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A lot of stuff in these movies are like this, reused badly or inexplicably. Even down to Holdo's Leia-style costuming, frankly. Leia dressed that way in ANH because she was still undercover in the Senate, still a princess. Why does Holdo dress like that during open warfare?
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
6hr ago
Dream video game subthread:
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An XCOM-like, but one that eschews turns (even interleaved ones) in favor of real-time with pause. Small unit tactics, but with realistic weapons (scifi stuff allowed). More emphasis on training and hardware versus soldiers shooting enemies till they become Majors and develop not only better aim but a resistance to bullets. You can, by expending some kind of currency or skill point, manually seize control of a soldier and puppet them in first person. Otherwise they semi-autonomously follow your orders, think being a squad leader who tells Ramirez to hole up in a Burger King, as opposed to having to choose the exact toilet stall he needs to occupy like in XCOM. Land vehicles as special units, air units as call-ins or on rotation.
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Civ/EU/CK/Total War hybrid: An ungodly behemoth where combat between armies is either resolved with Paradox-style stats, or you can manually fight the battle TW style. There is literally an existing mod that does that, you initiate a battle in CK2, and then the mod imports units and stats into a Total WR title and then the results back into CK2. Realistic AI, in the sense that other leaders or generals act like simulated characters, rather than generic optimizers or min-maxers (which is why I don't play multiplayer in these titles). This could be done today by having an LLM make overarching command decisions or RPing, while delegating the micromanagement to more real-time AI.
Imagine if you could negotiate with Julius Caesar about the petroleum in Sicily, and use your own wits to argue with him. Imagine if you could convince Roosevelt to support you to stave off the Commie menace. What if you could talk to your subordinates, every general or governor being simulated entities that have their own thoughts and feelings that aren't just thinly veiled stats?
Hell, have a hardcore mode with true fog of war. If you're Caesar, you might send several legions off to Germania and only get old, vague reports. They might vanish in Varrus's hands, and you need to find out the hard way. Are the taxes from Asia Minor having too much skimmed off the top? Do the plebian demands have a point? You have to vet and trust agents to find out, unless you absolutely must go there yourself.
I'm leaving home for 2 weeks, 2 days after Silksong releases.
07mk
6hr ago
I beat Stellar Blade recently, with all the achievements, collectibles, etc. It caused a minor culture war kerfuffle in the video game community due to having a conventionally attractive female protagonist being highly sexualized in costumes and camera angles and such. It was also the first 3D action game of this type by Shift Up, which is better known for Goddess of Victory: Nikke, which is a gacha game definitely on the "gooner" side of the spectrum, so it was actually reasonable to wonder if it was just going to be shallow eye candy, but it turned out to be right up there with the best action games I've played recently, like Elden Ring or Lies of P (latter of which was also the 1st 3D action game by that dev, IIRC).
Looking at trailers, I remember wondering if it was going to be a DMC-like or Ninja Gaiden-like, something sorely lacking in the industry these days (we'll see how NG4 does soon). Turned out to be a Sekiro-like more than anything, with a similar perfect parry-based posture system, except it's discrete perfect parry counts, and it doesn't recover automatically over time, and it's not a deathblow but rather big hit like a visceral in Bloodborne. It doesn't feel as natural as, nor does it incentivize aggression quite as much as Sekiro's, but it also had its own quirks that I appreciated, like being able to count to set up for viscerals right after boss phase transitions. It also had perfect dodges, which slowed down time during the dodge like Witch Time in Bayonetta, though that didn't extend to giving you time to punish.
These mechanics only work if the enemies are designed properly for them, and that's where the game really shone. The bosses were the highlights, but for every enemy, it was clear the devs thought carefully about how to communicate timings to the player via animations and attack patterns. It wasn't as well executed as From Soft's best work both in terms of telegraphing attacks and pushing the player to really tight openings, but it was only a step or two behind.
I found Normal difficulty too easy after the 1st 2 bosses and restarted the game on Hard, which was originally not available until NG+ with an upgraded health bar. It took me 1-2 hours of sometimes dozens of deaths for most bosses like this, but the design of the bosses was such that it was a fun learning experience the whole time. Regular mobs in the overworld were also 2-shotting me, so exploration was slow and almost souls-like in pace, so it took me about 70 hours to beat the game with all side quests, but played normally, I've heard it's about 20-30 hours.
Like Sekiro, it had skill trees instead of stat upgrades using souls, and also you didn't drop your Exp when you died, so the souls-like "enemies revive when you rest" system didn't really mean a whole lot. Besides weak and strong attacks on Square and Circle which could be chained in different ways for combos, there were special attacks called Bursts and Beta Attacks used via L1 or R1 + face button, which used independent but related resources that recharged through actions during combat. I think what made the combat so satisfying, besides the parries, was the managing of these special attacks and their unique abilities, like i-frames, self-heal, or attack speed-up.
So recommended highly to anyone who enjoys 3rd person action games. Especially on PC where the mods are aplenty, and also, it's incredibly well optimized and bug-free. Zero crashes in 120+ hours and solid consistent 60fps+ on my 4090. I'm glad they decided not to contribute yet another souls-like to the flood of them in the industry right now. Again, it's heavily souls-inspired, but it also draws from many other games, creating its own thing. I just wish it drew more from the crazy action games like DMC, since crowd control and 1-on-many combat in general was mostly not great.
I've heard people criticize the story for being too predictable, but I thought it was exactly right for this kind of game, which almost feels like a throwback to mostly straightforward action games from 360/PS3 era. I found it funny just how much the game took inspiration from Nier: Automata, what with the sexy woman flying down from space to the post-apocalyptic wasteland that is Earth to fight off the beings that took it over from humans, but then discovering the deep dark secret of what really happened, etc. They even hired the same composer to do a lot of the soundtrack, so I'm pretty sure they knew what they were doing.
JTarrou
7hr ago
Yes, the problem is the US has no engineering schools. You must have gone to school here.
naughtynn
7hr ago
zeke5123a
7hr ago
It isn’t just movies. Tasks the theme parks. Infamously Disney reimagined a fan favorite in Splash Mountain allegedly due to racism (note the ride literally contained zero humans or depictions of humans). The original ride was great story telling as the ride itself cohered with the story telling. The story wasn’t gendered but arguably somewhat masculine (ie had a frontier / wandering aesthetic).
Disney turned it into a black princess ride that is a pale imitation of its ancestor.
Or the Indiana Jones stunt specular. They removed swords for batons. Indiana no longer has a gun. The bad guys don’t “die.” They even removed the bad guy’s Nazi symbols. They sanitized the show removing the things boys would find interesting (probably without making it interesting to girls).
I’m not sure these moves are to pander to women so much as Disney has strong progressive / feminine decision making.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
7hr ago
· Edited 7hr ago
Trust me, I don't just play hardcore games. I had fun with Helldivers 2, before getting bored. I had played a decent amount of Doom Eternal before I moved and lost progress, now I give up after a few levels. In hindsight, I should probably drop the difficulty.
Subnautica? Played maybe half a dozen hours before getting distracted.
Forza Horizon 5? Can't be arsed, and I only played it singleplayer and with competent but not broken AI skill levels.
I will grant that I have a preference for realism or simulationist mechanics. I prefer Arma over Battlefield or Insurgency Sandstorm. I can't go back to Need for Speed after playing Forza, which has a really good balance of accessibility and realism in car handling.
I never could afford the COD games when I was a kid, so my exposure was limited to a few SP campaigns, which were alright. What I strongly dislike about newer CODs is the ridiculous pricing and cosmetics, and I always get an aneurysm with standard video game weapon balancing on account of being a gun nerd. The abominations that Gunsmith allows 😭.
I'm not sure how to describe my tastes. There's that realism/sim thing I mentioned, but also the fact that I'm ADHD brained and get bored easily, while also hyperfocusing on the rare game that I love.
Of course, everything is more fun with friends! What do you have in mind? I should mention that @Cjet89 tried to get me into Factorio, and even offered to buy me a copy. Maybe I will pop my amphetamines and give it a serious go, though I like the concept of the game more than I liked playing it for the odd half an hour.
As a guy, my experience is also that nobody actually wants men to show their real emotions, least of all publicly. Male anger or horniness is scary. Crying or anxiety is pathetic.
Generally true, but I note pop music with lyrics by men isn't a complete disaster, surprisingly. Gangster rap has high appeal even though it's men expressing anger and horniness, for example.
I wouldn't call most of it positive or anything but it's a fun time.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
7hr ago
Princess Leia acted the same way in ANH, but it was presented as a bad thing.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
7hr ago
It's optional. You can just order your soldiers to shoot normally most of the time. Fine-aim is complemented by the limb-damage system, where you can wound or incapacitate enemies or destroy their weapons. The accuracy of a sniper makes sense beyond just having long range. I think it's great. Even modern XCOM lets you aim rockets and grenades, this just takes it to the next level. Tactical positioning makes sense on a far more physical level than arbitrary cover or angle bonuses. Enemies with shields actually need to be flanked or chipped away. You can shoot the facehugger mind-controlling your soldier, but make sure you don't use a sniper unless you want to give them another face-hole.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
7hr ago
The worst part of these deals is the bailout CHIPS Act which already happened. It appears that while the Intel stake (which is quite large, 9.9% of the company) is technically common stock, the government isn't allowed to vote it independently.
Since it looks like there were strings attached to the CHIPS Act funding which are being dropped, this could be anything from an effective takeover to a mere minor technical restructuring; someone would need to dig deeper into it to find out.
As for the questions:
Does this represent a leftist turn in the Republican Party's view on the state's role in the economy, leaning more towards a nationalist democratic socialism?
No, I don't think so. It's a turn towards industrial policy (so collectivist), but not in the Western leftist tradition. I think Trump is probably taking his cue from Japan and South Korea here. The idea seems to be to make money, not improve the lot of the workers or anything like that.
Are there risks of corruption arising in the Trump administration related to government acquisition of major shares in large companies?
There's always risks of corruption, but this doesn't seem any worse than other things the government does.
Does this represent an expansion of executive authority? What do we expect USG to do with its stakes in these companies?
Does this raise potential conflicts of interest, directly aligning the interests of the Federal government with large firms (rather than their merely influential status today)?
These are the big problems, especially the last. Although I'm far more worried about the other direction, increased political control of the large firms using the government's power as a stakeholder (which may be less limited than the government's more direct political powers). The government acting in ways which helps American companies isn't necessarily bad. Acting in ways that helps Intel and other large firms over smaller competitors is bad, though not particularly novel. But the threat of the government setting Intel's corporate priorities while protecting Intel from competition... it seems we have a microchip shortage, comrade!
DiscourseMagnus
7hr ago
I have my doubts about the simple version of the "pandering to girls" hypothesis because the particular thing about the sequel trilogy that girls seemed to find most appealing (the prospect of a romantic relationship between the heroine and the villain) was entirely an accident and they ultimately clumsily failed to exploit it; the real audience they were trying to pander to, an unhealthily sexless sort, finds romance just as icky as "boys" do.
Southkraut
The rain fell gentlier.
7hr ago
You can actually aim the weapons yourself!
In a grid-based turn-based tactics game! It's a profoundly shitty idea!
Corvos
7hr ago
I’m up for coop if you want but IMO your problem is that you are playing only the hardest, densest games despite being a 28 year old with a serious full time job and other hobbies. Like it or not, this is your body’s way of telling you it’s time to be a filthy cashul.
In all seriousness, try playing some stuff like Subnautica or Hardspace-Shipbreaker or Doom 2016 or the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Stuff where the gameplay loop is a bit more reactions-based and rewarding and the game is a bit less like a second job. See how you get on and then come back to the tougher stuff when you’ve had more sleep or a vacation.
My current thing is Elden Ring and while that certainly has difficulty spikes, there’s also a lot of downtime exploring the world.
(I know none of my suggestions are really to your taste but it’s what I do).
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
7hr ago
Huh, you're right. I learn something new everyday.
Unfortunately, I do know about duck penises.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
7hr ago
I enjoyed myself playing the XCOM 1 remake, and especially XCOM 2. I even tried Xenonauts, which is a spiritual successor to the original XCOM, but just didn't like it very much. I guess the 1980s aesthetic and the clunky mechanics weren't to my taste.
(Why hasn't someone made Phoenix Point but good? You can actually aim the weapons yourself! There was granular destructible terrain and cover piercing!)
hydroacetylene
7hr ago
Mexico is a failed corrupt one party mafia state, but it does have free and fair elections and still has to pass out handouts and incorporate stakeholders- both the literal cartels but also labor unions, religious interests, big business, etc- to keep winning those elections.
Hungary... it's probably easier to list the bribery the government/ruling party doesn't engage in. From bribing impoverished villagers with literal sacks of potatoes to controlling the issuance of economic opportunities like cigarette sale licenses to benefit its supporters to using government loans/grants to ensure favorable media coverage.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
7hr ago
· Edited 7hr ago
I have so much free time (and OOMs more money) and I barely play any video games. 15 year old me would cry. At one point, I would have chalked that down to depression and anhedonia, but that's way better now.
I find myself bouncing off 90% of the ones I do try.
- Didn't finish BG3, though I think I made it halfway.
- Played like 2 hours of Clair Obscure before getting distracted
- Reinstalled Teardown, didn't play it
- Rimworld, an all-time favorite: I refuse to play Vanilla, no insult to Zorba, but it's such a painful experience. I also have an addiction to installing 17 gb of mods for a 500mb game, which is great fun till it all breaks and I have to debug it. Happened again a few months back, after I had already spent 3 hours fixing my modlist, and now a DLC came out and I have to wait for everything to finish updating.
- Total War Warhammer 3: Another favorite, same issue as Rimworld, down to updates breaking mods, or just mods breaking mods.
- Arma Reforger: I play it semi-regularly, but it's by far best enjoyed with friends. I was a senior NCO (don't laugh) in an American clan, but then it imploded because of internal drama and burnout. I hop on modded pub matches for a few hours, but it's just not the same.
- Escape From Tarkov: A good (but uncompromising) game ruined by bad development decisions. I no-lifed it for a while, but just couldn't bother to repeat that process. I had a lot of good buddies in Singapore and Malaysia I met playing on those servers, but the latency doesn't allow for that anymore. Great guys, I personally raised half a dozen Timmies who would shit themselves if they heads a bush rustle into cracked PvPers who are far better than I ever was.
- There are so many goddamned games collecting bit rot in my SSD. The only saving grace is that I pirated most of them, so at least I'm not losing money.
- I left my old Quest 2 back in India. Don't feel like buying a new one here, and it would be inconvenient in a shared apartment.
What's wrong with me? I splurged on the world's 4th best gaming pc (1 CPU and GPU down from the best of the best), I have the time. It's not anhedonia, because I clearly still enjoy reading, writing, and arguing with people on the internet. I still watch people play and talk about games, I look forward to new ones and wishlist them, I just don't really play them. I don't like this, what's the point of having all this money and fancy hardware? Don't tell me I'm getting old and crochety :(
At this point I might have a kid just to have some to play coop with.
Corvos
7hr ago
The Devil Is a Part-Timer. Done by the same guy as Steins;Gate I think and similarly has more range for the voice acting and snappier writing compared to the sub or the original Japanese.
gattsuru
7hr ago
They… kinda have both. Although, while pretty far from the weirdest junk out there(you don’t want to know how ducks work), still pretty far from mammal anatomy.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
8hr ago
crocodile penis
Divorce this woman right now! Even if you're not married! Anyone ought to know that crocodilians have cloaca.
I jest. She sounds like a keeper, you're a lucky man and I look on in envy.
(Did the 18th century taxonomists know this? When I consider this more deeply, she might have a point.)
Dean
Flairless
8hr ago
I enjoyed the charming quaintness of the argument that expanding the House to 11,000 people would require fewer, not more, staffers to keep up with the magnitudes more institutional relationships such a reorganization would imply.
Eetan
8hr ago
There is no catboy character because that doesn’t exist in the Western imagination.
Tales about talking human-like animals are older than castles, cathedrals and other medieval tropes.
It depends where you draw the line. If 19th century gothic horror is traditional, why not 20th century Disney style animal people?
(and WOW indeed buckled to the pressure and added multiple cute and fluffy playable races)
What are the human-animal hybrids in the western imagination besides werewolves and centaurs and minotaurs? Not too many. Werewolves were all over vanilla WoW.
Cut-off should be whether it is an organic development of the Western imagination, or whether someone looked at trends and spreadsheets and determined that “catboy” looks adorable and will bring in players. Remember that “gothic” is itself a conversation with the Middle Ages and folk legends. Cat boys are unserious.
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