MisterEyeballs

@katygaga: Yeah, I guess I just don't know what to say other than "I didn't feel that way about the game at all." Nothing about it came off as obnoxious or boring or poorly-executed to me. I think the fact that the characters are cartoonishly good or evil is kinda the entire point. They capture the extremes of human emotion without any of the nuance, until near the end of the game.

Those bits of Mass Effect 2 present some these ideas more clearly, but I don't think it goes nearly as far as Nier, and they lack any emotional weight. They're just philosophical conversations. I prefer a "show, don't tell" approach. And honestly I thought Nier was the only game about AI in recent memory that didn't feel played out. I wouldn't call the nihilism of this game self-deprecation or flagellation. Given Ending E, I think it very specifically rejects that way of thinking.

So...yeah, to each their own, I guess.

Firstly, I enjoyed the gameplay way more than other people. I don't think it's amazing or anything, but people act like its' nearly unbearable and I just don't get that.

The soundtrack might be my favorite of all time. This is boosted by how it's used in the game, with different versions of the songs playing at different times/as you transition to different areas.

I really think the story is incredible. A lot of people seem to boil it down to just another "can AI achieve consciousness?" story. If that's all you got out of this game, I feel like you weren't paying attention. It asks and answers that question within like three hours.

The rest of the game explores the deeper implications of that. If robots want to be human, what does that look like? How might AI try to emulate humanity? What would different machines see as the defining characteristics of humanity? Some see it as mortality (Adam and Eve), or love (Amusement Park machines), or peace (Pascal), or duty (2B), or hatred (9S), or beauty (Simone), etc.

Are humans even like humans? If you try to isolate what makes humans unique and emulate these characteristics, you realize that humans themselves don't even act on them. Despite their efforts, none of the various types of AI ever really become humans, they just capture very specific truths about humanity.

The biggest question this game asks, though, is why? Why should AI try to be like humans? Humans aren't the "good guys" of the universe. The robots are left in world without them, and for most of the game, their obsessed with trying to recreate them. Only at the very end do the machines realize that Humanity doesn't matter, Earth doesn't matter, and they should just leave and create something new.

All this is done with a cast of (mostly) extremely well-defined often very likable characters. You see how different people react to the undoing of a society that was always doomed. Thier own pursuits of Humanity come back to destroy them. Shifts in perspective are one of the most important part of this game. They show you different ways of thinking, show you more pieces of the larger puzzle that no single robot can see. Ultimately, they start to signify that something terrible is about to happen (the A2 shift, the Pascal shift, the Ending C & D choice).

And of couse, all the meta shit. There's no argument I can really make for all that. If it really did nothing for you, there's nothing I can say.

In the end, this game presented an extremely nihilistic and hopeless view of the world, and humanity, and the future. In Ending E, it somehow manages to take all these and, without rejecting it all, says that despite all of that being true, there is still purpose and hope. And that is worth the rest.

So yeah, I loved this game, and there's nothing else quite like it. I hope this at least helped you understand it a little. You should really listen to the Waypoint spoilercast if you want some more specific stuff.

I'm most excited for Monster Hunter World. I've enjoyed the series mostly from a distance. I'm ready to finally go all in on it.

I'd love Metro to happen in 2018, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm actually very excited for the Persona spinoffs.

I did the jump rope challenge in one try. I just kinda got lucky with my jump timing. But FUCK. THE. VOLLEYBALL. It's not even that hard but it takes so long to do a run that I just get frustrated and bored. I'm probably just not gonna try anymore. It's not worth it.

IN NO ORDER

Tyler, the Creator - Flower Boy: Made me a Tyler fan. One of my favorite albums ever. Really love how personal and not-aggressive it is compared to his older stuff.

Brockhampton - Saturation 1 & 2 (can't wait for 3 later this year!): These guys are shockingly good. Their particular blend of musical styles and tones is like a dream come true for me. I've wanted a group like them to exist for a long time.

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.: Another classic from the best emcee of our time. Nothing else to say.

Gorillaz - Humanz: Not as great as Demon Days and Plastic Beach, which are two of my favorite albums. But it's still got some good stuff on there, and it just makes me happy that the Gorillaz are back.

Frank Ocean: His loosies this year have all been really great. I hope his next album sounds like his 2017 singles. More rapping, heavier production.

Joey Bada$$ - All-Amerikkkan Bada$$: Good album. Nothing crazy, but very solid.

Vic Mensa - The Autobiography: Not bad. I hope Vic continues to improve. He's like 85% of the way to being a really great rapper.

OLDER STUFF

Anderson .Paak - Malibu and Venice: .Paak is one of the best artists out there, incredibly talented. I've loved his work so far, and I'm really excited to see where he goes from here. Hope he can bring back some of the production style from Venice in the future.

Frank Ocean - Blonde: Beautiful album. I could listen to it all the way through every day of my life.

Saba - Bucket List Project and ComfortZone: Wow Saba is a good rapper. Everything he makes is smooth as hell. Hope he continues to get better and makes it big.

Modest Mouse: I got back into Modest Mouse and they're a good band. I like their newer stuff better. They're pretty weird but they make it work.

I played it for the first time this year after playing and loving Persona 5. I had watched some of the ER before (several times), but I always fell off after a while. I found it way more fun to watch after actually playing the game, because I was anticipating their reactions to the specific scenes I loved (or hated, in the case of the camping trip).

I'd definitely recommend playing it first and then watching. I think both are probably more fun that way.

The whole execution sequence was incredible, but I gotta give it to the Hitler scene. My jaw was on the floor the entire time. I didn't even know you could kill him during that until I rewatched the scene on youtube afterwards. Just an absolutely insane (10-minute-long) scene that really makes me wonder how Hitler is gonna be as the main antagonist of the third game. Obviously he'll end up as Mecha-Hitler at some point but I'm curious how they make this feeble, sick, senile idiot a challenging force.

Just finished the game, and I really liked it. The story was fucking nuts. The gameplay was good if not incredible. I agree with everyone saying there's not enough player feedback. I really just played it for the story, and I'm glad I did cause HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK!?

Mid-game spoiler: The whole sequence leading up to, including, and following BJ's execution is completely bonkers and totally unexpected. Has to be a Best Moment contender for GOTY.

Late-game spoiler: They made some choices about how to depict Hitler. I was ready to see him in this game, possibly as a robot-man. I was not ready to see him pissing and vomiting on the floor at an audition for a movie he wrote on Venus. It was shocking and hilarious and crazy.

I've used both extensively. They're both great, but Uriel's Gift is better. The High-caliber rounds are just insane right now.

I've never played MGS2. My more-or-less introduction to the series was Metal Gear Scanlon, which I've rewatched more times than I can remember. With all the modern context, I was really surprised how much MGS2 seemed to understand society's course in 2001. I can pretty easily see how you could logically get from where we are now to the inception of something like the Patriots. To be able to see those logical steps over a decade and a half ago is insane.

I wish Kojima focused all his efforts on this type of stuff rather than people with photosynthesis and close-ups of boobs. I've got high hopes for Death Stranding.