Adramis

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm assuming that "big pile of cash" is their emergency fund - Spencer implies as much when he says that it serves as an impediment to buying them out.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not happening for Game Pass right now. If Microsoft hoovered up Nintendo and all the other companies, leaving Game Pass with little competition, they'd flip in an instant. Then you'd have not only Nintendo games for an overpriced subscription, you'd have Nintendo and everything else Microsoft bought for an overpriced subscription, where Microsoft can do whatever they want because only they have the rights to those games.

I'm not arguing Nintendo's subscription services doesn't suck ass, I'm arguing that Microsoft would do the same thing if they got their mits on Nintendo's catalog, except potentially worse because they have more 'exclusive content' to lock-away in their garden and they can force their BS into Windows.

[–] [email protected] 91 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (16 children)

The ActiBlizz merger needs to be shot down and Microsoft Games needs to be forced to split off from Microsoft. This tactic of "Make all the money in one sector, then use that unlimited money to invade another sector, force small businesses out by operating at a loss, and then enshittifying the entire sector to a state worse than it was originally" has to stop - across all sectors.

If you can't survive in your own sector on your own merits without money from Daddy Corpo, you deserve to die.

I also hate that Spencer talks like "sitting on a big pile of cash" instead of gambling it on the market is fucking stupid. Classic "NOW NOW NOW" American capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Why wouldn't it happen for Game Pass? It's happened for every new service. Start them with a great deal to undermine all competition because you can eat the cost and they can't. When the competition dies, slowly start enshittifying it, until it's as bad or worse than the original. Arguably Microsoft is already starting that process by killing off the $1 demo.

Microsoft isn't going to pass up free money, and if anything this email conversation confirms that they're drooling, waiting for the "fuck them over the barrel" stage.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Are they also going to alter their stance that Planned Parenthood and a children's hospital aren't charity?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's nothing wrong with blocking politics communities for your own well-being.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, but there's lots of people who might play the game that aren't going to shell out for a PS5 for it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Are the Ecosia results up to date? They used to be great, but awhile ago they changed something and it's been hot garbage since. I still use them because trees, but I usually search with Ecosia, don't see what I want, and then have to use another search engine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, more or less.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

So...what are you supposed to take at this point? Because you're not supposed to take the "nighttime" branded decongestants long term, and phenylephrine was recommended as an alternative to that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

What the hell does "mostly" mean? "It's just a little screwing you over"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It makes me kind of sad to see so many people happy that the accent is going away. It's good to have diversity, and the thought of my "native" accent becoming extinct makes me sad. I don't want bad people to have a claim to an entire accent and culture, especially since the death of the accent won't do anything about the bad takes. There's a lot that good about southern culture - taking things slow, being laid-back in a world that wants you to run around like a chicken with your head cut off, and forming tight communities with the people around you. I just wish there was a way to reclaim that without feeling afraid that people would assume I support the bad parts, too.

 

And just, wow. I'm a bit disappointed they tried to cop out Ramza and Alma's death, because it feels like that cheapens the whole thing, but it's easy enough to head canon.

As the credits were rolling, I was like "What happened to Delita and Ovelia!?" Google the ending as the credits are rolling. "Where is this scene, I didn't see it! Did I miss something?" Last scene plays...oof. I knew they couldn't have a happy ending because their relationship was fundamentally based on a massive power imbalance and one side taking advantage of that, but I was not remotely expecting that. The image of Ovelia on the ground, dead, next to the flowers is just stuck in my brain.

My first instinct was to say, "Well that was a sucky ending! It was just out of nowhere to make me suffer!" but after a few minutes of reeling, I realized that it wasn't. The point of Delita's character was that he started using people as pawns because he had to, in order to make the world a better place. But once someone starts doing that, and stops seeing people as people...they can't just turn that off, not even for the person they love the most.

Does that ultimately make them a "bad person"? Objectively, Delita saved thousands, if not tens of thousands or more lives by ending the war and preserving the peace in the era that followed. He made life better for the common people of Ivalice for hundreds of years (even though I take issue with the fact that he didn't clean out the church of Galabdos). But that also doesn't negate the fact that having to live as his political pawn, with no autonomy, after a life of being abused and locked away, wouldn't be a life worth living.

What does it mean to save others, if you become so damaged in the process that the people you love would literally rather die than be near you?

Two other observations:

  1. It took me a few hours to remember that Agrias gave Ovelia that knife at like, the start of Chapter 1. She could've stabbed Delita at any point, but she legitimately trusted him and that things would change once everyone was safe. Apparently, it didn't.

  2. Was Ovelia's tipping point when Olan released the Duria Papers? Delita probably had several opportunities to save Alma, but it wasn't part of his plan to get Ovelia on the throne, so he didn't bother. That directly led to Ramza having to follow Alma into Murond, where they died. In a sense, Delita didn't just leave them to die, but kind of encouraged it - he needed someone to deal with Ultima, but knew that whoever went down there probably wasn't coming back. I think that's what Ovelia meant when she said that Delita killed Ramza. I also wonder if Delita kept the church around to keep the people under control, so Ovelia finding out that the church is why Ramza and Alma died and then burning Olan at the stake for the truth would be...soul breaking.

Unfortunately, part of finishing the game so late is that I missed all the discourse about the ending when it originally happened, so I would love to hear people's thoughts, plot-wise or mechanics-wise.

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