Rakqoi

No disagreement with me there, I think the linear dungeons were a poor choice and the game would benefit from a way to track settlements by species.

Personally I dislike boss fights in these sorts of games (the main reason I don’t like Terraria anymore is the focus on bosses, and everything you do is just to prep for the next boss), so that’s likely a big part of why the story doesn’t bother me since I just mostly ignore it or do it passively. But for someone who enjoys the bosses and seeks them out, I can see why it’s more frustrating.

But I completely agree that the tutorial dungeon is the worst. I hate doing it whenever I play vanilla to introduce a friend to the game, and the “skip intro” option on character creation really should skip right to after the dungeon. Or alternatively it could have been designed to be more fun or interesting on repeat playthroughs

I think your explanation is pretty accurate and I agree with your point that it has nothing to do with graphics. however…

there’s no reason you can’t make a game that does all of that but does actually have good polished gameplay, but so many games chasing (and catching) this trend do not.

Any time I see someone say this, they always fail to actually provide any examples of games that fit this description. I know you aren’t defending the term but I just noticed that parallel between your description and the explanations provided by people who criticize these sort of games.

The first time I heard of the term, and when it started getting popular, was around the time PEAK released. At first glance, it seemed like the game fit the term, but after a bit people started realizing that it actually was a fun and well designed game that has some longevity. Ever since then, people who use the term negatively always concede that their prime example doesn’t even fit their criticism, but fail to provide a list of other examples.

It really makes me feel like it’s just people complaining about things for being popular, without any actual basis for their criticism.

I think the story is a point where people unfairly criticize the game, personally. After the tutorial dungeon you don’t have to engage with it whatsoever.

The parts where you have to search for relics between each dungeon are meant to encourage exploration and remove the pressure of the story. It’s the game saying “now go do whatever and have fun!” and you make progress toward the story just by playing normally, as you come across settlements belonging to the particular species you need to scan.

If your goal is to speedrun the story and drop the game, then yeah those parts are annoying, but if you want a sandbox game where you are free to do anything you want, then I don’t really understand why people complain so much about those parts of the main story.

I think you have missed the actual issue here. The issue is not whether or not the game currently contains AI assets, the issue is whether AI was used during development. Quoting the article (emphasis mine):

“The Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of gen AI throughout the nomination process and during the ceremony itself,” the statement reads. “When it was submitted for consideration, representatives of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used in the development of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

“In light of Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of gen AI on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination.”

The actual problem is that simply using generative AI during development disqualifies a game from being nominated, and Sandfall Interactive lied and said they did not use gen AI.

for the first year or two after it was originally announced, I was pretty excited about it.

Then I learned that the entire project was started because Mojang changed their TOS to stop hypixel from preying so much on children with their in-server microtransactions… and so they decided to make their own game where they are allowed to prey on children freely.

no wonder it fell into development hell. that’s an awful basis for a game of the scope of hytale.

I’m not saying people aren’t responsible for their choices and opinions, I think everyone is responsible for their own actions regardless of what led them to that point. But what I meant to convey with my comment is that people can have harmful ideas without that being indicative of poor cognitive ability, and that people shouldn’t be insulted based on something that isn’t a choice, such as intelligence.

Most of my extended family is like the person you describe, which is a big reason why I find it unproductive to insult their intelligence; I know them, and many of them are intelligent people who have been manipulated into misdirecting their anxieties over hardships at unfamiliar people, instead of at the systems which cause those hardships. But that doesn’t make them stupid, it makes them brainwashed.

and also, I completely understand how exasperating people like that can be and we only have so much mental energy to go around, so I totally get wanting them to fuck off. It’s not our responsibility to convince people to have compassion nor to teach critical thinking skills. fuck nazis, fuck fascists.

I think the problem many people have (myself included) is not just about being against prejudice toward those with cognitive impairments (though that’s part of it), but also against insults based on intelligence in general. People don’t get to choose how intelligent they are, it’s largely down to genetics and the environment one grows up in and is not a choice (nor is it a single spectrum… intelligence can manifest in a myriad of ways, and people can have high cognitive ability in one area while struggling with another). Personally I believe that insulting people for something they had no control over is unjust.

when someone says something really dumb, and you try to come up with an insult to his intelligence

but what if you are trying to insult a person’s cognitive ability?

The thing they said may seem foolish or obviously incorrect to you, with your experience and understanding of the topic. But to them, it may have made sense, or been an attempt at humor, or was something they said in passing without devoting much thought to it. I don’t really think that coming up with a way to insult them for sharing their thought is productive or compassionate, and won’t lead to understanding the person or their perspective any better.

If it’s someone you consider a friend, that’s a good way to build resentment both ways and put distance between you. If it’s someone you don’t like, or are arguing with, all it does it rile up people’s emotions and makes people get defensive and lock down on their stance, instead of approaching the discussion with an open mind and looking for common goals.

Whenever I have an urge to call something stupid or dumb, I stop and think about what it is that I really object to, and then comment on that aspect directly and explain why I take issue with it. I find that this makes me far more aware of my own opinions and clarifies my perspective, and helps me understand why things are how they are.

In regard to a discussion with someone who refuses to see data and evidence (and is acting in harmful ways, or supports those who do)… the reason why they are like that is very complex, and often they have been manipulated into their way of thinking, and are deeply submerged in the culture that encourages it. If their lack of critical thinking skills, or generally poor cognitive ability contributed to them falling into that, then it’s not entirely their fault for being how they are, and I don’t think insulting their intelligence is productive, and it misses all the context surrounding why they’re like that and will never lead to positive change.

movement was done by typing a wasd key then hitting enter lol.

haha I adore this, now I really want someone to make a full game with this control scheme

Oh wow this gave me a wave of nostalgia for my first experience developing games. I took a class in like middle school for game development, and they provided the software Alice for the course.

I fondly remember trying to make a first person, open world sandbox RPG, but if I remember correctly, the engine not being able to create new instances of anything severely limited what I wanted to do. Also, the engine had a ton of floating point precision issues and everything would be rotated in funny ways after the game was running for a long time. And I hated the visual programming and got so frustrated that I couldn’t just type the scripts instead haha… that’s when I switched to GameMaker

Anyway, I was reminded of it because the first enemies in my game were also sword-wielding skeletons just like in the OP screenshots. I appreciate the peak into your past, and I’m thankful for that nostalgia hit :3

What you’re describing is very similar to how I feel, and I describe myself as sex-favorable grey-ace. I feel some sort of sexual or sexual-adjacent attraction, and don’t mind sex with my partner since it can be fun and feels good for both of us. but I’d be 100% okay with never having sex again, and I have no desire for it other than when my partner is in the mood.

but xxce2AAb (other commenter) is spot on. labels are nice because they help you find community and describe your experiences in ways that are healthy instead of “weird” or “broken”, but they’re not necessary to fit into and are entirely a personal decision of what labels you feel like describes you best, or whether you bother using labels at all ^^

you’re just you, and that’s awesome