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Apocalypse burnout?

Clayton

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Far Cry New Dawn, Rage 2, The Outer Worlds, Metro Exodus, Division 2, Wastleland 3, Doom Eternal, World War Z, Days Gone, Last of Us 2....

There is no way I'm playing all of these games. Heck, there are probably a dozen other games I'm missing from the Apocalypse settings list.

Does this much saturation bother you guys? Honestly, I just plan on getting Doom Eternal and then waiting to see of TLOU2 is any good. Anyone planning on playing most of these?
 

Payton

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Last of Us 2 is the only "must play" out of those for me...
 

chf

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Far Cry New Dawn, Rage 2, The Outer Worlds, Metro Exodus, Division 2, Wastleland 3, Doom Eternal, World War Z, Days Gone, Last of Us 2....

There is no way I'm playing all of these games. Heck, there are probably a dozen other games I'm missing from the Apocalypse settings list.

Does this much saturation bother you guys? Honestly, I just plan on getting Doom Eternal and then waiting to see of TLOU2 is any good. Anyone planning on playing most of these?

If it's a good game, it's a good game. I'm not going to play a shitty game just because it's post apocalyptic. Or vice-versa.

Given where our world is now, is it really any surprise that that theme is a well-visited one?
 

Clayton

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If it's a good game, it's a good game. I'm not going to play a shitty game just because it's post apocalyptic. Or vice-versa.

Given where our world is now, is it really any surprise that that theme is a well-visited one?
Normally I'd agree with you but the trend is to make these games longer and longer.

I generally think this is a reaction to the Walking Dead. Game development just takes a few years. I suspect Days Gone and Rage 2 are the two games that are going to get hit by the saturation the most. Rage 2 in particular looks really good but I wouldn't be shocked if it didn't sell well. TLOU2 and The Outer Worlds are likely both immune to the saturation due to the developers generally having a lot of popularity.

As far as people's negative perception on the world today....eh...this might be as good as it gets. There are many ways the world could get a lot worse. Especially if you're American. Enjoy the 'booming economy' and 'civil freedoms' and keep fighting for whatever cause you believe in. You're going to miss these years when you're older
 

chf

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As far as people's negative perception on the world today....eh...this might be as good as it gets. There are many ways the world could get a lot worse. Especially if you're American. Enjoy the 'booming economy' and 'civil freedoms' and keep fighting for whatever cause you believe in. You're going to miss these years when you're older

This is the first back to back generation in the history of North America where the younger generation has poorer prospects than the older one.

People are out of their minds scared, because it's getting to the point where it's not that you just have to RE-TRAIN at age 40, but that there just aren't any new jobs coming on stream.

Hell, I'm a specialized worker with tech knowledge and a track record of excellence, and I've been losing to cost of living increases for 25 years. I'm getting to the point of just accepting that I'll never truly retire.

But we're falling for the narrative of WHY there aren't any jobs being created (it has nothing to do with immigrants or asylum seekers).

At any rate, people are scared, and when people are scared, weird shit can happen.

Pretty much every first world democracy is having a crisis of confidence in its 'middle class.' It wouldn't take much to nudge us into very scary territory. Especially when non democratic states are engaging in outright mental warfare campaigns, and we seem to want to egg them on, not tell them to fuck off and die.
 

chf

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As a followup, I took a course when I was like 19, 'Anthropology through science fiction.' Good ol' summer course for easy credits. They'd done studies THEN that showed how there was a direct correlation between sci-fi and fantasy and the economy. When things are going shitty, people need their escapes.

Blowing the shit out of supermutants in FO4, I guess qualifies.
 

Clayton

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This is the first back to back generation in the history of North America where the younger generation has poorer prospects than the older one.

People are out of their minds scared, because it's getting to the point where it's not that you just have to RE-TRAIN at age 40, but that there just aren't any new jobs coming on stream.

Hell, I'm a specialized worker with tech knowledge and a track record of excellence, and I've been losing to cost of living increases for 25 years. I'm getting to the point of just accepting that I'll never truly retire.

But we're falling for the narrative of WHY there aren't any jobs being created (it has nothing to do with immigrants or asylum seekers).

At any rate, people are scared, and when people are scared, weird shit can happen.

Pretty much every first world democracy is having a crisis of confidence in its 'middle class.' It wouldn't take much to nudge us into very scary territory. Especially when non democratic states are engaging in outright mental warfare campaigns, and we seem to want to egg them on, not tell them to fuck off and die.
While all of these things might be true, it can (and probably will) get much worse.

-Automation of American Jobs
-Climate Change
-Diseases becoming immune to medicine
-College bubble will collapse
-Healthcare will collapse
-Gentrification will wipe out urban poor
-Birth rates will plummet. Family trees will get wiped out.
-Amazon taking over every industry
-Facebook having all of your data
-Cyberwarfare
-Cold War with China. and/or Russia.

Something awful is coming in the near future. Normalizing the apocalypse seems wrong to me. Appreciate hope while you can have it. Things haven't truly gone 'shitty' yet
 

chf

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While all of these things might be true, it can (and probably will) get much worse.

-Automation of American Jobs
-Climate Change
-Diseases becoming immune to medicine
-College bubble will collapse
-Healthcare will collapse
-Gentrification will wipe out urban poor
-Birth rates will plummet. Family trees will get wiped out.
-Amazon taking over every industry
-Facebook having all of your data
-Cyberwarfare
-Cold War with China. and/or Russia.

Something awful is coming in the near future. Normalizing the apocalypse seems wrong to me. Appreciate hope while you can have it. Things haven't truly gone 'shitty' yet

I don't think that the theory is to 'normalize' the apocalypse. That's purely fantasy anyway. Doomsday preppers are just wasting their time really. Most of us won't even make it out of a large urban setting if shit goes down. Roads will be impassable. Better off to die in the initial shitstorm.

I think the theory goes is that it's a way to get through the now. To cope with the now, with a 'well at least it ain't THIS bad,' movie, book or game.

Have you read 'The Road?'

You don't want to survive a real apocalypse.

But I'm by no means sure we're all headed THERE though. We just have to decide what kind of society we want to be. Ironically America was BUILT with a 90% marginal tax rate. Ironically if you OWN shit, it's MORE incentive to produce more goods, if the marginal rate is high, not LESS incentive.

We've been sold a great lie.

The gains by the few have to come from somewhere.

America (via France) has a rich tradition of getting rid of the aristocracy.

We may have to do that again.
 

SJ76

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OP which one is the best?
 

Clayton

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OP which one is the best?
None of them are out yet.


But I'd be absolutely stunned if Doom Eternal sucked.
 

Clayton

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I don't think that the theory is to 'normalize' the apocalypse. That's purely fantasy anyway. Doomsday preppers are just wasting their time really. Most of us won't even make it out of a large urban setting if shit goes down. Roads will be impassable. Better off to die in the initial shitstorm.

I think the theory goes is that it's a way to get through the now. To cope with the now, with a 'well at least it ain't THIS bad,' movie, book or game.

Have you read 'The Road?'

You don't want to survive a real apocalypse.

But I'm by no means sure we're all headed THERE though. We just have to decide what kind of society we want to be. Ironically America was BUILT with a 90% marginal tax rate. Ironically if you OWN shit, it's MORE incentive to produce more goods, if the marginal rate is high, not LESS incentive.

We've been sold a great lie.

The gains by the few have to come from somewhere.

America (via France) has a rich tradition of getting rid of the aristocracy.

We may have to do that again.
The problem is the 'we' don't have any leverage. America lost its power. You have the top 10% that were able to keep it, the top 1% that were able to grow and the top .1% that control everything.

I have read The Road and obviously you don't want to survive the apocalypse. But these are the good times. If we're trying to escape from now then America is FUBAR.
 

520GGATO

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Metro Exodus is a must get for me. LOU2 then Doom I'll probably get a couple years later.
 

chf

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I have read The Road and obviously you don't want to survive the apocalypse. But these are the good times. If we're trying to escape from now then America is FUBAR.

Well that was the whole point of the study methinks. This trend has happened before. So sci fi and fantasy had a BIG resurgence in the late 60's, early 70's. Why? Vietnam. I'm sure if boards like this had existed in the Vietnam era, we'd have had no shortage of FUBAR comments then too. :)

Ironic actually, since 'FUBAR' came, I believe, out of WW2 - as did a whole raft of sci-fi and fantasy. The war(s) played a seminal role in the works of Tolkein (ww1) and Kurt Vonnegut (ww2).
 

Clayton

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Well that was the whole point of the study methinks. This trend has happened before. So sci fi and fantasy had a BIG resurgence in the late 60's, early 70's. Why? Vietnam. I'm sure if boards like this had existed in the Vietnam era, we'd have had no shortage of FUBAR comments then too. :)

Ironic actually, since 'FUBAR' came, I believe, out of WW2 - as did a whole raft of sci-fi and fantasy. The war(s) played a seminal role in the works of Tolkein (ww1) and Kurt Vonnegut (ww2).
Yeah, usually when I think of FUBAR I think of Band of Brothers. ww1 did spawn modern fantasy, too, but we aren't at a major war right now. We just don't have any pride in our history. We recognize privilege and Gen Z seems content in being the last of us.

I think its entirely possible that each of these apocalypses are trying to say something completely different. I guess we'll find out.
 

chf

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but we aren't at a major war right now.

Maybe we need to be, just adjusting who we're at war with.

We just don't have any pride in our history.

I think we do, we're just confused because the nation state is becoming increasingly irrelevant. People are more joined by class than by national lines.

But the rules that we all used to just UNDERSTAND, don't work anymore. You were supposed to be able to work hard, pay your taxes, and behave yourself, and if not live in luxury, be able to have a nice middle of the road lifestyle.

I spent my late 30's and 40's freelancing, and even though I qualify for them again, I find the whole CONCEPT of vacations weird. I have like 16 weeks of time off built up, and my employer is starting to make noise about wanting me to take vacation involuntarily, even if they just have to schedule me for 4 day work weeks.

I figure they just don't want to owe me that cash if they lay me off.

at any rate, all the rules are going or gone. Vacation? Health benefits? Heh. Cabin at the lake? Who the fuck are you Mr. Rothchild!??? An econobox car with a few options will run you thirty grand. How much longer are any of us going to be even driving?

But the thing is that the social contract only stretches so far. Americans don't burn stuff when they march, and Canadians are even more polite. But our patience is wearing thin.

I saw something the other day about how the only people who had FULLY recovered from the crash were the people who caused it. Some of the silicon valley crowd have had TED talks on how they need to quit being so greedy.

A few thousand people tearing down some gated communities' walls and burning a few palatial estates to the ground will move some social change along in a hurry.

I don't think we need an apocalyptic course correction, just a few .1%ers need to have the shit scared out of them. Probably don't even have to hang them from lamposts.

But you're correct, I guess we'll see.
 

chf

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And holy threadjack by me! :)
 

Clayton

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Maybe we need to be, just adjusting who we're at war with.



I think we do, we're just confused because the nation state is becoming increasingly irrelevant. People are more joined by class than by national lines.

But the rules that we all used to just UNDERSTAND, don't work anymore. You were supposed to be able to work hard, pay your taxes, and behave yourself, and if not live in luxury, be able to have a nice middle of the road lifestyle.

I spent my late 30's and 40's freelancing, and even though I qualify for them again, I find the whole CONCEPT of vacations weird. I have like 16 weeks of time off built up, and my employer is starting to make noise about wanting me to take vacation involuntarily, even if they just have to schedule me for 4 day work weeks.

I figure they just don't want to owe me that cash if they lay me off.

at any rate, all the rules are going or gone. Vacation? Health benefits? Heh. Cabin at the lake? Who the fuck are you Mr. Rothchild!??? An econobox car with a few options will run you thirty grand. How much longer are any of us going to be even driving?

But the thing is that the social contract only stretches so far. Americans don't burn stuff when they march, and Canadians are even more polite. But our patience is wearing thin.

I saw something the other day about how the only people who had FULLY recovered from the crash were the people who caused it. Some of the silicon valley crowd have had TED talks on how they need to quit being so greedy.

A few thousand people tearing down some gated communities' walls and burning a few palatial estates to the ground will move some social change along in a hurry.

I don't think we need an apocalyptic course correction, just a few .1%ers need to have the shit scared out of them. Probably don't even have to hang them from lamposts.

But you're correct, I guess we'll see.
I feel like video games should have more social allegories in them if the idea is to react to inequality. Games like GTAV that directly look at masculinity (and men behaving poorly while trying to justify it) in a modern world. Cyberpunk is a game that I fully expect to be political.

Silicon Valley isn't creating those types of games, though. They're mostly creating games around the idea that 'your world is over so just have fun with everything you worry about out of the way'. Silicon Valley/Seattle/etc are the Conservatives of the younger generation. They want government out of the way because they have bold ideas and they dont really care who loses because they know there will be winners and they'll be winners. What has held back change in our society is that the Boomer generation was able to take advantage of a lot of breaks and they still have far and away the most influence and far and away the most money. The game industry isn't going to make games that look at society. They're just creating addictive escapes.

We're starting to see the American left really embrace the issues that people have. It'll be curious to see how far they get when they actually have to budget these issues and realize just how much money we're talking about. America's inequality has permanently trashed the Millennial generation. If the boat doesn't get turned around soon then I do think we're heading for Civil conflict with generation Z and the end of Rome.

But for now we're at the calm before the storm. I personally don't plan on sinking hundreds of hours into wasteland games. There are a lot more entertaining things to be paying attention to right now.
 

chf

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I feel like video games should have more social allegories in them if the idea is to react to inequality. Games like GTAV that directly look at masculinity (and men behaving poorly while trying to justify it) in a modern world. Cyberpunk is a game that I fully expect to be political.

Silicon Valley isn't creating those types of games, though. They're mostly creating games around the idea that 'your world is over so just have fun with everything you worry about out of the way'. Silicon Valley/Seattle/etc are the Conservatives of the younger generation. They want government out of the way because they have bold ideas and they dont really care who loses because they know there will be winners and they'll be winners. What has held back change in our society is that the Boomer generation was able to take advantage of a lot of breaks and they still have far and away the most influence and far and away the most money. The game industry isn't going to make games that look at society. They're just creating addictive escapes.

We're starting to see the American left really embrace the issues that people have. It'll be curious to see how far they get when they actually have to budget these issues and realize just how much money we're talking about. America's inequality has permanently trashed the Millennial generation. If the boat doesn't get turned around soon then I do think we're heading for Civil conflict with generation Z and the end of Rome.

But for now we're at the calm before the storm. I personally don't plan on sinking hundreds of hours into wasteland games. There are a lot more entertaining things to be paying attention to right now.

I see your point, but I think you're missing a key point. Escapism was always there before too. True social commentary and art isn't going to be everywhere. For every Kurt Vonnegut there's a whole raft of
pulp.png

that kinda' stuff.

There's no shortage of great social commentary sci-fi being written now. 'Altered Carbon,' has now been made into a Netflix series, and would make a great game. I'd love to see someone make games or movies out of Ian M. Banks 'Culture' novels.

Now games are a bit different. Should make them 'fun' firstly, if you want to sell any copies. But take Fallout. You make conscious decisions about which factions you support, you can play as an essentially 'good' person, or you can go all Raider and embrace the darkside. Some titles (New Vegas) within the Fallout world do a better job of making those choices meaningful, but those choices still exist regardless.

But sure, the number of games that are just level reward or mindless shooting of swarms of opponents, outweigh games with a message, but that's the same in books and tv and everything we consume.

But the good stuff still exists, and if you dig down you can find echoes of that good stuff even in the pulpy drivel (heroes still lean 'good,' etc)

I mentioned Banks novels earlier, you should check those out if you read sci-fi. They're pretty unique in that they're still full of conflict, but they have a much less apocalyptic, dystopian outlook that a LOT of what's out there.
 

Clayton

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I see your point, but I think you're missing a key point. Escapism was always there before too. True social commentary and art isn't going to be everywhere. For every Kurt Vonnegut there's a whole raft of
pulp.png

that kinda' stuff.
Right, and the old drivel was 'guy is does badass stuff in the glorious potential of space travel, rescues damsel in distress, defeats the evil alien/corporation.

The new drivel is 'society tore itself apart, you're left with a bunch of freaks fighting over resources, you can get away with whatever you want because nothing matters'

Its a sad commentary.
 

theboardref

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Far Cry New Dawn, Rage 2, The Outer Worlds, Metro Exodus, Division 2, Wastleland 3, Doom Eternal, World War Z, Days Gone, Last of Us 2....

There is no way I'm playing all of these games. Heck, there are probably a dozen other games I'm missing from the Apocalypse settings list.

Does this much saturation bother you guys? Honestly, I just plan on getting Doom Eternal and then waiting to see of TLOU2 is any good. Anyone planning on playing most of these?
Only ones I have any interest in Last of Us 2 (really hope the story is as strong as the first) and Days Gone. World War Z looks interesting but the rest I really don’t care. I think Far Cry is such an over rated series. Everyone complains about COD’s yearly same game releases but no one complains about Far Cry which is laughable to me.
 
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