Video Game Industry BS (AKA, GamerGate Thread 2.0)

@Officer Hotpants  
Fast Take: Think Disgaea but you can’t see the grid, cover/line of sight are significantly more important, but limit levels/stats to sane, tabletop RPG levels rather than “level 99999 max grind omegafiesta”, and there’s no such thing as “classes”.

@Azure Fang  
You had me at

You lost me at

@Officer Hotpants  
Just so we’re clear, it doesn’t have Disgaea-style ubergrinding and unreasonable levels. It’s a freeform “gain points, spend points, done” system. It doesn’t even have levels, for that matter. Finish mission, gain 4 skill points as a reward, spend them.

@Azure Fang  
I know. I was joking about not having the ability to grind your stats into the 50 million range being a negative.
 
Which reminds me: I need to get back to grinding for Baal in Disgaea 5. I’m finally strong enough to survive the opening salvo that hits your characters the instant they leave the base panel but I still can’t even scratch his guards, much less him and his clones.

Meanwhile, another thing that is a clean split between vidya and politics: FNV: The Frontier bans ZutheSkunk and removes his contribution (some icons plus cringe securitron self-insert) for being a “pedo” in a very transparent attempt to divert attention from how the mod’s got incredibly terrible writing full of fetishes, with ability to fuck a feral deathclaw and SJW-unacceptable (because hurr durr expression is endorsement guize) slavery.  
They predictably fail, because hey guys, The Frontier has incredibly terrible writing full of magical realm and is basically a mediocre shooter on FNV’s engine, not a RPG.

@Barhandar  
I liked Call of Duty 4 too. Not sure why they re-released it as a Fallout Mod, but hey it’s the New Normal everyone. :/  
Seriously though, are you surprised the story is terrible? One of the earliest trailers for it had a Metal Gear Song as the soundtrack, and one of the mod’s team members labelled themselves the “Disciple of Kojima”. If that didn’t tell you the writing was going to be pure dogshit I don’t know what did. >.<
 
Also, this is the same team that made New California. I’m not sure if you played that mod, but amazingly the self-absorbed purple haired lesbian companion was the least cringy part of the story (if only because she’s fucking comatose for most playthroughs). How about turning the Courier into a Mary Sue with super regeneration FEV powers, that was genetically cloned to be used as a fertility substance for a replacement to the Super Mutant Master from the first game?  
That fanfic tier trash is the actual plot of New California. Made by the same team.
 
Also, I haven’t played too far into it but what do you mean by “full of fetishes”? How degenerate does this mod get?  
As for the reaction to slavery, that right there is why we will never have a classic Fallout game ever again. You just can’t make them anymore, not with today’s moral outrage culture. In Fallout 2, a woman PC can frequently whore herself out to slavers and gangsters for discounts on slaves or quick cash. Imagine if you made that today, Twatter would explode in outrage.

@FeatherTrap  
I’ve not even heard of either mod before “Frontier is about to release guys”, so no, not surprised.  
Sounds like the current meltdown, with trying to use Zu as a scapegoat and alleged multiple VAs and artists pulling their contributions, is the expected result.

From what little of the mod I’ve played, the story is about as subtle as a rampaging elephant. It has a serious preachy tone about how the Courier treats war as a game, and they choose to bring about suffering because of their childish perception of reality. This is despite the fact that the entire mod treats war as infinite numbers of spawning NPCS and tanks rolling at each other, and the very idea that the player makes choices in this linear as shit mod is laughable.
 
Also, there’s a theme that the Courier’s worth is being overstated, being treated as the MVP by his faction at the expense of others. I know this because again, this mod’s story has no grasp of subtly or subtext and constantly blurts out the “why are you letting all our people die to save ONE PERSON?!?!?” line about as frequently as legionnaires shout “Retribution” in Vanilla.

@FeatherTrap  
So, a babby’s understanding of war and video games, that manages to be even worse and preachier than Spec Ops, aka the game that explicitly blames the player for itself failing to provide any alternative paths (and then gets surprisedpikachi devs when the sales fall)?

@Barhandar  
Which Spec ops games, there’s more than one.

@Absol95  
Spec Ops: The Line. A railroad straighter than the fucking metre standard that has the gall to blame players for doing warcrimes in the story they themselves wrote, and force players to do it because all alternate paths are blocked.

@Barhandar  
Oh it’s so much worse in every way. Even if you didn’t like what Specs Ops did with it’s story it was at least clever about it. This mod frequently beats you over the head with it’s themes, spouting the same line-give or take minor variations-at least once every five minutes just to make damn sure you get it. These are the actions of writers who think you’re stupid and have no respect for the intelligence of their audience. Even The Last Jedi only said it’s own theme out loud once in the movie’s runtime.
 
I would play through more to review, but tbh…I seriously cannot be arsed. I have never felt a stronger urge to put down New Vegas and never pick it up again then I do now. I am not joking when I say this: Fallout 4 is better. In every way. Even as a Roleplaying Game. Even the writing. Holy shit, even the player agency is more fleshed out in that game, that’s how shit this mod is!! >.<

@FeatherTrap  
It’s not about the story, the story would’ve been fine if it wasn’t coupled with >HA HA YOU THE PLAYER PERSONALLY ARE A SHITTY PERSON FOR PLAYING THE GAME AT ALL  

That’s pretty spectacular. No surprise that VAs and artists are leaving, and the lead is a pathetic coward trying to dodge responsibility by resigning.

@Barhandar  
THE LAST JEDI HAD MORE SUBTLE WRITING THEN THIS MOD.
 
Just…let that sink in. It’s that bad. >.<  
We’re gonna start calling this The TLJ of Fallout mods soon, aren’t we? That’s going to be the term the internet uses, isn’t it?

@Barhandar  
I’ve been watching a few vids and a commenter on one (take with a grain of salt) believes that Zu getting accused is being used as a way for multiple devs to abandon ship, they apparently wanted out ages ago.

@GuiltyGrimoire  
I’ll ask you for proof of that…but if that’s true, I wouldn’t be surprised. If I saw the absolute state of this project I’d want to distance myself from it too.

@FeatherTrap  
No proof, just a hypothesis I am parroting. As I said, grain of salt.

@GuiltyGrimoire  
Even so, I can believe it. I mean…jeez, this mod >.<

@FeatherTrap  
I’m not sure if Zu had any actual NSFW content in the mod, nor do I know if he was a writer (don’t think so, though). If at least not the first, then it does seem more likely.

@GuiltyGrimoire  
I mean, isn’t that implied by what I said? Zu getting scapegoated is an opportunity for others to pull out and dunk the whole mod.  
Wanting out for ages is new, though. Why couldn’t they pull out before? Sunk cost?

@Barhandar  
You only mentioned scapegoating for the mod itself. As for your second question? No idea, I only learned of all this stuff over the last few days, I’m guessing they felt trapped or owed the team, maybe the heads said something to them?

I just loved them mocking people who asked if you could play as Enclave because “it’s a power fantasy” (“a FASCIST power fantasy!”). They say this after making a power fantasy mod for a power fantasy game.

@Officer Hotpants  
Well yeah, only leftard power fantasy allowed.  
Should’ve asked for ability to play as Chinese, doing exactly the same things Enclave would.

@Officer Hotpants  
wait, i have never played fallabout NV, but how is the enclave facist? i thought the roman wannabees where the “bad” ones

@TeamBlueplant  
Because they fly an American flag. It’s fine to conquer your neighbors, commit genocide and enslave the survivors for use as laborers and sex toys as long as you don’t fly the bad flag while you’re doing it.
 
Me, I just can’t imagine playing New Vegas and managing to not pick up on the major plot theme that there are no perfect good guys and bad guys. It was kind of a central element.
 
–NCR talks a good game but doesn’t come close to living up to it. They’re all about bringing freedom and security to the lands they claim, and they’ll kill anyone who who refuses the offer or just asks for more than they feel like giving in exchange.
 
–The Legion is honest about what they are but refuses to acknowledge that what they are is untenable, and that they’re careening towards a cliff with no brakes. They’re a short term solution that thinks it’s a long term plan.
 
–House is so stuck in the past that he’d rather try to recreate a dead society on another world than fix what’s left and move forward, and he’s not afraid to destroy society’s new beginning in the pursuit of his societal necromancy.
 
–The Enclave is frankly just House but with humans instead of robots and with a preference for wiping out the new societies on purpose rather than as a side effect.
 
–An independent New Vegas relies upon a patchwork of schemers & sociopaths putting aside their hatred and distrust of each other to stand against outsiders that they hate even more.
 
The post-apocalypse, it shouldn’t (but apparently does) have to be said, is fucked.