Spoilers for a choice in Stray Gods and for some stuff in the TV shows Fallout and Westworld
Butch:
I did play, but, before that, watched episode six of Fallout and that escalated quickly, didn't it? Also, where was all that nudity in the games? The games didn't have nudity!
Anyway….
Saved Aphrodite. I liked the song. That said, I thought the choice lacked punch, and I think it's because the game pulled the punch. All through the party I was all "Why WOULDN'T I save her?" Her repeated deaths weren't helping and causing people pain. Then, when Venus was in a wheelchair, I thought "Oh here's the moral dilemma! Saving Aphrodite will somehow damn this kind, smart, disabled woman." That gave me pause. But then, after the song, having Venus be all "Oh, it's cool! I'm happy!" made me think "Then the choice really was obvious."
I am known for second guessing my choices immediately. I am known for regret. So, when a Weighty Game Choice has me going "Why is this a choice?" and "I have no regrets," it's pretty cut and dried.
Maybe they had it as more morally vague in an earlier draft and then balked at the idea of having players think that assisting a suicide was "right" or something. Maybe it was too weighty in the rough draft.
Still, pretty great song.
Feminina:
See, that's interesting, because the first two times I played I let her die. It DID seem like a weighty decision to me, because they kept making the point that this was her decision, she has the right to make her own choice, and then the final decision is "try to convince her" vs. "let her make the choice" and I kept saying "man, I have to let her decide for herself, this isn't my call!"
And then she dies. I had to really stress to myself "I can't convince someone to do something they don't want to do, I won't convince her if she doesn't want me to" to make that final push.
I did like the "Everybody!" song, though.
Loothound:
True, the games were nudity-free, but this is television and a little skin never hurt the ratings. I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been more of it, frankly. Jonathan Nolan, the main producer of Fallout, was also the creator and main producer of Westworld. That show was CHOCK FREAKING FULL of the nekked. Actually, other than the amount of bare flesh, the parallels between the two shows are many. That would be an interesting discussion all its own. Westworld was an amazing show. Easily one of the best in the past decade or so.
I tried to save Aphrodite, but ultimately left it up to her which ended with her passing on anyway. Apparently, you have to be all in "no, you can't do this" to save her. Ultimately, I decided that I'm not in her shoes and haven't been through what she's been through, so I didn't have the right to tell her what to do. Which was hard, you know, because Aphrodite is clearly an attention…wanter…and an absolute drama queen. She plays it all up and demands a big going away party, and that really doesn't jive well with her justification for doing it. Eros's description of what she goes through, though, was very real and heartfelt and hard for me to ignore. I think that if Grace had been in the scene for longer I would have felt better about coming in and trying to force the issue, but Aphrodite had all of these people around her who had known her for a really long time and none of them took the hard stand.
Butch:
I was all kind and charming until the very last choice when I went kick ass, which wasn't all that kick ass, it was more "You have to live!" What happens if she dies? Is everyone pissed at you? Again?
Dude, I've been thinking Fallout is very Westworldy, and not just because we have a drawling violent cowboy. The non linear time line? The multiple main characters? The themes of redemption/damnation? The drawling cowboy tying up and dragging around the innocent woman (Johnathan, talk to your therapist about that)? Very Westworld.
Which yes, was a good show. Until it wasn't, but we won't go there.
And very nekked.
Feminina:
Nah, no one blames you if she dies. Venus optimistically says maybe this time will be different, and Eros dubiously/think-positively agrees, and she tells you about the key, and they go off without Aphrodite. This was an outcome that was preordained, and only the path to it changed.
I did not watch Westworld, but Loothound said the same thing. Do what you're good at, I guess?
Even if that's repeatedly dying a dramatic death at a big party.
Butch:
That seems to be a thing in this game. It's can't be THAT non linear. I'm content with my path. I did kind of wonder why Venus was the one who knew about the key. Guess that tidbit had to be there no matter what, right?
Do what you're good at, indeed. He said, blogging and pondering tequila.
Though, that may turn into ironic advice. I promised Nugget, around Christmas, that I would try, emphasis on TRY, to ice skate with him, and today is the day. You know me and balancing. I don't do stairs very well, for fuck's sake. I very much hope I do not finish today's bloggage from the hospital.
Loothound:
Did you watch all of Westworld? Okay, then this. The Ed Harris character from it, the Man in Black, started out as this starry-eyed idealist. Through trying to do the right thing, he comes to be a hardened, cruel individual—but one who has become that way through pursuing a loftier ideal. Just like the fucking Ghoul.
And, Lucy. How much like Delores is SHE? A humble-living American idealist who lives that way because they are in a controlled, sheltered environments which cushions them. Until they suffer violence at the hands of the larger world and the systems that control them. They both embark on quests that require navigating the violence of the "real world" in order to save their communities and their ideals. Both of them have those quests transform them into violent actors who have to seriously question what "good" is and what means are permissible in order to achieve "good." This other Nolan guy is seriously plumbing a very specific well, and a fantastic one.
I'm not sure what you mean about it turning 'not good,' though. It definitely shifted some serious gears towards the end, but it was consistent and on-point as far as I was concerned. Their ultimate point was one of the most philosophically meaty ones we've ever seen on television. Plus, distilled Vincent Cassell awesomeness.
Butch:
Yup. Ghoul/Lucy very much Ed Harris/young Ed Harris/Delores. Man knows his themes.
I thought it lost its way after the first season. Moral is, never kill off Anthony Hopkins.
Loothound:
After the first season? Dude, if you can go back and finish that thing.
Yeah, killing Anthony Hopkins. Sad, but such a TV thing to book an huge name actor for a TV show and then kill them off at the end of Season 1 so you don't have to keep paying them. Like professional Killed in the First Act guy, Sean Bean. (Side-eyes Ned Stark).
It seemed to me that Aphrodite's song had a much wider range of visual options. All of Feminina's playthroughs seemed quite different to me, and different from my own, too. Not that the other ones didn't vary, but they all felt a little tighter to a path from beginning to end. That just me?
Butch:
Hmm. My visuals were really just by a pond or lake or something, then cutting to everyone singing with no background. Didn't really go in many directions. What did you guys get?
Loothound:
I took the 'focus on who wronged you', or something, option and I got this pretty dramatic stained-glass window representation of what happened to her during the war. Like in chains and stuff.
Butch:
Oh right! I got, like, two of those.
Feminina:
The stained glass images was a good design – nice visual representation, and tied into the later imagery of a coffin with lilies, a congregation singing, etc., suggesting something like a cathedral. It was nicely done.
Butch:
Oh, see, I didn't get that. I got a couple windows then I was at a pond.
Cuz she lived. No coffin.
And I lived! I needed two kids to help me get to the ice, then I couldn't move. But I didn't fall! I didn't move, but I didn't fall!
I don't know how people do that. Or why. Who was the first person to say "Hey, see that frozen pond? Let's strap knives to our feet and walk around on it?" And why did anyone else say "Hey! Good idea!"
Loothound:
Congrats on the not falling, Butch. Who cares if you moved. I dunno, man. I was always raw butt at ice skating, and I often cursed the name of whoever invented it. Probably some Scandinavian showboat who said something like: "Hey, guys, I found a new and fancier way to raid villages…wheeeee!"
Butch:
I was just all "How do you do that? How do you do that while controlling a puck with a stick and knowing where everyone is and having people trying to hit you?"
Man, if it was a Scandanavian showoff raider, why the FUCK was there not ice skating in ACV? I would SO raid a village on skates.
Feminina:
Like bicycling, I think ice skating is much faster than walking once you get the hang of it, and so became popular despite the obvious insanity of its basic premise.
Loothound:
Yeah, if you're used to getting around on rivers and lakes in boats you're gonna figure out some way to do it when it's all frozen. Yep, tiny boats for your feet. With knives, of course.
I'm currently fantasizing about a game with a fighting mechanic where you're coasting around on ice-skates with an axe, or something. Like a 3D fighting game but all movement was skating, with you having to deal with the physics of it. Maybe it would kind of work like sailing in AC Black Flag, but with just you as the 'ship', and all of your special attacks working off of some figure skating moves.
Man, now I wanna play it…
Feminina:
Throw in some musical numbers, a heist, and a fancy party, and I'm in.
Loothound:
…and THAT is how you get a great combat mechanic into Stray Gods.
Butch:
Not ice skating, but close:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollerdrome
Loothound:
…and THAT is how you get a great combat mechanic into Disco Elysium.
Feminina:
"As players complete levels, they will gradually unlock more powerful weapons such as grenade launchers and shotguns, though they will have to face more challenging enemies as the game progresses."
WHAT. I have never heard of such a thing.
Butch:
I just remember thinking, back when it came out, that they totally ripped off the James Caan sci fi classic "Rollerball."
Loothound:
Woof. That is some old-school schlock action movie stuff right there. Death Race 2000 level.
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