They are quite literally strong-arming the global economy. For those that don’t understand, this isn’t about ‘adult’ works or products (which are legal in both the US and Japan). This is about a company being able to completely financially shut down ANY other company on demand by disabling your ability to spend your money from your bank account.

Not so much a rebuttal, but to be specific I think that the problem with a lot of defensive mechanics is that if the designer doesn’t understand that there are various instances where a player can “impose” on an action game system, to be an active participant and influence on the gameplay that unfolds on screen, what you’re relegating the player to in effect is a turn based system.

This isn’t inherently bad, but when a game leverages other things, such as brutal difficulty, the experience can flatten and give a sense of having no meaningful agency in many instances.

The reason why I think Sekiro is such a compelling game is that the act of attacking is precisely the “agency” I am referring to. Taking initiative causes enemies to engage in behaviors that the player can respond to, so the player isn’t simply at the mercy of a choreographed system. It introduces the notion of “momentum” and strategies can be crafted based on doing more than simply waiting for the game to allow you to deliver damage, in a sense.

I don’t think this is the only way to approach that notion, but when it comes to the notion of “Action” itself, I think this kind of agency is vital to create. It’s seemingly easy to identify and, more importantly, one can simply talk about this, but I’m no designer. Design is a completely different matter, from the user end I just appreciate having that agency.

Industry in Japan tends to follow government statements closely, so if enough people go through enough official channels that they release a statement saying “We don’t want banks to do this” they should stop (or it will at least come out what foreign actors are forcing them).

This is not an official statement yet, of course, but it opens a path to one.

🫩👌

Glad another devs is doing this. I grew up on a game where the attack animations changed as you improved your skill level. Changed the characters stance and the attack speed and trajectory of the weapon’s swing. And this was in 2001. Game’s called Gothic.

Making a great game is not something many formerly great studios are good at any more, all day long it is about living in the past…remakes and re-remakes or even worse, they kill what was good in the originals.

Ryu in Breath of Fire III is a great example. Early game he turns his head away and sort of flails his sword blindly at the enemy, whereas later he becomes a confident swordsman.

You can never please a constant drone of negative feedback, but you can become good at ignoring it

Who, pray tell, represents most gamers?