Was it really as “safe” as the article claims though? They diverted a full episode early in the show to have an hour long homosexual romance episode that completely changed the character paths and storyline for a major section of the game. I’m not really sure what “safe” even means in the context of the article’s argument.

There was a brief time in the late 90s to early 2000s where you’d just hop into an open server. The lobby would keep the same players as it went round to round and people would just filter in and out as they felt like it. It didn’t track scores or stats between games, and there wasn’t a leveling or progression system that followed you. You just played through the round as it came. People seemed to care a whole lot less about their record or team–it just seemed like everyone was happy to be able to play online. Maybe it’s just because I’m older now and I’m looking back at it with rose tinted glasses, but I wish we could go back to casual modes like that. I don’t have the energy or will to deal with people the way it’s set up now.

There was a brief time in the late 90s to early 2000s where you’d just hop into an open server. The lobby would keep the same players as it went round to round and people would just filter in and out as they felt like it. It didn’t track scores or stats between games, and there wasn’t a leveling or progression system that followed you. You just played through the round as it came. People seemed to care a whole lot less about their record or team–it just seemed like everyone was happy to be able to play online. Maybe it’s just because I’m older now and I’m looking back at it with rose tinted glasses, but I wish we could go back to casual modes like that. I don’t have the energy or will to deal with people the way it’s set up now.

Just another example of the Government’s suppression and censorship of gamers’ God given right to…

[D]efendant, Jesse James Comer, was “incensed” when the community manager — whom both Bungie and the court declined to name, to protect them from further harassment — spotlighted some fan art by a Black community member. Using anonymous phone numbers, Comer left a string of “hideous, bigoted” voicemails on the community manager’s personal phone, some asking that Bungie create options in Destiny 2 “in which only persons of color would be killed,” before proceeding to threaten the community manager’s wife with more racist voicemails and texts.

Oh.

I believe it. We must have gone through something like six or seven guitars, two drum kits, three cymbal sets, and who knows how many of those flimsy bass pedals. Didn’t clutter any stores with trade ins though. Ran those things to the ground–only place that would take them was the dump.

The Rock Band series is my GOAT and probably the best party game of all time. The series on its own is fantastic–who doesn’t want to jam out? But add a few other people and it’s in a whole different league. I was living in the dorms when it came out. A lot of days we’d start it up and leave our door open and let people cycle in and out between classes or whatever else was going on through the days. We don’t know you? You don’t know us? Nobody gives a shit–we need someone on drums.

We eventually had several hundred songs through the games and DLC–just about any type of music someone might want to play. The equipment isn’t made anymore to my knowledge and I don’t think there’s any way to get it other than second hand, but when it was at ots height the series was the high water mark of social gaming. It also served as a stepping stone to actual musical pursuits–I eventually picked up an electronic drum kit and started playing (very poorly) for real.

Legend of Dragoon is close to the top of my list of games I’d love to see remade, but almost certainly won’t.

Actually, FF8 is at the top of that list. It’s my favorite of the “mainline” FFs and the story has aged by far the best out of the series, but the systems, equipment, and stat working is awful. Like you’re running into, the systems are confusing and difficult to figure out, but as soon as you “get it” you almost have to handicap yourself so as not to completely break the game. A remake along the lines of the FF7 rework could fix that, and I think 8 would benefit from the treatment more than any other game in the series.

In Legend of Dragoon I hit a wall on a Disc 2 boss and was stuck for months. After I took a break and came back I realized you could change your equipment–I’d never upgraded anything equipped and was using all of the starting equipped weapons and armor. This was not my first RPG, nor was I young enough to use age as an excuse.

This point in particular seems to be conflating the terms “story,” “plot,” and “narrative,” and treating them as synonyms. We often use the terms interchangeably without issue because people generally understand what’s being talked about, but the differences matter on deeper critical examinations. A story is a sequence of events, plot is how those events relate to one another, and narrative is how it’s told (the accounting of story and plot itself). Environmental storytelling is often very light on direct narrative, which seems to be the criticism here rather than on story or plot. These games often have a lot of story, it’s just not told through a more traditional form of narrative.

At this point if you haven’t played yet I might wait for the DLC to come out–it’s apparently making fairly substantial changes to the entire game’s (including base game’s) systems and gameplay. It won’t change everything the OP highlighted, but will supposedly address a lot of the gameplay, stat/cybernetic management, and further AI changes or fixes. I played earlier this year and despite some persisting flaws would still recommend it, but if half of what is alleged about the DLC changes are true (and that’s still an if until it actually releases) the game will be in an even better place then.