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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 8th, 2023

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  • I’d say the bigger problem is just that the Bethesda RPG model is completely outdated. It feels like something you’d play a decade ago, but what used to be it’s contemporaries have absolutely eclipsed it by this point. If I wanted to play just a fun easy fantasy romp, I’d go for Dragon’s Dogma 2. If I wanted an actual RPG with bones that could offer me a challenge, I’d play Elden Ring. If I’m just looking for a well-written story, I’d go play something by CD Project Red.

    Bethesda’s games aren’t well written, aren’t that interesting to play, and basically cannot offer any real challenge. The only real saving grace for Skyrim has been the modding community, which has been able to continually breathe life into what would otherwise be very tired game design.


    1. Wasn’t really explained. My mom had a desktop computer in the 2000s though, and was happy enough to let me mess around on it. I think most of my learning was from videogame tutorials.

    2. I am absolutely aware, growing up with access to the entire collective human experience is batshit insane. I’m glad that I mostly abstained from the social media craze, but just the sheer amount of noise the Internet generates can be overwhelming.

    3. My mother was incredibly distant, and my father wasn’t around, so I had very, very few limiters on my internet access. I feel pretty strongly that this was a mistake, as being raised by the internet in the manner I was led to me really struggling to connect with people and empathize with them, vs just trying to exploit and scam strangers.

    As for just general anecdotes…trying to even comprehend the world before the internet is really hard for me. It might as well be the Dark Ages, compared to what came after. Where I work was still using typewriters through the 90s, and only recently started using email in the 2010s, and it boggles my mind that people were able to do my job without a computer at all. It just seems like things would have been significantly more difficult.









  • Kinda wild to see nobody mention System Shock, the game that invented audio logs. It may seem quaint in retrospect, but at the time all shooters were in the vein of Doom, and story in a shooter was considered “like story in porn.” System Shock was not only the first to communicate the plot and next steps to the player through found audio logs, but it also filled the player in on side stories and provided characterization to the survivors on Citadel station.

    The game recently got a remaster, and despite very few gameplay changes, still holds up really well in 2024. You can really see the bones of later games in it, such as story focused shooters like Bioshock or F.E.A.R. and I’d really recommend it to anyone interested in playing a great retro game.