https://youtu.be/k77cNMgwQCI Yeah I change my mind, this looks cartoonish as hell, especially the American elite.

Like, the Japanese elite would look plausible without the two katanas on his back. Katanas, and swords in general, always carried by the waist, and even then, swords were only used for ceremonial purposes, not for combat, for the officer to commit sepuku.

The katanas should be used like any other melee weapon. A brutal finishing kill when you've exhausted all other options. Like Tom Sullivan's death from WaW. No anime style slashing or actual swordplay.

man, the outer world seems so bland, uninspiring, boring characters. It looks beautiful but the setting sucks

it sounds like a cool concept, but totally just bland sci-fi, bland assets, bland narrative

https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1190350823097851905

@Smoke It's the opposite for me. I don't like it's take on retro-futurism, you could tell they really wanted to be like Fallout in that regard, but the roaring 20s and cyberpunk don't jive well.

The question I have is, how did Obsidian go from Caesar's Legion to "your companion is aesexual".

ya, 90% of the characters are lesbians with short hair

ZZzzzzz

and not even unique or interesting characters

I think/hope cyberpunk is gonna blow this out of the water. This feels super dated with nice graphics / few decent mechanics on top

Fallout New Vegas had homosexuality but it was for the sake of roleplay as opposed to political point scoring.

Ya, I don't even care as long as there is some actual story/drama behind it

One of your companions, Arcade Ganon, is gay. He's just gay. The game dosen't make a big deal about it, and he dosen't even "come out" to you, he just *is* gay.

One of the ways to secure him as a companion is by flirting with him, if your character has the Confirmed Bachelor perk.

He was always my favourite companion in New Vegas, though he's definitely a subtle leftist.

eh...ya idk. Its just so boring. There no drama. You can pretty much choose whatever action you want and everything works out for you

I think they didn't spend enough time on writing

dialogue is decent, but overarching drama isn't

As for Obsidian's *transition*, I have a feeling that the guilty factor is the one shared by any other dev who made a great game back in the day but has not captured that exact same magic in their modern entries. The gradual *replacement* of their original team. See Bungie and Blizzard for instance.

True. All these young diversity hires.

Look at what happened to cyberpunk and how the faces of CD Projekt RED's team has changed since it was announced in '15 compared to this year

A bunch of polish dudes vs chubby chicks with danger hair

I think Cyberpunk 2077 is still gonna be great.

ya, i hope cyberpunk doesn't suck. Probably my most anticipated game tn

And honestly, having SJW shit wouldn't even be out of place in 2077, given that cybernetics and transhumanism are topics widely discussed by leftists like Sadie Plant.

They seem to think inverting your dick is literally the same as merging your brain with AI.

But yeah, I'm actually fine with politics in video games. Characters with real-world political motivations are generally more nuanced. Fiction writers aren't political writers and have trouble thinking up causes that people would actually follow irl.

I think it typically hurts the story. Makes it very bland and typically user-friendly

no interesting / controversial topics

I'm hopeful cyberpunk just plays it into the dystopic setting, and has some interesting story still

I like how the Wikipedia synopsis of Death Stranding is just a quote from Kojima because nobody can even hope to understand the plot of Death Stranding through 2nd hand testimony.

that looks like a potential dumpster fire tbh lol

Not sure I'll actually like the plot. It seems to me that your objective is to forcibly assimilate cities that desire independence, to create a new United States. Kojima has always been sort of an activist. I hope he tackles the topic with some nuance instead of portraying their secessionists as barbarians and xenophobes.

yes, nuance is what make shit interesting

```People have created "Walls" and become accustomed to living in isolation. Death Stranding is a completely new type of action game, where the goal of the player is to reconnect isolated cities and a fragmented society. It is created so that all elements, including the story and gameplay, are bound together by the theme of the "Strand" or connection. As Sam Porter Bridges, you will attempt to bridge the divides in society, and in doing create new bonds or "Strands" with other players around the globe. Through your experience playing the game, I hope you'll come to understand the true importance of forging connections with others.```
— Hideo Kojima

<:vox_day:556976341384167447>

it might work if it's super disconnected from contemporary times/reality

else it will be a shallow political statement

It's post-apocalyptic.