I'm in the opposite camp as you. I have avoided the Metal Gear Solid franchise for exactly why you are drawn to it. I want to play an espionage game with a little bit of political intrigue without it exiting the realm of reality. I find it easier to gravitate towards the activities of Sam Fisher because I can easily imagine there's someone like him in the United States military tasked with responsibilities he's given in the Splinter Cell franchise. It's well outside of complete reality, but nowhere near the levels of the ridiculousness of Kojima. There's a bit of jingoism to be had with Splinter Cell, and there's no denying that. But I would argue that is no worse than the overtly Japanese sensibilities of Kojima at his worst.
The Olympics are already an outdated and horribly wasteful model of exhibiting amateur and professional sports. e-Sports are better off continuing their own tradition of being dominated by developer lead tournaments.
Here are my positive and negative takeaways from the EA press conference.
Positives:
EA had enough big named games to justify an E3 press conference.
The off-the-cuff nature of the company and developer presenters was a refreshing change of pace.
EA recognized criticism of their games in a positive light, and welcomed it as "constructive."
Need for Speed and Battlefront II look good.
The developer of A Way Out talking about his game was the best part of the presentation.
Negatives:
The use of YouTube personalities was cringe inducing.
EA's use of eSports and their Battlefront II playcalling at the end should not be a part of their E3 press conferences.
If you do not like sports, 50% of EA's press conference will not speak to you. Besides sports, Ea showed four games.
How Battlefront II was presented at the end left me confused and disappointed. They recognized the criticism of their first Battlefront lacking a single-player campaign as the biggest takeaway. After briefly teasing the single-player campaign, EA used all of their time, thirty minutes mind you, to showcase the online multiplayer.
I have not exactly been responding to my input as well as I normally do. As is par for the course, real-life trumps all. Anyway, this game gets hard and complicated in ways I was not prepared for. Gino's off for a bit so I'll try to solicit help from some of my more dedicated commenters because I'm honestly running around in circles.
What the Hell does Luck do? I have Luck Spheres, but have no idea who benefits from using these, or how they impact the game.
What am I supposed to do with the Teleport Spheres? No really, what are these things?
How do I get more Level 3 and 4 Spheres? Are these just given to the player as they progress the story, or is there an enemy I can grind to get more?
Is there a strategy to using the yellow spheres? What magic or abilities are worth sharing between characters?
Gino said to "get Copycat and Bribe immediately!" What is he talking about?
Can you think of any GOTTA GET abilities on the Sphere Grid for the late game?
Can I not give a shit about the item customization system? It seems like an aimless time sinks and there are more viable alternatives to having better equipment. It's not like there are spells and items which provide everything you could possibly want in the game.
Yo dawgs, "Mix" seems mad broken! Am I a bad person in using it to cheese bosses I am having a hard time with?
Speaking of which, do you know of any good combinations I should be aware of?
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