there is definitely a point where your pop psychological analysis of asian countries just be kind of orientalist

we need to stop giving access to youtube video making to guys who say japan likes trans people more than gay people because of eunuchs and kabuki theater

senran kagura?

oppression not good

money is bad

it's so fucking deranged to me that this goofy 3ds game has the modern entries beat so thoroughly in like, presenting a world, with characters, and a tone. i love the subplot over the one guy who goes missing and it's like, an actual long term thing, everyone keeps bringing up and having feelings on

not in a way where they're making fucked up edgy jokes about it but in that they literally just don't care. they are willing to give jak the devices to murder hundreds of people for no reason and still write him as a chill and likable guy you would enjoy hanging out with

the main reason nobody at those studios will ever reference jak again is because for what bare hints of themes it has they all kind of go directly against what every modern sony game is, in that they make light of Serious Subjects and are irreverent about jak's potential to be a bit of an antihero

i recently did a quick replay of jak 2 and was thinking about how that game not only never having jak realize revenge is bad but in fact framing peoples' lack of understanding of why he would want it as not objectively his problem makes it accidentally more mature than the modern sony crop

there's a lot of cool things about lbw it's just like... ironically i don't think any of them are the parts around how the game is designed. it's like. a 7/10 2d zelda with a lot of fun weird setting and aesthetic ideas and characters

i'm kind of shocked this is considered a high point for dungeon design because the dungeons are so flat. there's nothing to find in them. there's no arc. it's just a bunch of gimmick puzzle rooms. they're fine? i probably won't remember most of the ones i've done so far.

the big thing dragging it down is just, i do not like the rental system at all or think it really adds any fun new dynamics to the game, it just makes it all feel bizarrely flat. i just have 2/3 of my tools from the start of the game. doesn't feel all that dynamic.

was nuts just checking in on that game while replaying deus ex thinking deus ex with women sounded fun and then finding out from reviews shortly before it even blew up that the devs are just genuinely that inexplicably hateful

as actual stories on the face of them they're completely non functional. but there's something about their complete irreverence towards that fact and their willingness to play their darker elements for lighthearted comedy instead of pursuing modern sony revenge arcs that makes them hard to dislike