#gaming rant

I'm trying, really, really trying to finally finish this 3rd requiem Standard Classic playthrough that I've been dragging on for this past month.

Everything has been going fine so far. If its taken me this long its because Ive been using this playthrough to take as many shots in photomode as I can (that I have to edit and queue at some point.)

I've already passed the giant fucking plant and entered the ARK and oH.mY.gAwD?!

I don't know what it is. Maybe its a skill issue. Maybe I trusted myself too much. But what was once an easy section for me has turned into a complete and utter nightmare. I just spent what was supposed to be a relaxing gaming block raging at my TV because I keep fucking DYING.

60 minutes spent getting annihilated by HUNK/Commander. A fight that I was able to beat in one go on my first playthrough. But this time he's fucking ending me. I think I can do a whole fucking compilation of all the death animations because of how much I am suffering in this damned fight.

I am so fucking close to just starting this whole section over. So fucking close. I even got the mortal edge hoping that'll help somewhat but I don't have enough credits for it.

So yeah, I am just gonna start the whole section over and grab as many healing items as I can and enough credits for that mortal edge because I am sick and tired of this motherfucker. Even scared my goddamn cat because I growled at the screen. This is so frustrating.

I haven't been this mad at a boss fight since the G-2 Birkin/Crate fight in RE2R. Holy shit that fight sucks.

But this one with HUNK? I've been able to deal with him before. I've been able to deal with the entirety of the Standard Classic Mode up to this point. Even during the Super Tyrant I only died like twice? But I have a full HOUR worth of footage of HUNK snapping Leons neck.

I'm tired. What the hell is up with this boss fight. I don't remember it being this fucking hard. I know Standard Classic is supposed to be harder but this isnt even hard anymore its IMPOSSIBLE.

Or maybe today is just not my day.

But now with Leon Kennedy ( in RE Requiem), it’s openly talked about that women on staff weighed in to make him more attractive for the audience, and that’s treated as totally fine. [sources 1 | 2 | 3 ]

If Tomb Raider’s creators openly said they asked male staff to help make Lara hotter. The reaction would not be called “fun design trivia.” It would be treated as a problem and that men are so horrible.

I don’t like how “cozy gaming” is like a “thing” now. As in companies are specifically trying to make and push their “cozy” games. Not to mention, a lot of the influencers promoting these games are sponsored by the companies. (Does anyone remember when Animula Nook was announced and they pretended to be an “indie” company but then sponsored tons of influencers and it was revealed they were actually owned by Tencent, a huge company even worse than EA with regards to lootbox mechanics and monetization??)

Besides the fact that it’s just become predatory marketing, a specifically “cozy” game doesn’t really exist because everyone has a different definition of cozy. Want to know what game I find extremely cozy? Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. A game where you can throw bombs at monsters, be insta-killed by giant spider robots and run around in your underwear. That’s not what falls under the “cozy gaming” aesthetic on social media, but it’s cozy to me because when I play it I feel relaxed and like I can escape from daily life. Another cozy game for me is Cookie Run Kingdom, which involves battling other players and a story mode with really hard bosses, yet I find it cozy and a form of escapism (it is a gacha game, but I think it does implement the system better than other games). Same with BitLife, where your character can be randomly killed by a witch doctor or falsely accused of murder and sent to jail.

A lot of us on simblr find the Sims games cozy as well, yet all the Sims games have their fair share of bugs, performance issues and general chaos (try to have a successful wedding in any of the main games, you’ll see what I mean😂). I find Sims cozy because it’s like playing with dolls and I get to live the life I’ve always wanted (have a big family and get married🥲). But another simmer might find it cozy to play with a Black Widow sim and murder sims by taking away the pool ladder. Some people think building/CAS is cozy. And there are others who don’t think Sims is cozy at all.

What’s “cozy” to you isn’t cozy to everyone, and that’s what makes it hard to create and specifically push a game as cozy. The stereotypical “cozy game” is a farming/crafting sim with a cute and cartoony style that looks like it was made for a toddler, but I personally don’t find those types of games cozy. I don’t like farming or crafting. I also don’t like the super cartoony style that almost looks like AI made it (and some of these games have been caught using AI, like Heartopia). But others do like those things, and that’s perfectly okay. I just don’t like how they’ve turned it into an aesthetic.

I think these companies saw how many people found games like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and The Sims very cozy and relaxing, and they decided to capitalize on that. A lot of these games attempt to be a combination of all three or two (usually Stardew x AC) but end up failing and being soulless instead. And that’s because cozy isn’t one specific genre. Some people find Stardew cozy (I definitely don’t lol, love the game but it’s very stressful to me), some people find Sims cozy, some people find Zelda cozy, and some people even find games like Red Dead Redemption cozy. My dad liked to unwind after work with a nice cozy session of…GTA San Andreas.😂 A cozy game varies based on the person.

Sorry, rant over. It’s just been something that’s frustrated me lately. There are supposedly a lot of “cute and cozy aesthetic” games coming out this year but I’m suspicious of most of them. A whole lot look like there’s AI and lootbox elements involved, which I don’t personally support. Paralives is the only cozy-looking game I’m excited about.🤷🏻‍♀️And btw, besides the AI and lootbox stuff, can we address the lack of diversity in these “cozy” games?? Heartopia hardly has any POC characters and then had the nerve to add a scene of one of the very few Black characters make monkey noises when he ate a mushroom!!

This can lead to people losing interest in a game and Could cause the death of the game in a worst case scenario (only if the rest of the game is oversaturated and has problems as well).

REBLOG IF YOU AGREE AND LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU KNOW A GAME THAT'S IN A SIMILAR SITUATION!

Examples I can give from my experience:

Brawl Stars (From real weapons to silly ones, less new rares and super rares and more epics/mythics/legendaries, overly complex brawlers, ultra legendary rarity)

Genshin Impact (Powercreep trend that started with Neuvillette, Natlan characters having overly complicated kits and being P2W because they feel mandatory for exploration, the land of dinosaurs having pixel holograms, Dj turntables and MOTORBIKES)

And I'm afraid Forsaken will suffer the same fate because of Veeronica and Guest666. I mean just look at them.

I hope you liked this illustration and I hope it got the message across...the only problem I have with it is that I've grown a bit attached to these bright colored fighter guys I came up with in a few minutes even though they're supposed to be the "bad ones"...

OH, AND REMEMBER!: Even if you agree that a videogame that wants to be successful should be more consistent and fair, you can't really apply the same thing to OCs and fanmade game characters!

A lot of oc artists (like me) don't actually work with game companies (I mean they don't at least to my knowledge), and passionate artists can come up with the wildest ideas, because they have no limits.

Since it's Pride month, I wanted to talk about something that has been weighing on me as a LGBTQIA+ person, namely how DEI in Gaming is hurting us in the long run.

(This ties into writing self-inserts but that's another topic for another day)

So for context, look at games currently with heavy DEI consultancy and ignore the slop journalism, read actual reviews from real players, play those games yourself, research the real sales (not what the gaming outlets tell you) and you realize a disturbing pattern: All of these games are being advised by DEI consultant groups that have no idea how to write actual LGBTQIA+ storylines and characters. They're fantastic at being activists (we need that) but they cannot for the life of them write a good LGBTQIA+ storyline without maligning potential Allies.

The most egregious example is Taash from Veilguard. I've always wanted a nonbinary companion in Dragon Age but unfortunately Taash is a stereotypical girlboss (without the girl since they're nonbinary) and just reinforces why we nonbinary people get bad rep. And not only that, but it's also clear as day that whoever wrote them was on a power trip and wrote the most unlikable companion ever. That's horrible and just plain damaging to nonbinary community.

People talk shit about Dorian all the time, but consensus is that he's a well written gay character. He doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in the setting (you can even get rid of him if you want, you don't have to endure him if he's someone you dislike, that's the beauty of the old Dragon Age, the ability to commit evil deeds makes the good ones all the more satisfying) and he's not actively making you hate him, unlike Taash who just has no likable qualities (and I'm saying this as a nonbinary person myself, I hate Taash. Characters like them are the reason why nonbinary people like me are the laughingstock and pariahs of the communities.)

People need to understand something: Pride is about visibility and being your authentic self yes, it's about celebrating ourselves and fighting for our human rights, but it is also about winning people over as Allies.

We need Allies. Just like how dealing with Racism requires having white people on board to deal with the core issues and show the contrasts so others can understand (I'm South African. Apartheid ended because Black people and White people worked together to end it as peacefully as possible, it wasn't a one-sided thing. The gap needed to bridged or nothing would happen without violence), the LGBTQIA+ community needs it's Allies to help bridge the gap. DEI in gaming is only widening the gap; it's not bringing people together. Instead, you have Reddit mod style dev teams who talk down to people and are utterly delulu lol when they shoot themselves in the foot and wonder why no one is buying their game. (I hate Reddit, a story for another day but I digress. Look up SaveAFox and Mikayla Raines if you want to know why I absolutely despise that site)

Look at 1348 Ex Voto. The game had a great premise (female knight presenting as male, etc) and had freaking Jennifer English (Shadowheart / Maelle, one of the top female VAs right now) as the love interest / villain (this was a shock and a really good piece of storytelling that got lost in the controversy, having the love interest be the villain was really cool!) and yet it silently flopped. Why? Because the devs decided it was more important to start a culture war with the "A Knight's Path" devs and other users on X/Twitter instead of improving their flawed game. I'm sorry but what sunk 1348 Ex Voto was not just the bad gameplay but the shitty attitude of the devs. Play with fire and you get burned. Cue Surprised!Pikachu face from the devs after.

I'm getting off point but basically what I'm saying is this: We need real LGBTQIA+ writers in the gaming industry, not DEI activists who write like fanfic writers (nothing wrong with that, I'm a fanfic writer too but fanfic writing is nothing like professional writing, apples and oranges, need to be in different bags). Activism is always needed but let the damn professional writers do the writing for goodness' sake!

Quality over quantity, please.