Genshin Impact is good, and Honkai Star Rail, is sadly empty of things to go even though I like the gameplay better. There are some really good Chinese games out there, but they’re mostly on mobile and PC because the Chinese government wouldn’t allow consoles for so long, so gaming in China developed in a way that’s incompatible with how a lot of western gamers play.
Also, I’m never gonna forgive China for how dirty they did Red Candle Game’s Devotion. Or GOG for backtracking on carrying it because CDP didn’t want to risk Cyberpunk not being sold in China, and giving a complete bs excuse for why.
I have huge respect for the makers of Genshin Impact. The story is simply amazing and makes you want to pay attention to every little detail during your quests (especially the main ones). The Gacha aspect can be ignored as you definitely do not need to pay to have a really good team.
Genshin actually has a surprising amount of horny teenage girls who play it, too. One article says its 55% male to 45% which is honestly very impressive.
Pulling off a game of pretty vast scope, supporting several very different host platforms, on a multi-year development timeline, and having it thrive in a hypercompetitive market is still an impressive technical achievement.
If all they wanted was to deliver “casino for horny teenage boys”, they could have done far less and still achieved that goal.
You’re responding to someone frequenting !conservative and who obviously is projecting as he, like the vast majority of conservatives, always sweep under the rug things like Christian family members and priests molesting children and at the same time claim to be against the “grooming” of children. He’s talking about “horny teenage boys” because that’s exactly how he sees kids and also himself.
I don’t respect any developer that can’t properly render melanin or coarse hair; or anyone who makes excuses for broke-dick hack ‘developers’ who can’t properly render melanin or coarse hair
China has spent decades building up their reputation of a place that produces cheap, inferior copies of better products and they aren’t going to shake that overnight or even in a few years.
Are they even trying to change that reputation? The last I heard was that if you published a game app that was any sort of popular, you could expect it to be stolen and resold in China.
I also generally find it hard to trust any software produced in any totalitarian state.
I mean, Genshin Impact is an outlier in games out of China. A lot of the games, even the big budget ones, from developers there are freemium or gacha trash (and Genshin only minorly avoids that by having a decent story and gameplay).
The first step would be to produce proper single player games that aren't reliant on a paid store model. There are some examples of that, but they're incredibly rare.
It’s the first gacha game I tried and it is good, but the presentation of rolls for items and characters made me understand how people can get addicted to it. People can choose to ignore spending money on it, but the free rolls is an effective lure for the types that can fall into the deep end.
Still would not want to see any regulation of it though, since it being regulated would be a move towards handing over real identities to companies to manage which is terrible. I do wish it was just a regular game with DLC expansions than at its core a gacha game.
If they want respect it’s going to have to be through quality Sony or Nintendo type single player titles that don’t have a gacha model that gets critical acclaim. Their own Breath of the Wild or Last of Us type game that holds up critically as opposed to being a game where “gacha mechanics can be ignored” in a best case scanerio.
But, most of the games that are well known games embody the perfect spirit of capitalism meant to try and squeeze as much money out of its users over years. Mobile gamers may give it a pass with how they don’t bat an eye to how predatory mobile games are, but the gamers that the writer is asking respect from are less likely to give those practices a pass.
There are a few great Chinese single player games out there like amazing cultivation simulator, but they are all indie games. The Chinese government restricted how Steam works in China so I have no idea how indie Chinese games are getting out there, if at all. https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-china-launch/
I played a little Genshin after it first released but was put off by the underage characters being portrayed sexually. The sad fact of the matter is that its a great game made with passion, and many Chinese games have a """lolicon""" issue. I tried the game Mahjong soul after getting into Mahjong from Final Fantasy, and it has the same issue.
And when I say """lolicon"", I mean kids as young as 11-13, maybe even younger. it's disgusting. Otakus seems to run the industry there as far as I can tell, or at least what makes it to the west because to know real stuff about Chinese culture you have to be at least kinda a weeb for Chinese stuff. I got into Xianxia from my love of manga which lead to Manhua. The Xianxia scene has a lot of problems but """lolicon""" hasn't been one of them.
TL;DR The chinese video game industry is run by otakus, at least for whats made it into the west. The worst part is that HoYoVerse WAS an indie developer whose motto was "by otakus, for otakus" they aren't hiding what they are about, but unfortunately have become #1 for pandering to the lowest possible denominator
W środę doszło do zaszczelenia Fernando Villavicencio - kandydata do prezydenckich wyborów w Ekwadorze mających się odbyć 20tego sierpnia. W swojej kampanii krytykował korupcje i przestępczość zorganizowaną. Obiecywał uszczelnienie systemu podatkowego.
Do ataku doszło podczas spotkania wyborczego w północnym Quito. Zamachowiec został postrzelony przez ochronę, ujęty i przeniesiony do jednostki prokuratury generalnej w Quito. O jego śmierci doniosła załoga ambulansu straży pożarnej.
Partia Fernanda Villavicencio - Movimiento Construye zamieściła wpis na X, w którym donosi, że ich biuro w Quito zostało zaatakowane przez nieznanego sprawcę.
Villavicencio miał 7,5% poparcia, był na piątym miejscu wśród ośmiu kandydatów na prezydenta.
I enjoyed reading this so much. I am ashamed that I am British and a big fan of video games, but never knew that Rare was a British company. I’d never even heard of Ultimate, but I’ll put that down to age.
Rare made some of my absolute childhood favourites. It’s a shame they fell from glory, but it’s good to remember that a company is only as good as it’s people - and people move on - much like the previously adored Blizzard.
yeah those tactics from fucking gambling industries really worked like the industries he came from. how this barebones stock asset using trite got so popular is a genuine surprise, i palyed a couple of game and was bored out of my mind
Nice read and very happy for Galante! He is clearly a fan of gaming who made something awesome for fans of gaming. It’s not exactly a game I got addicted to (played maybe 10 or 15 hours total?) but it truly is such a refreshing treat. If you haven’t tried it, give it a go. It’s super nostalgic and super easy to pick up immediately. Mostly, I’m excited to see what other things Galante and his team can do! But as long as they are happy continuing to make Vampire Survivors as good as they can, I’m happy for them.
It’s amazing how addictive VS is without being predatory or manipulative. The feedback loop to play one more game is solid, in the best way.
So it’s just refreshing that Galante actually has principles enough to stay away from micro transactions. I hope we’re at the point where more developers move away from that - I feel like after the 2000s and 2010s, where game monetization went full nihilistic capitalism, we’re all ready for a change.
When I started playing VS, I was struck by how much the chest opening animation FELT like a slot machine - it was weird to encounter what normally feels like a predatory experience and have it NOT be trying to take your money.
I’m torn on whether it’d be good for more games to do this (mimic gambling without the predatory pricing associated with it) - on the one hand, it would provide alternatives to actual predatory games, like Gacha games, that won’t leave people poor, but on the other hand it also normalizes the concept as a legitimate gaming mechanic. This not only opens the door for more publishers to utilize the mechanic maliciously, but I also worry about what it might do to our brains to be constantly exposed to slot machine equivalents (moreso than they already are with gaming).
Excited, but also a little disappointed they didn’t allow co-op. One of my favorite games ever and i’d like it even more if I could experience it with a friend. Hoping they can add onto what made it great in a meaningful way
theguardian.com
Aktywne