Are There Brown People?

Star Wars Outlaws

Are There Brown People?

Horizon Forbidden West

Are There Brown People?

Final Fantasy XVI

IGN: In regards to diversity in the game, can we expect to see Black characters in Final Fantasy XVI, or people of color (non-white characters) in general? To clarify a bit more, there’s been discussion around the trailers to date featuring mostly white characters, and I wanted to get clarity on whether we can expect the final game to be more diverse.

Naoki Yoshida, Producer: This is a difficult question, but not one that was unexpected, seeing as diversity in entertainment media has become a much-discussed topic as of late. The answer I have, however, may end up being disappointing to some depending on individual expectations.

Our design concept from the earliest stages of development has always heavily featured medieval Europe, incorporating historical, cultural, political, and anthropological standards that were prevalent at the time. When deciding on a setting that was best suited to the story we wanted to tell — the story of a land beset by the Blight — we felt that rather than create something on a global scale, it was necessary to limit the scope to a single landmass — one geographically and culturally isolated from the rest of the world in an age without airplanes, television, or telephones.

Due to the underlying geographical, technological, and geopolitical constraints of this setting, Valisthea was never going to realistically be as diverse as say a modern-day Earth…or even Final Fantasy XIV that has an entire planet (and moon) worth of nations, races, and cultures at its disposal. The isolated nature of this realm, however, does end up playing a large part in the story and is one of the reasons Valisthea’s fate is tied to the rest of the world.

Ultimately, we felt that while incorporating ethnic diversity into Valisthea was important, an over-incorporation into this single corner of a much larger world could end up causing a violation of those narrative boundaries we originally set for ourselves. The story we are telling is fantasy, yes, but it is also rooted in reality.

Conversely, the Final Fantasy series of games have always inherently dealt with conflict and struggle, especially between the empowered and those used and/or exploited by those privileged few — a prominent trend in human history. In a game that, by design, allows players to experience that conflict and struggle first- hand through dynamic, realistic battles, it can be challenging to assign distinctive ethnicities to either antagonist or protagonist without triggering audience preconceptions, inviting unwarranted speculation, and ultimately stoking flames of controversy. The best part of pulling inspiration directly from history, however, is that it allows us to revisit and re-examine our own pasts, while also allowing us to create something new.

In the end, we simply want the focus to be less on the outward appearance of our characters and more on who they are as people — people who are complex and diverse in their natures, backgrounds, beliefs, personalities, and motivations. People whose stories we can resonate with. There is diversity in Valisthea. Diversity that, while not all-encompassing, is synergistic with the setting we’ve created and is true to the inspirations from which we are drawing.

- Exclusive: Final Fantasy 16’s Developers Open Up About Game of Thrones Comparisons, Sidequests, and Representation

Are There Brown People?

No Rest for the Wicked

Are There Brown People?

Dragon's Dogma 2

This is a new bit of promotional media for the up-and-coming MMORPG Wildstar. I felt the need to highlight this screen shot in particular because the character model in it has brown skin. I find myself hard-pressed to find promotional material for games that showcase characters with brown skin. How novel.

I think I accidentally Raven.

Not mad, tho. Not mad at all.

Dragon Age II and the Unreliable Narrator

As I only quite recently played through Dragon Age II [aka Champion] I'd shied away from reading much about it and of what others' thought of it, especially its story. Reading Twitter and going through Tumblr's Dragon Age tag has been... enlightening. I've found that some people actually didn't like many aspects of the story, which I felt was the game's saving grace, and felt the usage of the unreliable narrator was a mistake. "Awkward... completely unwelcomed and out-of-place" states one gamer about the use of Varric Tethras as the narrator, who also thought it added nothing to the game. Ouch.

In most narratives, there's an element of trust that the person telling you the story is telling the truth, at least as far as they know it. This trope occurs when that convention is discarded. The narrator's facts contradict each other. If you ask them to go back a bit and retell it, the events come out a little differently. It can be like dealing with a used-car salesman — there's a real story in there somewhere, but you're left to piece it together through all the lies, half-truths, and mistruths.

— TVTropes.org

Personally I loved the usage of an unreliable narrator. It allowed for an interesting tutorial for the combat system [what you thought about said system and how it differed from that of the previous game notwithstanding] and even provided the opportunity for humorous moments, like Varric not being entirely forthcoming about one of his character's companion quests. There probably wasn't an inherent need for the usage of an unreliable narrator for the passage of time the story required, but having Varric to fill in the details between each jump and relate how much time had passed seemed like a great way to do it. Plus I love feeling as though everything may have been a little different than what we saw.

The entire game is a story being relayed by Varric, who's established throughout the game as one who "embellishes" stories, so there's a great deal of leeway one can grant. Someone on Twitter stated he felt that BioWare had "ruined" Anders' character, which I think is a little ridiculous but is of course his opinion to have. However many things you don't like about the main story or one of the characters' personalities can actually be attributed to the opinion of the narrator. This also grants BioWare leeway to change things we supposedly know going from Champion to Inquisition without performing a retcon.

I'm actually curious now as to how they could've told this story without Varric. Everyone else involved either dies or leaves Kirkwall before Cassandra gets there, apparently. Or maybe that's something else Varric "embellished." Who knows?!

Merrill: Are you all right?

Anders: I nearly killed an innocent girl. How could I be all right?

Merrill: I'm sorry.

Anders: You're sorry? For me? This could be you! You could be the next monster threatening helpless girls!

Merrill: Anders... There's no such thing as a good spirit. There never was.

Merrill: All spirits are dangerous. I understood that. I'm sorry that you didn't.

Mohawk!Merrill

I am here for this.

So this happened.

My playthroughs of Mass Effect 2 & 3 inspired me to take another shot at Dragon Age 2. I'm glad I went through it, despite its flaws.

Its glaring, aggravating, frustrating flaws.

Playing through these games has also led me to conclude that I'm going to set aside my hard-line "NO MO BIOWARE RPGS" stance for a much more nuanced "I'll wait a year or two after release for patches and mods to be available" stance. 'Cause I'm uncertain if I'd had trogged through DA2 without the Better Combat mod.

Plus all the available DLC and a lower price for everything overall. 

Mass Effect 3 playthrough #1 finally complete. I chose the red ending. No regrets.

There were a lot of feels felt though. Christ... only complete sadists were allowed to write for that game I think. So many regrets as far as ME2 choices go. You see Tali's name up on that memorial wall? Yeah... yeah.

I want to say something as to how much of a movie experience one garners from the last installment of this series in comparison to how much of a game experience one garners, but the words escape me right now. It would surely involve the phrase "lens flare" though. Lots of references to lens flare.

Completing this game has actually buoyed my excitement for The Witcher 3. I'm eager to see how that series ends and compare it to the Mass Effect trilogy. Plus I've been eyeing Dragon Age 2 recently, which I haven't done since its demo was released and I tried it and was repulsed. I'm watching a Let's Play of someone's FemHawke. Perhaps I'll be drawn into that before Inquisition comes.

After a number of attempts I may finally be on my way to finishing a playthrough of Mass Effect 2.

The two things that've surprised me the most: 1. How much of the game I had actually played through previously before growing bored and stopping. 2. How much it reminds me of playing both Anachronox [mostly just the club on Omega, Afterlife] and Star Wars: The Old Republic. The story elements of the latter certainly benefited from work done on the Mass Effect series.

No matter what though, I'm proud of my FemShep. She and Garrus are both beautiful and scarred up and tearing up the galaxy... with Grunt in tow to take all the damage.

I wonder if there'll ever be a point I don't see Grunt and think "But why couldn't I have Wrex though? Why don't they want me to be happy?"

Iorveth, you horribly beautiful bastard.

The "official announcement" of The Witcher 3 has prodded me into a second play-through of the second in the series.

I am thankful for the prodding. This game is too good.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is my current waste of time form of gaming entertainment. In it are electronic "newspapers" you can read to catch up with what's happening on Earth in 2027. This is one such e-paper that I found quite interesting.

Native Representations in Video Games

"This short film briefly overviews Native (Indigenous, Native American, American Indian, First Nations, Aboriginal) representations in digital games."