Thanks for the long and interesting writeup! I’m still working through AC 1 and enjoying it, I’ll see if I stay on the train as long as you :).

I did play Ghost of Tsushima. One of the most beautiful looking games I’ve ever played with amazing combat and good characters. For me, it was just way to long and repetitive. I eventually found the solution, playing each of the three acts and the DLC with a long break in between each time, so it felt fresh again. In the end I even got the platinum trophy for it, but I still see it as a great 8/10 game that could have been an all time favorite if it was trimmed to about half its runtime. Here’s hoping that they don’t make the same mistakes for Ghost of Yotei. If they can keep the good and trim the bloat, this could be the game of a generation.

“based on news like this”

I think you’re spot on there. Not saying that the BBC is untrustworthy, but there is always a bias in every news source. Especially when it comes to criticizing foreign policy versus local policy.

I am not disputing that it is not going well there. I’m just saying that similar issues are present in a lot of western countries. I am of course only talking about the subject of this article. If you look at how authoritarian the gouvernement is, stuff does get clearly worse in China compared to most western countries.

Don’t the amount of available jobs scale too?

I feel like this problem would be the same if China was a tenth the size, same goes for US and other countries. It’s a systemic issue, where the ratios of workers and jobs are wrong and unsocial.

It’s hard to discuss such a massive series. It feels as if everything has been said about it and people have largely gotten tired of the formula, but hear me out.

I actually never played any of them, I recently started playing the first one (from 2007) on my Steam Deck and I am actually loving it. It’s such a simple, straightforward game, with a basic but engaging story and honestly gorgeous visuals for the time. The mechanics are delightfully limited, in a sense that it really helps me to turn of my brain and just enjoy myself. I really like the world and how dense it is: all objectives are reasonably close and movement is quick and agile. A real gem for the Steam Deck!

I most certainly will get the sequel trilogy, as that one seems to be loved by a lot of people.

You are absolutely allowed to look at a woman or make moves. Just respect other people and their boundaries.

Just move in the world, do stuff you like, meet people, be respectful to them and make connections. Don’t force stuff and respect the wishes of others.

If you do this, there is absolutely room for getting to know people better and becoming romantically involved. Just don’t be a dick.

Also, no need to be attractive as long as you’re true to yourself and are as open to others as you hope for them to be towards you.

Also, I looked up that list you posted, as some of the entries seemed very strange to me, even for the time.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/reasons-admission-insane-asylum-1800s/

In general, this document might be more accurately described as “a list of some reasons why people were believed to have eventually developed illnesses that led to their being admitted to the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane” and not a list of “symptoms” or “reasons” why people were admitted to that hospital.

It’s an extremely funny list, but shows more that psychoanalysis in that time was pretty stupid, not that people were being put in an asylum for showing these behaviors.

I don’t mean focus on medical situations as a wildcard to just practice any sort of (pseudo) medicine on people. It’s about rights being given, not taken away.

The reason I mentioned this, is that the erasure of gender from official status might have as a side effect that rights related to gender (for example pregnancy leave) have to be defined in a way that doesn’t link it to gender. By no means do I want some sort of medical laws or such that force things upon people, it’s more about rights linked to a person’s medical conditions.

In that sense, I see having a penis, or a uterus, or something else as just one of the medical characteristics of a person, just as for example their blood sugar, eyesight or mental state. Rights and care should be based on that, and not on a F/M on an official document.

I would prefer it if gender was just left out of official documents and policies, and rules would just focus on medical situations. This would leave space for everyone to be who they are while still allowing for specific care for people who menstruate, get pregnant, have a prostate etc.

We don’t have separate rules or bathrooms for people who wear glasses or are redheads, but somehow this archaic binary distinction is so ingrained in our society that people feel the need to categorize them in almost every domain of our lives.

I say this as a cis man so if my opinion sounds stupid I am willing to learn. I do have some close trans friends and what I feel is that they just want to be allowed to be themselves. Like, their search and discovery of their identity is of course super important to them, but at the same time they are just people. I discuss them now because of the topic, but in my head they are no different from any other person I know. Just let people be themselves and don’t force boxes where they aren’t needed.

You absolutely beautiful person! What a thoughtful and sincere reply, I cannot thank you enough.

You’re 100 percent right that those experiences will still be there for me in the future when I feel the space. For now I am limiting myself to your second group of suggestions (I’ve played the first Frog Detective and loved it), knowing that your first group is there when I feel like it.

I did already play Edith Finch though, a masterpiece in my opinion, but indeed quite heavy (but extremely hopeful too).

Welcome, let this place be your grass to touch :). I am doing better than expected. Had a really bad time mentally but slowly recovering and finding joy.

Listening to good music (Sigur Ros, Explosions in the Sky, Dan Auerbach’s wonderful solo albums (singer from the Black Keys).

Playing some fun games I got for cheap in the steam sale.

Watching an anime on Crunchyroll for the first time (The forbidden deduction of Ron Something Something).

What do you enjoy?

Seems right down my alley. Does it feature any triggering subjects? (Mainly severe mental health stuff and suicide is stuff I avoid for the time being)

Do you have recommendations for similar games?

I am not from the US but always felt the world would be so different if Bernie was up against Trump instead of Hilary.

Is there a younger member of the Democratic party with a similar vibe to Bernie?

I am am continuing to extend the life of my 6 years old laptop for as long as possible, hopefully I will be able to buy a framework when it does eventually die on me. (It’s a semi-shitty clevo model but I recently replaced the battery and it’s kind of decent again)

I looked it up, the horrible sub is TheLastOfUs2 (avoid!), the normal one is LastOfUsPart2

I completely agree with your last part, the story would have been perfect if it was switched.

To counter your other argument, the surrogate lesbian daughter is still more visually stereotypically attractive though. The number of hate posts for Abby that even go into transfobic territory and misgendering was massive. I made the mistake of wanting to read some discussion on part 2 after playing it on reddit: the whole sub is just hate (there probably is an alternative but I didn’t look further, I was to disgusted by it).

But your opinion on Joel vs Abby is valid, it’s actually annoying that actual discussion about storytelling gets overshadowed by bigots.

On a similar note, I had issues with the change in direction of Doctor Who which accidently coincided with the casting of the first female Doctor, and it was so hard to have genuinely critical discussions without misogynists taking over or being accused of being one myself.

I also cannot understand how you could play the Last of Us Part 1 and not realise how horrible Joel is.

Spoilers for both games ahead.

The ending of 1 was super difficult for me to play and super powerful in its delivery. It was horrible to decide to “save” Ellie by literally murdering everyone in the research station and destroying all hope for a cure. I was really impressed that they went there storywise, but then when in 2 Joel gets killed, all these so-called “fans” are angry because their lovely protagonist was killed. It’s like they willfully ignore the complicated morals that were already present in the first game. When Abby does horrible stuff, they hate her. When Joel does horrible stuff in 1, it’s fine. Part 2 had some problems, but I hugely respect what they were going for and how it polarised the community.

The bad reactions to this seemed minimal to me, but my god the woman in the Galactic trailer is driving them nuts.

Which I really don’t understand, because I find her look and vibe the good part of that trailer. The slurping drink and forced pop song on the other hand…

What are good starting points for the Deus ex series? I’ve got the original on Steam, but haven’t really gotten into it yet, feels very intimidating every time I start. Should I just push through or are there other entry points?

Btw, I loved dishonored 1 but somehow stopped playing, thanks for reminding me to get back to it :).

I would describe myself as a pantheist: I see the existence of the universe as a whole and the multifaceted consciousness in it as divine. So science is as much a technical as a spiritual journey for me, and love / amazement / experience of the world seems the highest form of living.

I also feel that children often embody this in a very pure form, and it is only when society and social constructs kick in that we seem to forget our purpose and get all tangled up in imaginary goals and obligations.

I think it will be Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

I think it should be Astro Bot or UFO 50.