twovests

twovests wrote

Reply to The Hater's Review of Bioshock Infinite by devtesla

I remember playing Infinite ~10+ years ago, knowing very little else about the series. I thought it was a short and enjoyable shooter RPG as someone who was made tired by New Vegas.

It was never a contender for my Favorite Game or anything though. I think I felt similarly to the things you expressed here. I didn't particularly like mainstream games, and the games I liked were poorly received. I was really waking up to indie games at this time.

To shift topics: It's uncanny how much of this review could apply to Halo Infinite, despite only sharing half a name and half a genre.

Big systems evidently ripped out and added during development? Check. Frictionless environment complemented by an AI companion who also has no friction? Check. Superpower action shooter? Pretends to have the level of map detail you get in an immersive sim? Meant to have a real relationship to Halo to the space? Check, check, check.

I think the developers were so worried that people would make fun of her for being in the way that she’s not really there at all.

This is the one thing I really liked, but I think also ties in to your later point about being a game for games reviewers. I remember bad companions being a major complaint-du-juor. I remember playing some of those games up until the point an annoying companion appears, and then not playing those games any more.

What’s a mainstream game look like these days? Is it Fromsoft?

I think so. It feels like half the games released nowadays are trying to take something from Dark Souls.

I used to consider Nintendo as something which exists in a sort of alter-mainstream of their own making, which I do love, but Nintendo's latest releases really seem to be taking a page from the FromSoft Boss Design Book. (Dread and TotK being big examples.)

That said, the "mainstream" for the 2020s includes Hellblade, Astrobot, Helldivers, Balatro, Alan Wake 2, Psychonauts, etc. I don't think all hope is lost. Those are all games I didn't play yet, but, hey! That includes a AAA 3D platformer from a company not named Nintendo!

Good review, thank you for posting this

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twovests OP wrote

Reply to comment by emma in Breaking Bad fans sexism made Better Call Saul's ending worse, for the better. (Spoilers for both shows, CW for sexism) by twovests

I apologize, I had to spend a bit of time to figure out what a "female donation reader" was. I parse that as "female donations" needing a "reader" at first, but now I understand they're just people who read out donations.

I can't find any of the threads, but I don't think I'm surprised to learn the speedrunning community is tinged with at least a little bit of misogyny.

Regarding Marie in place of Skylar, I didn't know it at first either. It felt intentional to me, and I think I read generously into that.

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