They axed a lot of western employees as part of their restructuring, and a number of those whinging on twitter where managers and game analysts with faggot flags in their bio. Who knows, maybe someone is paying attention?
A significant portion of that is lies and fantasy.
Naturally, contemporary academia is one of the primary inputs.
Thanks for the details, sounds good all round.
apparently the day 1 censor patch improved that
Wonder if that was intentional or the result of demo feedback?
I'm waiting on the PC release. Still not sure whether to actually purchase a copy - probably will, given that it is one of the least pozzed games in recent memory and I believe in voting with my wallet.
Even on Story Mode is not as easy as it seems.
Not unexpected, given the Souslike inspiration. How's the combat though? There was talk of it being a bit sluggish to begin with, and dodges not really being effective. Does that change with character progression?
Gameplay is not for normies though. Is not Bayo or DMC. Can't just smash button.
I get the comparison, since both include legitimately easy "easy modes". It's still weird hearing two games, both with exceptionally high skill ceilings and heavy emphasis on precise input, being used to describe normie friendly though.
Build your own ideas and have your own debates.
Except a lie unchallenged quickly becomes the truth, and a society's perception of truth influences the nature of all future ideas and debates.
The backlash has discredited the notion of a black samurai, one that has been appearing in media with increasing regularity, for many unfamiliar with the surrounding history. For those, it has also drawn attention to the media's gaslighting, and further reinforced a desire to financially punish companies pushing such propaganda.
I don't believe the intention was ever debate; Rather the normalisation of black individuals/characters in the context of Japanese culture. Your proposal, in this context, is exactly how that succeeds.
Not devote your focus on the enemies content and having the debates that your enemies want you to have.
I think you overestimate peoples investment. It has become a subject of passing ridicule. I think you oversimplify the issue to "engagement is bad". Ridicule and disdain can and have been used to immunize collectives against "harmful" ideas.
I appreciate where you are coming from, and there are instances where I'd agree. Where to engage in debate is to cede ground. This just isn't one of them.
God provided us with free will, regardless of any human weaknesses we might have. How we use it is up to us.
Sure. And acknowledging there are concerted, non-random efforts to exploit those towards a specific outcome is a great place to start. However, over-intellectualising issues isn't helpful, especially when your rational decision is to do nothing, indefinitely.
You reference Ubisoft's latest DEI blunder. Please explain how inaction is "rationally" the better course in this instance?
If you feel compelled to overanalyse a meme, I'd imagine the more meaningful takeaway would be that the conditioning, triggers and events have a designer.
A lot of nostalgia on that list. I've always had a soft spot for cheesy sword and sorcery, so Xena was a guilty pleasure. MediEval, Vampire Hunter D and Nightmare Creatures where all memorable as well. The others I'm not familiar with - will work my way through them as time permits.
I actually replayed Blade of Darkness when it landed on Steam - it's aged remarkably well. Unfortunate what became of Rune 2 though. On a similar note, did you ever try Enclave?
This turned into a great reference for anyone looking for action games - thanks to all who posted. Here are a couple more I've played that didn't get mentioned for anyone interested, as well as a brief summary of those listed in the OP:
Ninja Gaiden - Regarded as having some of the best, albeit hardest combat, ever. Fast, varied movesets and high player mobility against aggressive enemies in fairly large numbers - with enough care and balance to make it work. The Sigma release on PC is perfectly playable.
Ninja Gaiden 2 - Same as the first, but dialled up to 11 - for better and worse. Less polished/balanced but about as exhilarating as an action game can be. The Sigma release is terrible. Either play it on Xbox 360, or install the NGS2 Black Mod on PC to mostly undo the damage.
Godhand - Shinji Mikami blowing off steam after making RE4. Made without much of a budget and close to zero creative/financial expectations, it's a 3D beat 'em up with tank controls. Somehow turned out to be one of the best in the genre from a purely gameplay point of view.
God of War (original series) - Kratos, before therapy. Combat is much faster than the reboot, with plenty of exploration and puzzle solving along the way as you set out to curb stomp the Greek pantheon.
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Dante's Inferno - Very loosely inspired by the epic poem. It's an edgier God of War in which Dante deus vults his way through hell.
Killer is Dead - Heavily stylized, combo orientated slasher from Grasshopper
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - 3D reboot of Castlevania. Gameplay is in line with God of War, with some boss fights taking inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus. Some nice art direction.
Otogi: Myth of Demons - Early FromSoftware fever dream with combat somewhere between Onimusha and DMC
Enclave - Fun ARPG/Hack and Slash game from Starbreeze. Bit on the janky side, but not without charm.
Kingdoms of Amalur - Light-hearted, colourful semi-linear ARPG with solid hack n slash gameplay. Designed by Ken Rolston, lead designer on Morrowind and Oblivion.
Splatterhouse (2010) - Beat 'em Up / Hack n Slash reimagining of the arcade classic.
Blades of Time - Stripperiffic hack and slash with some nice environments, fluid combat, an interesting rewind mechanic and abysmal voice acting.
Lollipop Chainsaw - Stripperiffic hack and slash from Suda51 and James Gunn. Pom-poms are your primary attack. A chainsaw is your secondary. Funny, with surprisingly good combat. Getting remastered this year.
Bloodrayne 2 - Stripperiffic vampire hack and slash. Combat is surprisingly nuanced, especially on higher difficulties.
Soul Sacrifice - Not a hack n slash, but an interesting magic oriented action RPG that went largely unnoticed as a result of being a Vita exclusive. Emulatable on PC.
Afraid I've already exhausted Platinum's catalogue, but thanks for the recommendation.
RPCS3. Mileage may vary based on the game and your hardware, but in my experience it's been surprisingly painless. Made it through 3 titles without crashes, which is more than a can say for current year.
Check out their compatibility chart, and possibly recent videos on YT for particular titles. Many games with "ingame" playability play perfectly if you have a beefy enough CPU.
Damnit. I intentionally avoided "got the chop" as to avoid ambiguity.
Did the ethics department get the axe?
That wasn't really what I was looking for, but now I'm thinking it is.
Great list! I'm not partial to any generation, just looking for something preferably fast-paced, challenging and mechanically complex.
I've played through a couple of those. Onimusha was good - will have to check out the sequels. Genji looks promising as well. And Nightshade is, by all appearances, Bayonetta before Bayonetta?
Nah, I've played enough early PS action games to believe it. I'll definitely give that one a try.
Yeah man, I thought Nioh 2 was great. Then I unlocked S-rank agility and discovered it had an entire animation cancelling system, at which point it starts playing a bit like high-stakes character action. Easily one of the most compelling combat systems I've had the pleasure of mastering.
First one it is then. Thankfully emulation is pretty solid for PS1-3.
Sounds good, I'll give it a try thanks.
Got any recommendations on where I should jump into the series?
DMC I've done to death. Batman never really worked for me, not sure why.
I've been meaning to try Infamous. What's the moment to moment gameplay like? I'm usually not great at repetitive gameplay loops.
Can't say I have, but it looks promising. The only video I could find of it was from the first chapter; I assume pacing and difficulty picks up moving forward?
Depends on the combat - first prize is something relatively fast paced, but decisive and with room for strategy. Ninja Gaiden 2 being the epitome of that to me.
The stance switching looks interesting. Does it have a decent amount of depth?
Japans first diversity hire.
Mrs Freeze from the upcoming Suicide Squad DLC. I'm starting to think Sweet Baby (Jesus) is the intended response to their creative contributions.