That helmet design is so sick.

I think reviews would be more valuable if they used radar charts and scored things like art, gameplay, story, sound design, etc separately. It'd be a good way to visually represent what makes up a score.
ACG doesn't use charts, but he does break down categories like that and I find it helpful.

IMO games also get better the more you put into them. Even "bad" games can be fun if you engage with them. Some of the funniest moments I've had come from bad games.

And for the 7/10's, they often are better than that in at least one aspect. It's fine to like a game for just the story or art.

That percentage isn't remotely high enough.

Consistently my favorite post(s) of the year. Love to see your work and the BTS.

Also, medication has been stigmatized in my life, and man, what a load of shit. It's obviously not the answer to every problem, but if drugs are part of your mental health journey don't let people discourage you.
The DOOM Slayer never said no to an upgrade while fighting his demons, why should you?

And to anyone out there struggling, if you're able, I highly recommend going to therapy. Having someone who's professionally trained to talk through my issues with helped me immensely.

Getting the tools to process things in my life has helped me more than I could have imagined.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga by a mile.

I've heard good things about Hank Green's Focus Friend app. It might help by gamifying not using your phone, or at least not using distracting apps.

It's totally possible for a company to train their own model on their own artwork, but they aren't doing that, and for most, that wouldn't work anyways because it wouldn't generate "original" artwork.

And all this is ignoring the absurdly high energy and environmental costs of training.

Anyone defending Gen AI's use here is ignorant, or doesn't care that they're trained on other people's art and that those artists didn't consent to have their art used.

Ignoring environmental impact, the only ethical way to use Gen AI is if you train your own model and I doubt they did that.

And another point I've seen made is artists often get work after companies see art they like while doing research and looking for inspiration. In Larian's case Gen AI removes that possibility by eliminating that step entirely.

Except using AI in any creative capacity, unless it's trained in your own company's work, is just generating an amalgamation of other people's stolen art.

It doesn't matter if it's being used "correctly", it shouldn't be used at all.

Swen clarified they aren't replacing concept artists with AI, just using it for ideation before making official concept art, but that's not any better. It's still (likely) models trained on art they had no rights to and rather than finding references to real artists they'll just use the AI slop.

Imagine if Souls-likes wasn't the biggest genre.

I think you need to include that the median number of games played is 4 for a full picture. It's not just that people aren't playing new games, it's that the average person barely plays *any* games, let alone new ones.

Looks like the dog needs one too.

I like it better than the official one tbh.

I started following you after you helped with Faceball and your content has been great.

It's absolutely a struggle making friends with other content creators. I've had the same experience, but the connections I've managed to make have been great and I'm sure you'll end up in the same boat.