Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[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.