otp

There's a set story, but it's discovered. The world is wide open, and the player can go anywhere right at the start of the game. There's minimal railroading at any point.

Unless I misunderstood what you meant by emergent narrative. The progression through the game requires the player to learn what to do by interacting with aliens and also exploring a bit. There is an in-game hint system (an alien dialogue tree with prices), but there are often multiple solutions to each "problem". The player can even get through the game being good or evil -- whatever they choose!

The game plays very differently than ME, but you'll probably find the dialogue trees very familiar. And I think SC2 actually does them better than ME.

All of your comments show up to me as having a red username, where everyone else is blue. I'm in Voyager. Either your role is permanently showing in my app, or you've got something messed up with the settings. Maybe the shield means "Hide your mod status" and you've got it backwards?

As for the benevolent trust fund kid...you're only focusing on the good. Others are only focusing on the bad. Both are wrong. And I don't think getting into the exact ratio would be productive, lol

I do empathize with the challenges of trying to feel like part of a community while being "othered" like that. I think the best thing you could do is to not have your username be glowing red for everyone.

Whenever a mod comes in commenting with their mod colour turned on, it makes it look like the mod is implying "Whatever I'm saying here is more important than anyone else's comment because I'm a mod". Whether you intend it or not, that's how it can come across. And to anyone who has issues with authority (which will be a LOT of people here, lol), that's just putting a target on your back.

You can't change the comments that people post, but you can influence the kinds of replies you get.

What made you buy your monitor?

Having a monitor at all has plenty of killer apps: Anything that it displays that you want to use that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise without a monitor.

But your particular monitor? Well, it looks like the Apple VR thing is about 10x to 20x the price of a basic VR headset. Is your particular monitor 10x to 20x the cost of a regular monitor? If so, there probably is some killer app that made you get a fancy monitor. And maybe it's something that no other monitor can do... otherwise, why spend 10x to 20x as much?

If the Apple VR thing also has a computer built in (and its own specialized software), then comparing it to a monitor isn't accurate. It's not a peripheral when it's a standalone device.

The conclusion I draw from this is that people don't like having to wear special glasses or a device strapped to their face, even if it is relatively cheap to produce.

Bingo. I often used the 3D on the 3DS, but that's because I didn't have to do anything other than not move the device around too much. So it worked for gaming at home, not on/in a vehicle.

Howard the Duck as a playable character? That would've been awesome!

I forgot to mention that part -- yeah, the series is still alive, and fans have been waiting for that sequel from the original creators for what, 30 years now?

A game that meaningful should always be given a look, even if it can feel a bit "dated" in some ways.

Thanks for bringing that up!

I think this comment you replied to summarizes things well.

I'll reiterate here that pot shots towards Americans would generally be "punching up" in some contexts, which usually isn't as frowned upon as punching down.

Also consider that it could be, uh...self-punching? It could be Americans poking fun at themselves, being unhappy with the current state of the country (and who is set to become president -- Elon Musk as vizier, with Trump returning for the pictures).

I don't really care about this kind of drama here. I think people are allowed to have opinions. Attacks on people based on -isms are not cool, but let's be real... aren't jokes that target Americans punching up in some of the contexts you're referring to? And that's usually fair game.

As for jealousy towards Americans, I truly don't believe that's the case.

If there were underlying jealousy, it'd be more towards the country being relatively safe during WW2, having not been bombed or invaded the way Europe was, and having that massive advantage as it grew as a nation.

The success of the USA is generally because of its geographical location and the unfortunate economic conditions that hit Europe due to WW2. I don't think it's really because of anything special about American people or American culture.

I think people can be upset with Americans the way that people can be upset with trust fund kids who tell less fortunate people to pick themselves up by the bootstraps.

With that said... can't you make comments without revealing yourself as an admin? I feel like that's just going to trigger some people, lol

There's the game that inspired them from the early 90s, Star Control 2.

It's free on Steam as Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters, but the best way to play it today is Ur-Quan Masters Mega Mod. So many QoL features!

The game also had some sequels, including Star Control Origins, which is a more modern game, but the story isn't quite as good.

Star Control 3 exists, but sucks.

And then there's the series from the 80s that inspired this one, Starflight. That one was too dated for me to get into, though.

You're also usually not allowed to use the toilet during the descent, adding more time where it's not available. Even more if there's turbulence.

If you're into old stuff, I'd recommend Shining Force on the Sega Genesis. This was one of the earliest strategy RPGs in the west (at least on console).

There might've been earlier ones, but this came out in the West only 2~3 years after the original Fire Emblem came out in Japan (exclusively).

This was made by the company that would go on to make the Golden Sun games (not SRPGs, but more cult classic JRPGs)!

I don't think it's talked about because it's missing the point, isn't it? It's about digital security and privacy. The fact that it's a social media platform doesn't make a difference. If a mobile game were able to harvest data inappropriately the same way, wouldn't the problem be the same?

Not that I agree with the ban, but making it about freedom of speech seems like a stretch to me.