- #41
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Not sure yet if I'll give this game a try or not - a lot of it seems really compelling, but there's some other stylistic decisions that feel like they would clash a bit with what I want out of this kind of experience.
Well, that, and it'd need to support GNU/Linux- though I've usually had luck with that, there's only a small handful of games I haven't gotten to work under Fedora. Thankfully that has improved a lot in the last few years and it's pretty rare to come across situations where a game doesn't work at all.
Anyway, guess we'll see how all this ends up feeling. It does feel like there's some missed oppurtunities to make a game that is less formulaic in terms of the entire experience - this kind of world and immersion appeal just doesn't need the kind of combat-focused gameplay loops that are otherwise common in the genre. I wrote a little bit on this subject recently:
https://ivarhill.com/meaningful-experiences/
It does seem like this game is sticking quite close to the "Explore an open world mainly through combat" approach which is a bit unfortunate. The overall premise also reinforces that - I'd have liked much more to keep a solely Na'vi approach and emphasize exploration and discovery far more than combat mechanics, but oh well - maybe it can end up feeling interesting regardless!
I'm in two hearts. I'd much prefer not to go down the combat route, and focus instead on the message and spirit of the Avatar universe, ideally through guiding a character (and the character guiding the player - there should be a message to be learned) through cultural and spiritual learning, decisions and dilemmas, and also take it as an opportunity in canon world building. To me the movies have always been primarily about the culture - both spiritual and material - of the Na'vi clans. That's the conveyor of the teachings of the story, and the beauty, inspiration and hopefulness that matters. The combat has always played a minor or no real draw for me (other than perhaps cathartic satisfaction for me of imagining the forces of nature raining down that hell on Forestry Corporation back here on Earth... I really, really don't like FCNSW)
However, it is beuatiful and they have made some effort to expand the cultures of the universe, so I have put in my order. But yeah I do wish they ha been braver in doing off beaten path a bit. The movies did well despite being different to the usual formula, so Ubisoft really could have taken the risk.
I did read your blog post on this, and yep... I get that. Also, yay Disco Elysium - my partner loves that game
Yep I must admit this is something I love about desktops - so easy to upgrade and you can just pick and choose the bits that matter to you - my laptop is an ancient Thinkpad X230 - it's bascially my word processor I can use in the garden or the woods or anywhere I want some peace, quiet and inspiration
Thankfully the batter is user replaceable as the original died years ago... and I did swap out the old mechanical drive for an SSD, but otherwise perfectly happy with it to jot my thoughts and work on my novel 
