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So did Starfield become the next big thing?
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this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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The concept of "moral choices" (to use the term games studios usually use) in games has been so underdeveloped for so long. I think the limiting factor comes directly from the people writing the scenarios.
Besides just lib cultural hegemony and capitalist realism, i think the writing is either too informed by other games that it limits the imagination of the kind of choices that tgeir could be, or their idea of good writing is PRRESTIGE-ified to where only to most cynical choices are "good" and "adult."
Either way the writing is stuck in an very adolescent place. Either a dearth of understanding of things outside games, or a fixation on what is "adult" and "serious."
I think writing in games overall has gotten better, but theres generally still some limitations, especially when it comes to "choice"
The Bethesda Moral Binary(tm pending). Its in a lot of games, but Bethesda in particular is so bad about that being the entirety of the moral world. Or you can be "neutral" and block yourself out of basically doing anything in the game lol.
I played through the whole ME trilogy like three years ago. I like them, but the story is so militaristic/fascist, not even going the "renegade" route or anything just the story no matter your choices. The incredibly lib space government are ineffectual, and only the honorable military men (adults in the room) can cut through the red tape to save the galaxy (by making hard choices).
Also the space government makes no attempt to even appear democratic. Humanity is the only council species that is nominally democratic, the Turians are literally outright called an empire, and they decide which species get full rights based entirely on arbitrary vibes. Plus they have secret police who are above the law and answer only to them.
The series doesn't even get to a place where criticisms of bourgeois democracy even apply, thus shit feels like it shouldn't even appeal to libs. But it does coast so hard on libbrain Defend Existing Power Structures shit
I was still a lib when I played Mass Effect 2 and this still bothered me. I was like... I was shooting these guys on sight in the last game. Where is my shoot these guys on sight option???