I could be wrong, but I think every Borderlands game has had an almost entirely different team of writers. Anthony Burch helped on the Pre-Sequel as well as 2, but I can't see any staff crossover on any other games.
I suggest this because it might explain why these games have such inconsistent writing - yeah it's mostly bad, but it's inconsistently bad too. I've hardly ever meet a fan of this series who liked the writing of 1 & 2, or 2 & 3, or the Pre Sequel.
There just doesn't seem to be a consistent authorial voice in these games, but maybe I don't hear it because I turn the voices down XD
@doctornieves: This is the second time you've left this exact comment. I even agree with your critique but I don't understand why you thought that maaaybe it'll work a second time? I've never been called lazy and thought "Huh you know, this guy's right!" XD
Ok this podcast is fucking fantastic, you guys have really great chemistry together. I was honestly not hyped about this pod upon announcement, but I fucking love this.
I love this show. Jess has injected so much energy into GB atm and unlike a lot of other new staffers who I've grown to love over time, she's an obvious and immediate fit. Also, Jan's chemistry with her is so fuckin fire.
@slinkdickens:The comparisons you've listed are a total 'whataboutism' and you've totally missed the point. Children can't consent to having their likeness being put onto the internet and while in many cases its harmless to upload, suddenly introducing a child to a feedback loop where they're beholden to an audience is not a normal environment. The crux of this argument is an emotional appeal because most people here can IMMEDIATELY see how this can get so fucked up so quickly. I really think the required amount of empathy to understand the issue isn't very high because some of these videos just trigger strong 'uncanny valley' responses from most of us here.
I mean look at the "You made our kids cry" video. The expressions the eldest child are making are fucking uncanny - she's not even a teen and she's emoting in ways that only experienced 'influencers' do and it makes my skin crawl. This kid is not the product of a normal environment and seeing them act in manufactured ways freaks me the fuck out on a lizard-brain level. You can say the examples here are outliers and this whole thing is a 'slippery slope' fallacy and most families treat their children better but this type of environment didn't exist 20 years ago and raising your child in what's ostensibly an internet panopticon is NOT NORMAL.
If you're looking for studies on the subject there's already SO MANY studies on the subject, especially on what's happening during the pandemic. I've only read the abstracts of a few studies so far but even the inconclusive ones are treating the behaviour like an untested drug that we should hold off using until we have more data. And considering how non-essential 'sharenting' is, I don't see how that's hard to disagree with.
Honestly though - back to the emotional appeal argument - but I really don't understand how it can be so hard to see how doing this isn't SUPER FUCKED UP. Even as adults we struggle to engage with other strangers on the internet, so imagining a child being told they suddenly have 1000 friends they need to think about and perform in front of on a regular basis - it totally is like child acting; even if kids say they want to do it, they're not 'consenting' because we can't assume they have a 100% understanding of the situation. Without experiencing it firsthand, it really takes a mature and developed mind to understand the nature of celebrity and how fucking monstrous it is.
Also these children should be getting fucking paid.
@theonewhoplays: I find almost no game to be worth my complete attention because on a mechanical level, there's usually not enough to occupy 100% of my ADHD-ass brain. It used to bother me that I couldn't get invested in games like I used to, but the real issue I've found is most games just aren't as interesting as I'd like them to be. I really enjoy the act of playing games but almost every game I encounter nowadays will have something which I really don't want to do and have to trudge through - knowing that once I'm past it, I'll be back to the part I like. Recently this issue has cropped up in a lot of big games I've played:
Nier Replicant has a lot of running at the beginning that is really dull and boring - DO THE HOG QUEST HOLY CRAP
Horizon Zero Dawn had a HUGE map which required a lot of travelling on slow mounts and a lot of side-content bloat that I initially tolerated before skipping entirely
Loop Hero doesn't let me move the pace of the game as fast as I'd like, causing it to become a bit of a dull idle game necessitating I do something in the background
Kingdom Come: Deliverance had a big, dull, empty map without a lot of interesting terrain I'd otherwise look at while travelling - I actually gave up on this one because the stakes changed in the story and it got dull
There are games that still completely captivate me but the list isn't as big as I'd like it to be:
RE:Village isn't an amazing game but it's amazingly paced and I was never bored
Crusader Kings 3 feels entirely player-driven in its pacing and has so many mechanics that my brain just sucks it up like ritalin
MGSV was a disappointing MGS game but it's a phenomenally engaging videogame that kept introducing new mechanics and surprises so I was always on my toes
Sekiro DEMANDS your attention
I don't know if it's a matter of taste but it's just hard to find games which my head can 100% be into. It's like when I work, I need to be at least 10% distracted or that extra brain power becomes a distraction in itself, so I listen to something without lyrics.
God the whole "you can't climb cliffs in the rain" thing is such a dumb argument to me. When it rains, you could stop and cook/make some stuff, find an alternate route, or rush to find some shade for a fire and wait it out. I completely understand not wanting your time to be wasted, but if your solution to that obstacle is giving up when the game gives you the tools to circumvent it, then...*shrugs*.
Maybe it didn't communicate its nature well enough, but I think the game loses its soul completely if it didn't push you to improvise. BOTW was a very flawed game but the world actually invited exploration because it was dangerous and there was friction to what you could and couldn't do. I found almost all of the rewards for BOTW's quests to be underwhelming but it was made up for by the journey itself usually being interesting. Which is good, because playing this game is 98% journey and 2% rewards.
Maybe I'm being harsh but every time this "cliffs in the rain" argument comes up I wonder if people REALLY want to go on adventures in games, or just tick boxes off a checklist like they're doing chores or something.
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