News from the lovely world of the Games Industry.

[Valmy]

Party of three? Goddamnit.

That annoyed me way back in KOTOR.

A huge part of the fun fights in DA was centered around positioning. So what? We are going to just rely on the AI in boss fights? LOL?

That sounds lame. DA was never Darksouls or even BG2 when it came to challenging combat but it had some really good fights and tactical challenges.

[Syt]

From the trailers it looked a lot like Mass Effect combat.

[Legbiter]

The next Dragon Age will likely hit a wall too. They have removed so many features from the old games and are trying to convince us that less is better.

Yeah IGN, bless them, is trying to hype it up but the vibe isn't there like it used to be.

Bioware games used to have compelling stories and characters combined with decent VA and often iconic soundtracks. Gameplay sections look like a mobile game, you jump around and wait for your 3 abilities to get off cooldown.

Who is this game for? People who simultaneously like CRPGs and Raid: Shadow Legends? 

[Legbiter]

First bit of competent marketing so far for Bioware, a Brit plays through the game. 

[Syt]

Skyrim grandma retires: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/im-just-doing-it-for-fun-and-it-isnt-fun-anymore-skyrim-grandma-shirley-curry-is-hanging-up-her-gauntlets-and-retiring-from-making-more-gaming-videos/#comment-jump

'I'm just doing it for fun, and it isn't fun anymore': Skyrim Grandma Shirley Curry is hanging up her gauntlets and retiring from making gaming videos

After nine years of traversing northern Tamriel and amassing over one million subscribers on YouTube, Skyrim Grandma Shirley Curry is done with making gaming videos.

The 88-year-old announced her retirement in a 13-minute video titled "No More Gaming Videos," explaining that she wasn't entirely happy with her decision but that it's for the best. "I'm old and I'm tired, and I don't feel like doing much anymore," Curry said. As well as her age, it seems like the classic content creation burnout has hit our Skyrim Grandma pretty hard.

"It seems I spend most of my time sitting in here at this computer, and lately—probably for the last month—I walk in here, look at my computer and think 'I've got to make a video today,'" she said. "And then I just shake my head at myself and say 'I don't want to, I have no desire to,' and I walk back out."

She continued: "I'm just doing it for fun, and it isn't fun anymore. I'm tired of it, and I'm bored to death with it. So I'm making the decision now, totally, finally. I am not going to be making any more game videos." Curry points out that she's amassed an entire library of gameplay videos over the years, encouraging her upset fans to go back and rewatch those if they want their dose of Skyrim Grandma gaming anytime soon.

It won't be the last we see of Curry, though. She might be done with games, but she says she'll "continue to make vlogs every so often," as well as checking in occasionally to share books she's been reading or potentially even chapters from a book she's thinking of writing.

But for now, it seems like Skyrim Grandma is going to be putting her newfound free time to some backburner projects. "I'm going to start making a quilt I've been wanting to make for a very long time," she said. "I designed the squares a long time ago, so it's going to be a quilt I've designed." Maybe while she does that, Bethesda can fulfil her request and "hurry up" with The Elder Scrolls 6, as she said back in 2022: "I want to play before I die."

9 years is a good run in content creation, and she hung on longer than I did - but I understand those feelings. "Ugh, I'm bored with this now!"

[Syt]

Assassin's Creed franchise lead has spoken out against the "outcry" online against the protagonists in the upcoming Assassin's Creed set in feudal Japan (apparently people are OUTRAGED about the protagonists being African-born black samurai Yasuke (who has been featured in plenty of media before this) and a female assassin.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/assassins-creed/it-looks-like-ubisofts-finally-had-it-with-the-assassins-creed-shadows-outrage-mill-when-we-self-censor-in-the-face-of-threats-we-hand-over-our-power/

[...]

"The stories we tell, the characters we create and the game worlds we build are instrumentalized by those who seek to silence creativity, to stoke fear and incite hatred. I believe we are facing what Fareed Zakaria calls an 'Age of Revolution', a time when the real conflict is not between the left and the right, but between societies that close themselves off and those that open themselves up to the world. Throughout history, it's the open societies that have always eventually prevailed. While there may be setbacks over years or even decades, it is openness that has continually pushed humanity forward.

"As the authors of 'How Democracies Die' so powerfully stated, democracies crumble when good people decide to stay silent. The same is true, I think, of our creative freedom when we allow fear to stifle our voices. When we self-censor in the face of threats, we hand over our power, piece by piece, until freedom and creativity both wither away. We cannot let that happen. It's time for us as creators to stand firm on our commitment to our values, by telling stories that inspire, that challenge and that help people connect. Our silence cannot become complicit."

[...]

The article has osme more context about the controversy, including pointing out that the series was never taking its historical setting too serious, like when you drove Leonardo's concept "tank".

[The Minsky Moment]

There's been a best-selling novel and two miniseries about the somewhat obscure story of an English sailor who became a samurai; no one blinks an eye there.  But touch the obscure story of an African retainer to a Portuguese Jesuit who became a samurai?  WOKEWOKEWOKEWOKE  Move along, no racism to see here . . .

[Josquius]

Yeah, it's bizare they're screaming murder about how the new ac is just playing some woke diversity card.
Is valhala the only ac game they've played before?
The first game that gave the series it's name was about an Arab. This game is going to be set in Japan. I recall the games always open with a text about how the team who made them was diverse and means no offence.

Really odd special hate for black guys.
Given the success of the Shogun remake it makes perfect sense to see the Yasuke story boosted.