Far Cry 6 and Far Cry series

This is very true. There's this fascination with extreme violence in the west because we were fortunately never subjected to it. The idea of a zombie apocalypse is even appealing to some people because it offers escape from social pressure, conformity and frustration with our boring lives in general. Paradoxically, the better people are off, the more anxious and depressed they become of a life devoid of real conflict and therefore purpose.

Having nothing to fight for because we already have everything we need is the root of the current identity crisis and low self-esteem in our western society imo. There are still many social problems, of course. But overall we have it REALLY good. But we don't appreciate it anymore because it's normal. You can't appreciate something you've always had. The whole SJW mindset of late is a result of large portions of society being completely removed from the brutal reality in other parts of the world. No, gender pronouns is NOT an actual problem! Showing bad things on fictional TV shows is not offensive.

So now we have two wildly converging trends born from sheltered lives. Those who have no grasp of reality and find any reference to this reality offensive and those who secretly wish their own reality was more violent. Both seek meaning and purpose and self-validation.

In a sense games have become escapism from the NICE lawful world that bores us to death. Overall the world is anything but nice. But we experience little of it here in the western world.
So we like to imagine what it would be like to live in a dog eat dog world and being top dog. Things used to be VERY different. Detective fiction, for example, started out as escapism from the chaos of real life. At the end the bad guys were always found and imprisoned. The detective restored order. It made people feel better to read stories with happy endings. This was still true for most TV shows well into the 90s. Hell, it's even true for many video games, including Mass Effect, I suppose. Most stories are still about beating bad guys into a pulp.

However, these days bleak stories with bad endings are more popular with the younger generation because they find comfort in that somehow. That life is just shit and there was nothing they could have done to change that anyway. Nevermind that most of their lives are not shit. It's more about opportunity to be something greater than we are. Not just some desk pushing nobody. And violence is one way to achieve that.

I understand the allure. I don't personally have a desire to engage with that savage part of our human nature. But I get it. And games can be a healthy outlet for that.

Aaand sorry for derailing this thread. :/

Uh Bugsoft.

Well, my editorial got changed a bit. Had to trim it down from eight pages discussing politics and the true patriotism, freedom vs control and fanaticism, and instead made it a 4 page thesis that focused on freedom vs fate and a sort of character study of Joseph Seed and the games mechanics.

Is a damn good piece, I feel at least.

Another one of our writers did a shorter piece basically criticizing the narrative as well, personally for me, I loved how it all played out. Made me think for sure.

Anyway, here is my piece if you are interested. 

Here is the other writers if you want to read his take too.


Just be warned, spoilers. 

I wonder if the setting of Far Cry 5 would be in Dalny Vostok, Siberia would it spark the same "social" debate?

The dualistic tension in this game is not used to profide a light and dark side to choose from and create a playground to dabble in.
Insted the dualistic tension is puched to extremes, both sides use the same toolboxes and both sides gave up basic human decency making the lines between dark and light totally blurred.
The story ending is scripted and feeds despair I would even us a stronger word, nihilism.

The game portrays this very well and the "lightsiders" feel so uncomfortable we have a petition again (if it is not a hoax).
That a game is taken so seriously and being reflected upon in reference to the real world, frankly, baffles me.

I'm not exactly sure of the criticism here. 

The game didn't seem to be arguing that Freedom was a threat; at least fully anyway. To me, it just argued that Freedom doesn't matter in the face of such a crisis, hence why Seed was right ultimately. It's out of our hands which is a very dangerous line to take and for Seed, if were to survive we need to control, restrict, abandon freedom and build it up again.

The only revolutionary part of that is the game goes all in on it. People are pissed about the game the same way people were pissed about the end of Mass Effect 3, they feel like their choices or their time playing didn't matter....which I can't wrap my head around because the act of playing the game and telling you a narrative with gameplay wrapped into it kind of matters. It wasn't a conventional narrative finish but it was a strong statement that when you reflect on it, is kind of a warning sign that something may be off in the end. That we need to figure out a way to heal the issues we see now. Have that dialogue.

I liked running around Montana with the cute bear.
Oh, am I viewing this game too superficially?

Oh believe me, I didn't take anything as a personal attack. No worries there.

Just being somewhat self reflective and glib about what I tend to look for now a days.

No love for the dog companion? 

Btw, there's a perk that you can get in the game that allows two companions to follow you at once, so that means....

s19.postimg.org/9ojbp7483/20180409060419_1.jpg

It works just the same as it does when you're playing solo (only the host can call for companions and order them around).

Yes, of course.

Nick Rye was the companion that I used the most since he got Peggy planes and helos off my back.