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3 yr. ago

  • Not what I said. Dropping out of a game because it's too bleak reinforces the game's theme of people dropping out of reality because it's too bleak.

    Like I said, it's not for everyone. But you quit before the threads start to come together. If you don't care about those threads, that's your choice. You said you're interested in exploring the themes the game centers around, and if that's true you really should give it a real shot and give the game the time to tell its story. But the negativity and pacing are an aspect of that storytelling. People are supposed to be assholes, it's supposed to feel a bit like a slog, it's supposed to feel bleak. They aren't telling the story badly, you're just not interested in the story.

  • Sure, but again that's the point. I can get why someone might not have the patience for it, but you can't really change the front-loaded negativity or pacing without sacrificing the whole message. It's a crucial aspect of the storytelling.

    Honestly, people who give up on it kinda validate the themes. You and your dozen friends didn't persevere, like many of the characters. Giving up is one response to bleakness. That's not a value judgement, like I said it isn't for everyone, but it is kinda poignant that by checking-out you demonstrate exactly what it's saying, to some degree.

  • And if you keep playing you learn the tragic reasons why Cuno is such a little shit and, I won't post spoilers, but depending on your choices you can help him become way less of a little shit. It's roughly the same for most of the asshole characters: they're assholes at first, you find out why they're assholes and develop a lot of sympathy for them, and sometimes you facilitate their redemption.

  • The characters are supposed to be flawed, they're supposed to be unlikeable. The game is about exploring what it is that made them unlikeable: how much of it is forces beyond their control, how much of it is their own stubbornness and maladaptive reactions, how much of it is just trauma.

    It's kind of a necessary aspect. You can't really effectively explore what persistent failure does to a town without feeling like you're trudging through a story full of assholes. If the characters weren't so abrasive and broken, it wouldn't really be the same kind of thing.

  • The main theme of the game basically centers around failure. How it manifests, how people react to it, how it affects them in the long run. Bitterness, apathy, delusion. Most of the characters are some kind of fuckup (except Kim, my beloved). Some of them are failures because they're fucked up, some of them are fucked up because they failed again and again, but either way it's an exploration of what that does to a person, what that does to a people, what that does to a town.

    Some people just disassociate, some people give up and abandon their values to go with the flow, some people fight back impotently against forces they'll never overcome. Above all, I think it's basically about perseverance, one way or another, in the face of failure.

    It's very raw, very bleak, very human. It's easy to feel vindicated when you strive and succeed, when you're a virtuous hero, but who among us is just a virtuous hero? It's much more complex and real to fail over and over and still get back on that horse, because what else can you do? The characters are supposed to be flawed, they're supposed to be unlikeable. The game is about exploring what it is that made them unlikeable: how much of it is forces beyond their control, how much of it is their own stubbornness and maladaptive reactions, how much of it is just trauma.

    If you don't like exploring those ideas, you probably won't like the game.

  • The Apollo missions were staged, that's 100% a fact.

    Jokes aside, yeah Soviets are the answer. If there was the slightest inkling that we faked it, they wouldn't have come out to congratulate us.

  • Publication order is probably fine, though it takes a few books for him to settle into his general story structure. It's not the only way, and unless you're going to sprint through them in relatively quick succession it's probably not the best way, as you may get lost in some of the focused character development.

    This is a bit of an open question. Most of the books center around one or another subgroup of characters (City Watch, the wizards, the witches, Death, etc.), although there's some overlap. The way I've been going through seems to be roughly the agreed upon "best" way: choose one of these sub-groups and read all the books that center around them in order, then move on to another.

    Those sub-series are relatively self-contained, so I think you get more from exploring a theme from beginning to end than jumping from theme to theme. There are several tie-ins, but I don't think they're substantial enough to agonize over missing context.

    Personally, I'd either start with Guards! Guards! or Going Postal, as they're the beginnings of the more grounded sub-series and give you a good foundation of the world in general, and Ankh-Morpork in particular. But as long as you're not skipping ahead in a sub-series, you should be fine.

  • I only had one real relationship before my wife, and I was the one broken up with.

    I was devastated, and just generally sad for probably a month or so. After a while, I started to realize that my life with her would have been pretty bad. She was shallow, judgemental, not particularly bright, kinda bad in bed. I would've stayed with her out of loyalty though.

    It gave me the push to improve myself and get out there more, and I became much happier than I was when we were together. I've been with my wife for 13 years now, and she's amazing.

  • Cartesian hasselback

  • I feel like when everything is said and done I'm going to owe a lot of people an apology

  • Day traders have the opportunity to do something hilarious

  • Spange

    Jump
  • I was gonna make a joke, but then I read the article and

    After serving enlisted in the United States Air Force, Eiffel entered the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1993. In her first year, she was sexually assaulted by another cadet, but thwarted the attack with a training sword. She was subsequently dismissed from the Academy with a personality disorder: "I really felt that the only way for me to sleep is if I was holding onto something, like my sword, because that was the one thing that protected me. And it just got worse," she said.

    kinda takes the fun out of it

  • Didn't they date for a bit?

  • I've said it before and I'll say it again: progressive Christians are probably our best bet of significant progress. There are plenty of problems with the dogma and institutions of most modern Christian sects, but Jesus himself was obviously extremely progressive. And Christians as a whole (2/3 of Americans) tend to let Christian messaging heavily influence their vote.

    A wave of Talaricos could seriously jeopardize the Republican party. This should be highly encouraged.

  • Quite the opposite, progressive Christians are the cure for Christofascism. Like it or not, Christians make up about 2/3 of Americans, and they aren't just going to abandon their faith. Showing them an alternative outlet for their faith doesn't enable Christofascism, it actively undermines it.

  • Twin Peaks, by David Lynch. I specify, because there was a period when he wasn't involved, and it shows. Those episodes are kind of a slog. But as soon as he comes back, so does the magic.

  • TIHI

  • There was an apartment we lived in when I was 6-7 which for some reason has some hazy spots, but besides that yeah pretty much. Friends' houses, schools since 9ish (at least the parts I went to), every workplace, theme parks, basically anywhere I've been a few times.

  • This is a horrible policy, the consequences of imperceptible yaks are disastrous to our economy and public safety. Recriminalize it.

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world

    We need a tag like /s but for non-rhetorical questions

  • 3DPrinting @lemmy.world

    Decent 3d scanners under $1000

  • Ask Lemmy @sh.itjust.works

    Have you ever actually had an "and then everyone clapped" moment?

  • Unpopular Opinion @lemmy.world

    I actually kinda like when curse words are censored

  • Home Improvement @lemmy.world

    Making the most of a totally dead cabinet corner?

  • Buy it for Life @slrpnk.net

    Induction range in the $1,500 ballpark without a bunch of nonsense

  • Out of Context Comics @lemmy.world

    Not sure if this breaks rule #3

  • DIY @slrpnk.net

    Breezeway Greenhouse Help?

  • Mildly Infuriating @lemmy.world

    This moon decoration my wife got