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electricmastro Since: Apr, 2015
#3801: Feb 11th 2023 at 10:01:25 PM

Happy 26 years to one of the longest prominent franchises: Tomb Raider

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unknown_2933.jpeg

KaabiiFan13 Since: Apr, 2022
#3802: Feb 12th 2023 at 7:07:42 PM

Recently watched this video essay about Japanese media and its relationship to Western ideologies. While I did not watch the entire video, I was intrigued by the second part - namely how Japan's noncollectivism in creating media affected its perception.

Basically, media in western cultures, or at least America, is more focused on reaching a wide range of people over different demographics. However, this has led many games, comics etc. to include tried-and-true elements and formulas, causing them to be more homogenized and, to many consumers, unengaging. Japanese media, in contrast, is content of focusing on the vision of one person or group, and does not mind if it fails to catch a certain audience. This led multiple Japanese works to "stand out" from others in their market, which is why there is an increase in Japanese media consumption in recent decades.

That's not really the main message of the video, but that's what I got from it so far. What about you guys?

Edited by KaabiiFan13 on Feb 12th 2023 at 7:38:16 AM

Agentnutty Agent JC(Just Collateral) from UNACTO Basement level Since: Jun, 2022 Relationship Status: Robosexual
Agent JC(Just Collateral)
#3803: Feb 12th 2023 at 8:25:49 PM

I think it's more AAA vs indie when it comes to broad customer appeal. You don't think games like dwarf fortress or ultrakill ever remotely appeals to casual audience.

Does that mean I don't get the job?
HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#3804: Feb 15th 2023 at 6:40:53 PM

[up] Speaking of AAA, I like many others have noticed that a lot games from the "big" companies for the past few years have been released in a thoroughly unfinished state, seemingly depending on brand recognition alone to sell (which usually works, sadly). "AAA," a term that originated as a compliment, is now often sarcastically used as shorthand for "bad," or at least "sloppy."

My question is, when was the paradigm shift here, exactly? Was there a specific game or games that convinced the industry that doing this was okay?

Agentnutty Agent JC(Just Collateral) from UNACTO Basement level Since: Jun, 2022 Relationship Status: Robosexual
Agent JC(Just Collateral)
#3805: Feb 15th 2023 at 9:51:43 PM

[up] Mighty no.9 and No Man's Sky comes to mind. Publishers learned that day that people buys hype, not the actual product.

Does that mean I don't get the job?
SunPraiser Since: Apr, 2014
#3806: Feb 16th 2023 at 7:45:23 PM

I've been having fun with Bravery and Greed, lately. I main the Warrior.

Also, somewhat unrelated (in the sense of discussion about games), but I started a page about it over there on the TV Tropes website.

Edited by SunPraiser on Feb 16th 2023 at 8:05:04 AM

Reymma RJ Savoy from Edinburgh Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Wanna dance with somebody
RJ Savoy
#3807: Feb 17th 2023 at 4:44:05 PM

Has anyone put together a scale of sexualisation of mobile games, especially the hero collector genre? I picture it as going through "too abstract or cartoonish to be sexy", "aimed at women but knows there are many horny lesbians out there", "mostly on optional skin", "must be warm where they work", and "what are they even wearing?" tiers. With maybe an additional "What's 'wearing'?" tier.

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
ShirowShirow Dinosaur Hunter from Land of Maple Syrup (Old as dirt)
Dinosaur Hunter
#3808: Feb 17th 2023 at 7:11:47 PM

I dunno, I feel like Nikke being "That Jiggly Butt Gacha Game" has proven gacha games have stopped trying to out-decloth eachother (FGO basically won that awhile ago anyway) and start catering to specific fetishes at this point.

You are not alone.
omega2900 Jemerald of Brainrot from The Midwest, where everything is MID! (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: In my bunk
Jemerald of Brainrot
#3809: Feb 17th 2023 at 7:29:24 PM

Girls' Frontline didn't rely on sex appeal as far as I know. I always remembered it as "what if guns were cute girls?".

Get taxed. Idiot.
YellowTemperance まだ小さい声 from Peanutville Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
まだ小さい声
#3810: Feb 17th 2023 at 7:39:33 PM

[up][up][up] As far as I'm aware, I've never seen mobile game sexualization outside of the "hero collector" genre. Outside of the awful ads, of course. Although, I don't really play mobile games to begin with, lol. Definitely an interesting thing to think about, though.

Edited by YellowTemperance on Feb 17th 2023 at 7:39:48 AM

Reymma RJ Savoy from Edinburgh Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Wanna dance with somebody
RJ Savoy
#3811: Feb 18th 2023 at 6:13:35 PM

[up] The ads themselves are something worth looking at, especially when they misrepresent the games. Love Nikki - Dress Up Queen is a good dress-up game aimed at women (which doesn't stop it having sexy outfits, but means they are limited to where they make some sense), but the awful ads are a standing joke in the fanbase. Some make it look like the game is an dating sim, others imply you can change every item's colours... I know there's at least one long-time player who first downloaded it expecting to laugh at it. It feels like the advertising was outsourced to people who knew very little about the game.

And yes, Nikke's ads are all jiggling bosoms and buttocks, I cringe every time.

At the same time, it's not as if fanservice in videogames is anything new, they've long been pushing it as far as graphic limitations would allow. I guess the big difference is that now it's the fanservice that is shaping the genre: mobile games lend themselves to collector games (constant updates, good way to put in microtransactions, Play Every Day), sex sells, and different heroines can appeal to different niches/fetishes, so make a game in which you collect heroines and it all comes together.

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
RacattackForce (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#3812: Feb 21st 2023 at 9:05:46 AM

Rovio will be delisting their remake of the first Angry Birds on the Google Play store and renaming it on the App Store because... it's heavily impacting their revenue streams. Apparently people are just buying and playing that game for a $1 instead of touching any of their free-to-play microtransaction stuff, so they've been making less money for the past year. Yeah.

Edited by RacattackForce on Feb 21st 2023 at 12:06:18 PM

YellowTemperance まだ小さい声 from Peanutville Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
まだ小さい声
#3813: Feb 21st 2023 at 10:08:43 AM

[up]Someone should email that one Angry Birds copypasta to whoever's handling that.

YellowTemperance まだ小さい声 from Peanutville Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
まだ小さい声
#3814: Feb 21st 2023 at 10:10:05 AM

Then again, once you look back, you kind of get the idea that this was coming for a long time. They accepted to make a Rio movie tie-in game what, 2 years after the original game came out?

YellowTemperance まだ小さい声 from Peanutville Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
まだ小さい声
#3815: Feb 21st 2023 at 10:14:12 AM

And their own movies are kind of...terrible. The first movie has a minute long pissing scene, for an example of the style of humor in the films.

Edited by YellowTemperance on Feb 22nd 2023 at 2:41:08 AM

YellowTemperance まだ小さい声 from Peanutville Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
まだ小さい声
#3816: Feb 22nd 2023 at 2:41:54 PM

And context makes that scene even worse.

Perseus Since: Nov, 2009
#3817: Feb 22nd 2023 at 2:46:17 PM

Please don't quadruple post... The edit button exists for a reason.

YellowTemperance まだ小さい声 from Peanutville Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
まだ小さい声
#3818: Feb 22nd 2023 at 2:49:54 PM

Apologies. Forums are not my strong suit.

Demongodofchaos2 Face me now, bitch! from In a Cultivation World (Ancient one) Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Face me now, bitch!
#3819: Feb 22nd 2023 at 2:58:02 PM

There's an edit button, yes.

Its on the right of each forum post, that Grey circle with the 3 white dots, its the second option.

Use that instead if you have too.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Feb 22nd 2023 at 5:58:44 AM

Watch Symphogear
ShirowShirow Dinosaur Hunter from Land of Maple Syrup (Old as dirt)
Dinosaur Hunter
#3820: Feb 23rd 2023 at 7:58:24 PM

Dark Souls II can go to hell.

Dark Souls is a game about overcoming incredible odds. It loves stacking up insane challenges, but delights when you best them. It's ultimately cheering for you.

Dark Souls II is more like a mean kid that laughs at you when you trip on a curbside and drop all your groceries.

You are not alone.
ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#3821: Feb 25th 2023 at 2:19:44 PM

I just finished playing a recent (I believe) metroidvania called "Depths Of Sanity".

As you may gather, it has elements of the Lovecraftian, and reasonably well-done, too, I feel. What's more, it doesn't draw on the standard set of Lovecraft entities, instead going in its own (dark and macabre) direction.

As you may guess from the first word in the title, it takes place underwater—in the ocean, to be specific.

And it's in the nature of that setting that is found one of the game's distinctive elements: it's one of the few metroidvanias that I've encountered that isn't a platformer! Rather, (much like Aquaria) it allows free 2D movement-and-rotation through its waters.

(And it has one of the very few implementations that I've actually liked, as far as I recall, of "tank controls".)

As a metroidvania, it's... decent, I would say. Not amazing, but hardly poor.

It has a reasonable collection of "metroidvania upgrades"—some of which have a few rather neat uses. There are a number of things to find, some hidden away. And the levels are sufficiently expansive and inviting of exploration.

I do have some niggles with the game, I will say—the art-style isn't quite to my taste; few of the weapons interested me overmuch; and there were some cases in which the use—or inability to use—a given upgrade in a given situation felt arbitrary.

Still, overall I rather enjoyed my time with "Depths of Sanity", and I can see myself going back for subsequent playthroughs! ^_^

(Indeed, I'm quite curious as to whether a certain mechanic impacts the ending...)

My Games and Asset Packs
OrangeBun Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him) from The only sane region left in Brazil (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I'm her lunatic and she's my sociopath
Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him)
#3822: Mar 7th 2023 at 4:49:30 PM

My question is, when was the paradigm shift here, exactly? Was there a specific game or games that convinced the industry that doing this was okay?

There isn't one, really, like a lot of shit in the industry it's the result of publishers slowly pushing the envelope to see what they can get away with until we're all used to how shitty things are.

That being said, it was obviously impossible to do that back when physical releases were the default and consoles weren't connected to the internet, so the time that trend started was the 7th generation of consoles, but it only got this bad around the mid-point of the 8th.

It might have started earlier on P Cs which adopted online elements first, for obvious reasons.

Edited by OrangeBun on Mar 7th 2023 at 9:50:11 AM

El sexo es temporal. LA PENITENCIA ES ETERNA!
Ookamikun This is going to be so much fun. (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
This is going to be so much fun.
#3823: Mar 8th 2023 at 7:55:23 PM

Is there a general thread for mobile gacha games?

Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#3824: Mar 9th 2023 at 7:28:52 PM

Teaser trailer for Inazuma Eleven Victory Road.

Wake me up at your own risk.
ShirowShirow Dinosaur Hunter from Land of Maple Syrup (Old as dirt)
Dinosaur Hunter
#3825: Mar 18th 2023 at 12:52:38 AM

[up] That series is eternal as it should be.

-

Necrolepsy is a fun little metroidvania-esque game. I recommend it. Disappointed it doesn't have a trope page... Might look to launching one if the mood strikes me.

Definitely looking forward to hearing any other super-niche titles people have been playing recently.

You are not alone.

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