militantfreudian

I'm not sure what sort of additional post-processing effects would require more powerful hardware than the existing consoles. Current-gen remasters seem like attractive propositions to me, especially if they come bundled with the DLC. Although I wouldn't mind if they fix the inventory system of the first game.

The one game that immediately comes to mind is Dishonored 2. It offers a high level of player expressivity and ample room for emergent play. I see no reason not to give it a shot since a lengthy trial is available on all platforms.

I wasn't too keen on the open-world craze early this generation, nor the shoehorned RPG systems that plagued many big-budget games. Also, the trend of big-budget games aiming for increasingly higher production value has engendered mostly risk-averse games in that space (see Sony's first party outings). Nier, pretty much everything Arkane's made, Doom, Bloodborne, and The Witcher have been the standouts for me.

In spite of that, I feel there's still more variety in terms of quality games thanks to indie games, mid-tier publishers like Paradox, and the re-emergence of Japanese games. I think the indie games space is where true innovation and diversity can be found – I suppose not unlike many art forms. Actually, I think indie games, this generation, only served to highlight the failings of bigger games when it comes to innovation and just general holistic game design, or lack thereof.

Even though I might seem down on this generation, I think it may be my favorite...? Though I miss Bioware and Irrational Games.

There are many games I'm tentatively interested in, but the ones I'm "stoked" for are Kentucky Route Zero (TV Edition), In the Valley of the Gods, Doom Eternal, and Sekiro.

Leave No Trace was much better than I expected. It manages to avoid every trope and cliche you'd expect a story of its ilk to fall victim to, even though the film's premise sounds like well-trodden territory. It doesn't overdramatize any aspects of the story nor characters, which is important considering the film's subject matter. The performances are very naturalistic, and the script is economical. It's definitely the best film I've seen last year, and at this point, I'm looking forward to whatever Debra Granik makes next.

@sparky_buzzsaw: Considering immersive sims' aversion to cutscenes, world-building is bound to be done through text, audio logs, graffiti, etc. I thought Dishonored 2 used books, articles, and correspondence to provide context and different perspectives to good effect. I recognize that it's a matter of taste, but it was used to good effect and not to the point of over-reliance. If I'm not misremembering, the missions in Dishonored 2 had secondary objectives with some narrative value that not only emerged organically while exploring, but also had repercussions in later missions.

Anyway, I get that the Black and White mode is a novelty, but I think it does the world of Dishonored 2 a disservice. The game uses color and different times of day to make each location distinct. I think so much is lost when the colorful and sun-kissed streets of Karnaca look nearly identical to Dunwall's. But, if nothing else, Mission+ seems like a useful feature for experimenting with the powers I never found a use for in my non-lethal playthrough.

Breakfast food is best food. I also love yogurt, and anything with peanut butter.

I think the game does a decent job handling Arthur's illness. It's used as a plot device to good effect, and watching Arthur struggle with swallowing food made me wince nearly every time. That said, I wish maybe the symptoms were a little more pronounced during regular play. The penalties you endure seemed negligible, or at the very least, easy to deal with in the short term. Then there was the mission in which Rains Fall recommends an herbal brew to alleviate Arthur's symptoms, but that turns out to be just a mission-specific thing with no bearing on the game's mechanics. Maintaining Arthur's weight was also hardly a requirement, so I didn't notice any difference in his physique after the diagnosis.

I guess I'm in the minority of people who thought the epilogue was important. It was by no means perfect, but I actually thought it was one of the few consistently good parts in the game. Somehow I felt Arthur's death (and legacy) carried more weight because the story went on. Maybe that's an odd comparison, but his death reminded me of Nier: Automata's final ending. I felt like I wasn't done playing as Arthur, and that he – and by extension, I – had unfinished business.

In any case, the epilogue worked for me. The menial tasks you do as John certainly harken back to the previous game's final missions, but they serve an entirely different purpose. This game isn't doing The Sopranos thing of showing you a character being a family man so you care for him when, moments later, he gets "whacked." I think one of the goals is to emphasize the difference between the homesteading life and the transient lifestyle of a Van der Linde gang member. The epilogue also made for a refreshing change of pace following the third story act, with its high tension and frequent shootouts.

More importantly though, over the course of the main chapters, both Arthur and John clearly see the error of their ways and make strides towards becoming better men. So, I thought John acted as a proxy for Arthur during the epilogue: portraying the struggles of an ex-outlaw trying to become a law-abiding citizen, and showing you the sort of life Arthur regretted not pursuing.

Regarding Dutch's appearance in the final showdown, doesn't he imply that he was there to kill Micah as well?

Anyway, thanks for sharing. It was very much an interesting read. Looking forward to your next write-up.

The uplifting tone the story takes in the epilogue is somewhat cliched, and I'm not sure if I liked it because of it or in spite of it, but, for the most part, it worked for me. John's quest of trying to become a better person is a continuation of Arthur's. So, in this sense, I didn't feel like the story was retreading the same ground.

In the process of becoming a member of modern society – where the government has a monopoly on violence – John had to relinquish the freedom of resolving problems with force. So, it was interesting to witness the repercussions of deviating from this rule, like when John kills the man who tried to rob him prior to the epilogue and Micah. I thought this was in line with the story's theme of trying to preserve "man's" natural liberties.

Even though I like Arthur better, John grew on me by the end of the epilogue. In fact, I was looking forward to playing as him after the epilogue, but getting $20k after the last mission makes me less likely to engage with the open world activities I ignored for the better part of the game. I just don't see the incentive beyond filling the compendium, which I have no interest in doing.

@barrock: If you're mainly interested in the story mission, then you're looking at 10 minutes worth of additional content, if that. It's by no means a bad mission, but the game already has 100 missions of roughly the same quality.