker is really good, the combat is a bit all over the place in regards to balance it kinda felt like things were either too easy or too hard.
But other than that it's great and I really liked the dungeon crawl DLC too.
The companions from the DLC were great too I liked their storyline a lot.

I don't rly like the overall DnD-style artstyle either it's just too boring and basic imo but Kingmaker is a bit better than usual imo in that regard.
It still has the issue tho with looking pretty generic, like why does Octavia just wear generic wizard robes considering her personality lol?
Biggest issue I have in these types of games is that characters that aren't random NPC's end up looking like random NPC's ( even the PC most of the time tbh ), even when their characters are meant to be more flashy and expressive.
I'll just never understand this obession with making '' average '' looking characters in Western fiction it's so boring to me I don't play games for average people lol, it kinda defeats the purpose of fantasy for me.

Edit: You actually reminded me of Wrath of the Righteous now, I haven't played that yet either and I really want to try out Ice Witch.

From what I've taken from it, you have to look at a bunch of guides or you can end up in some really difficult spots in that game, OR just completely ruin your ending. That isn't to say I don't like that to an extent, but it can make your first run through (or a couple) pretty daunting.

It's just a little too cartoony for me. I'm really disappointed with the portraits in the game. For a cRPG, I like portraits that fit the general aesthetic, but also for them to be something I can attempt to replicate in-game. Funnily enough, it's easier in older cRPGs, since the models are so much less detailed. In Pathfinder, the elves are pretty unique looking, and even if you download portraits, they aren't going to look like what they really do in the setting. That really bothers me. I'd rather they not portray a very specific class archetype in the portrait, I have built characters just to fit what they are in their portrait. My current character for example, uses the default (female) elf portrait, who uses a bow, so my character is an elf, and a bow user. As for Octavia, I'm gonna be honest, I never really thought about what she was wearing in her portrait.

I would prefer if they had more flashy outfits available to collect, especially with the ability for higher fidelity in newer crpgs. Things like BG1+BG2 was more understandable to be more generic.

[Kolsykol]

Pathfinder actually does have some more unique art, I think the more modern stuff tho has gone further into the direction of typical DnD tho.
It's just a bit sad to me that Kingmaker played it so safe in that regard.

Funnily enough tho I'd actually say that they are VERY flashy in regards to the character models, but in all the wrong ways xD.
It's so silly when you run around with a bright green wizard robe, blue cloak and pink wizard hat with a crossbow or something.
I kinda wish there was a transmog/ glam system without mods.
My first character was a Monk and even tho I didn't wear armor since some of my passive traits wouldn't work with it I still ran around with wizard hats and brightly colored cloaks.

I heard the game director for Lost Ark was leaving too due to health issues.
Hope that doesn't increase the influence of AGS, he seem'd to push back against them quite a bit it'd suck if the new game director gave in more.

[SturmChurro]

Pathfinder actually does have some more unique art, I think the more modern stuff tho has gone further into the direction of typical DnD tho.
It's just a bit sad to me that Kingmaker played it so safe in that regard.

Funnily enough tho I'd actually say that they are VERY flashy in regards to the character models, but in all the wrong ways xD.
It's so silly when you run around with a bright green wizard robe, blue cloak and pink wizard hat with a crossbow or something.
I kinda wish there was a transmog/ glam system without mods.
My first character was a Monk and even tho I didn't wear armor since some of my passive traits wouldn't work with it I still ran around with wizard hats and brightly colored cloaks.

I heard the game director for Lost Ark was leaving too due to health issues.
Hope that doesn't increase the influence of AGS, he seem'd to push back against them quite a bit it'd suck if the new game director gave in more.

Oh, I had to hide headgear, and sometimes I choose to hide backpack in that game. It looks like Wrath of the Righteous is a bit better in the aesthetics regard. I should like playing that. I like the idea of their 'Dhampir' race too. I'm gonna be honest, in rpgs, in general, if my character is going to look awful for min-max, I just won't min-max. Makes playing them a bit difficult, since I typically like playing in harder difficulties. I literally just won't use the gear.

I heard about that, with him stepping down in Lost Ark, I can't say I have too high hopes. I have the feeling, without him, the game will become more pay to win, or just generally worse.

[Hatfright]

EVEN IF it is a troll thread, don't post in it! It's that simple! Wow! Someone "necros" a post, you know what you can do? Not post in it! If people are so concerned about "necro" threads, then posting to explain it's a "necro" is just bumping said thread. You know what someone can do? They can check the date of posts prior to replying to something!

I feel like this needs to be somewhere on the forum front page or something. /sigh

[Kolsykol]

I rly want to get into archery, always loved archery since I was a kid.
I don't rly like the modern '' techy '' ones tho I want to shoot more traditional bows.

Edit: Now that I think about it I actually have shot one before lol, I was convinced I never had.
But when I was a kid I did at a Viking festival of sorts that took place every year around an old Viking grave and houses.
That was the only time tho.