Is this Absolution?

Before the World of Assassination trilogy, I think the tone was often very grim and mocking even on the player’s side, eg “welp, gotta murder for a paycheck, that’s how the world is”

For the newer trilogy, there’s still a lot of grim humor, but it’s usually on the part of targets. They’re painted as VERY savage billionaires deserving everything coming their way, and the guards around them less so.

You also get far more tools to be nonlethal, to the point any kind of gunfire is heavily punished and no speedruns really acknowledge runs where you kill non-targets.

I did kind of have that feel that previous games were too grim about a lot of things; ended up enjoying World of Assassination quite a bit more.

I actually wasn’t even trying to criticize NASA. “The people personally funding rockets” refers to private companies like SpaceX.

My only criticism to NASA isn’t really on their funding, but on their general goals of spreading joy through their accomplishments; of having Hollywood movies where we see the whole world unite around a shared cause.

The sad reality is, that reality could be as simple as “our planet doesn’t blow up” and we’d have some people remark “MIGHT BE WORTH IT TO KILL THOSE EVIL LIB’RULS” or “Finally, we achieved Armageddon! And here I thought we needed to purge the West Bank first! Where’s Jesus and the risen army?”

If Iran killed 400 trillion protestors, bombing them still doesn’t appear to even follow the beginnings of a plan to help rescue that country from an oppressive regime. You’d want international relations and spycraft that develop confident dissent in their government, and show them a better way of life.

This is why I get a bit pissed at opponents to the death penalty.

Yes, I think they make a good case for uncertainty of guilt. If the defendant in any way still protests the evidence or there could be any room for jury bias or any “UNreasonable doubts” over the murder, especially when it was only a single person, yes, I think it’s safer to avoid the Death Penalty.

But in cases where it was overt, repeated, caught on video, clearly intentional, and/or took advantage of a position held to a higher standard, I think yes; certain bad people really should die.

And look at how many evil people wanted him freed; if he was simply given a life sentence, the campaign to release him for “just doing his job” would be perpetually huge.

Meanwhile, the campaign to release Charlie Kirk from prison has gone quiet.

The hallucinatory praise for them around me has severely affected my mental health at work.

I can envision in some narrow scenarios they can help with automatic generation. Honestly, we always had IDE tools to do some of that. But so many people at my work - people who I’ve otherwise had a lot of trust in - are obsessed with it, even when every time I use it, it churns forever, or turns out terrible results.

Recently my senior was proud to demonstrate an initiative where he’d been working with AI to make our unit tests run ten times faster. I looked at the code, and what he did basically tasted only a tenth of the things the original did because of what it stripped out. I explained that to him, and later in the day he admitted he’d been lead down a rabbit hole of bad optimization.

This was a guy I look up to, who I’d ask questions of all the time in my first year of working there. And meanwhile we have management personnel literally getting upset when our engineers don’t turn to AI first to solve a problem.

I literally don’t even want to watch Project Hail Mary.

I think of all those space movies where the Earth has to do something together. Where it cuts to listeners in Paris, Beijing, Zimbabwe, New York, and Moscow before going back to some Mission Control center saying “We’re counting on you.”

Then I realize, in reality, there would be American cultists actively fighting any kind of effort to save the world, or run a giant “DEI WILL DOOM US” campaign because one of the astronaut crew is part Asian.

I want these stupid fanciful astronauts to see that we actively don’t have the circumstances to create these wonderful worldwide moments of joy anymore because of the overwhelming levels of sick hatred they’ve created in bankrupting our world of empathy and flooding it with religious propaganda.

The people personally funding rockets could have cured cancer everywhere with their savings. I honestly think if a lethal meteor was headed for the Earth, they’d want to live, but they’d invest everything into trying to save themselves rather than trying to save everyone.

HITMAN! The core story/cutscenes form a very serious, grim premise. But, the actual gameplay, and the writing of the many dozens of NPCs in each level, is filled with humorous charm and tongue-in-cheek Bond-eque silliness. Characters will acknowledge 47’s often paper-thin disguises, make silly remarks about excuses to take off early, or alluding to how horrible it would be if some freak accident occurred. Plus, the mechanics can involve things like dropping banana peels for people to slip on, or luring people with a cartoony explosive rubber duck.

It takes a bit of time to get used to how the game wants you to explore, and stop trying to brute-force it like a stealth game. Quite often, some of the main intended ways of going about a mission involve little to no stealth. It’s a lot of fun and very replayable.

I was surprised how much it’s able to hold its laughter to tell a worthwhile story. It makes sense, because every single line just being pure parody/silliness can get really grating.

Something I always had strong opinions about was cameraman intent. Like, plenty of media has very attractive characters, due to author appeal. But when the media’s cameraman, its writers, and costume designers, are all obviously gooner-brained, that can push the idea that I’m looking at a specific person’s intentionally-advertised sexual fantasy, not just letting my own gaze naturally wander.

So yeah; players can, and will, push their cameras up against characters’ asses. The more a media pushes that intentionally, breaking from any in-media fictional premise (like suggesting that Tracer turns tail, since she enjoys people’s attention on her tight pants) the weirder it sometimes feels.

“Fuck cars”, like “ACAB”, is often a quick tagline to a problem people understand is more nuanced. I don’t think so many people here would literally like all cars in existence to be crushed in a heap.

No author signature?

Sounds like trend-chasing. Rushing a game out to meet a current popular genre generally spells doom.

Pass a law that any government shutdown over a week causes all of Congress to be fired, and I may consider it.

I know it’s not popular, but this is how I view it too. To be clear: There is no reason - none - for the Republican party to exist. I almost think some major Democrats might fund them just so that they can have a clear “You gotta vote for us, or you get these lunatics” vibe.

They do nothing for any part of America, and I am personally disappointed in every single individual allegedly-sane allegedly-human consciously voting for them. In a sane world, they would get zero votes anywhere, and I am not okay with a handwave of “yea but you’ll never get Joe Redneck in Montana to vote against them”.

When the vote is 100% democrat, then some intense primarying can happen, fracturing the party into people who actually DO want to help the country. We all know there are at least some of those in the party.

I mean…it sucks to envision phantom insan-o scenarios, but given three years ago I didn’t think we’d be in this one, I’d say yes: If my other choice was a candidate who literally promised day one nuclear war, then I’d be terrified into the choice of voting for Trump. I’d be appalled that those are the choices we’re built to, and would actively seek retribution on everyone involved in those primaries, though.

Gentle reminder that their main concern is not having enough targets to rape.

The fallacy above is the Tolerance of Intolerance. Democrats, up until this presidency, generally respected the rule of law. There has been nothing close in any of their behavior.

When the “other” is an identity formed through place of birth, race, or cultural upbringing, I agree that extermination is a horrific thing that serves as a warning bell. But when the “other” is an intentional ideology formed through mature, conscious decision as a functioning adult, especially when it originates from boundless hatred, I don’t see any particular issue in full, total extermination of its source.

I mean…have you seen the size of cars then and now? Or the number of cars then vs now?

Very happy for all the Layton fans, but in looking at old colleagues I’m sad that Ace Attorney has been left in the dust aside from console remasters.

I sold two lemonades at my street corner.

With a DOUBLED sale rate from yesterday, and a continuous rate of growth from the past two days, I’m already looking to internationalize the business and establish 800 new offices!

(Not mocking you, just investor logic)