#anti finn brice

[balsa-margarita]

Why I'm disappointed in Starbound (and why I still like it, somehow)

So, Starbound. It's an indie game you may or may not know of, whether you've seen it in furry art or heard people call it "ripoff Terraria" or something, or perhaps even played it. What is it, though?

To put it simply, Starbound is a 2D procedurally generated space adventuring game, created by Chucklefish. (I got some images from their press kit to show you what I mean.)

As you can see, there is a lot going on here. First off, there are multiple sapient alien species other than humans in Starbound (it's most obvious with the Floran in the third image) and there's also a distinct storyline to follow. All of that means lore, and this is where the issues start. Immediately.

Starbound takes the idea of "culture as costume" as a model to work off of, rather than a criticism. Take the Hylotl, a race of fish-people. Everything about their culture is taken directly from Japanese culture in real life - they have anime, samurai, and Japanese-inspired architecture. None of this, though, is very deep or well-thought-out. It's just kind of... there, you know? And this is how it is with most of Starbound's alien races (Avians are ripoff Mesoamericans in a lot of ways, Novakid are stereotypical cowboy Western characters) with only a couple of exceptions. At times, this weird lack of thought can be downright insulting, such as with the Floran - who are carelessly modeled after stereotypes of the "cannibal tribe." There are also over a dozen races in the game, and you can only play as seven of them. The others' lore is even less thought out.

Now, you would think that the actual story would be better, right? Well... sort of. The overarching enemy is an entity called "The Ruin," which is a literal living eldritch planet monster (which you kill at the end of the game in a scene much more badass than anything else Chucklefish came up with) which is being aided by a xenophobic human cult that is trying to wipe out all of the other races in the universe. Pretty interesting, aside from the very generic name... but the generic name gives it away. Not only is the Ruin one side of a pure good/evil dichotomy - which, in my opinion, is a bit of a tired way of doing things - but the rest of the writing just feels lazy. Not enough actual eldritch horror in the story where the big bad is an eldritch horror, and not enough focus on the space xenophobes' xenophobia. When you play through it, it feels kind of cheap, and as someone who talks a lot about lore (and writes fanfiction) I have issues with that. But the problems don't stop there.

Guess why it feels cheap? Because it is.

Starbound is one of the worst optimized games I've ever played, up there with things like Pokemon Scarlet/Violet - possibly even worse - and is riddled with half-baked mechanics and terribly shoehorned game progression and design. (Multiplayer in particular is horrific - the game has no strict physics update at all, which basically means people playing the game at different FPS play it at different speeds. As you can imagine, this ends terribly for all involved.) All this is because Chucklefish used unpaid labor - often from teenagers trying to get into the game industry! So, of course, when these people inevitably left because they weren't paid, no one kept working on whatever they had been in charge of... it was a disaster. A total, unmitigated disaster. That's where Starbound stands today.

Unmodded Starbound, at least.

The core concepts of Starbound - bumming around on procedurally generated planets, questing, and being a space landlord, among other things - are still really cool. But it could have been so much cooler! Wasted potential in a way that no other game I've ever played is. This is where mods - and one mod in particular called Frackin' Universe - come in. Frackin' Universe does its very best to fill in the holes left in the basegame, and add new systems that rival some Minecraft tech mods in complexity. It can't fix everything, but it's the closest Starbound will ever get to being a really complete game. (Part of me really wishes I could take the IP from the idiots at Chucklefish and give it to the Frackin' Universe guys. They could make an excellent remake.)

That's it. That's the rant. I just... I really wish Starbound was a better game with development that hadn't been led by a moron who bailed from Re-Logic.

[askthenewgleeks-rp]

Welcome, Geoff! You have been accepted as Rachel Berry! Please check our New Member Checklist and send in your account within 24 Hours.

OUT OF CHARACTER 

Name: Geoff Preferred Pronouns: He/him Age: 23 Timezone: EST  Anything Else: i love u guys

Previous RP Account: -gestures to mason-

IN CHARACTER 

Character Name: Rachel Barbra Berry Character Birthday: December 18th School/Job: (If not already known)  I… don’t actually know what she’s doing in the rp. Is she the Glee Club director with Finn and Blaine? Ships: Rachel/Chemistry, Rachel/Being a Star, Rachel/Broadway, Rachel/Tony Award Nomination Anti-ships: Rachel/Anyone who gets in the way of her dreams, Rachel/No Chemistry Personal Information/Headcanons

After the downfall of her show, Rachel’s come to the realization of how messed up she made her life. Not only can she not go back to Broadway, but she made a fool of herself on television for the entire Nation as well. This has caused her to reflect a bit on her own life.Being back in Lima, though it’s  bit of a downer to be considered what Puck would call a ‘lima loser’– she’s determined to pick back up and put herself back in the show… somehow.

Currently, Rachel has been trying to think of ways she can get de-blackballed from Broadway after ditching Funny Girl, and her only ideas  are to actually write that musical that she and Kurt were thinking about back in their high school days.

The other option Rachel has been thinking about is actually going back to New York and groveling at Madame Tibideaux’s feet- but she’s not too sure if she actually wants to do that quite yet. All Rachel knows is that her dream has always been the stage and it always will be until she succeeds.

Her fathers’ divorce has actually really shook up Rachel, though she hasn’t actually told anyone how much it bothers her. It’s odd to have said goodbye to her childhood home, but now she’s in an apartment she’s renting for the meantime while she figures out what to do next. Luckily though her fathers aren’t together anymore, they do in fact still help Rachel and give her the advice she always needs to succeed and for that she’s so grateful.

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONS: 

If you could change one thing, what would it be? 

Well, I wouldn’t get into full on logistics due to the embarrassing nature of the entire epidemic, however I would very seriously love to erase the past few months… up to the opening night of Funny Girl. I’d like to make sure Sue Sylvester never is even allowed to walk into the theatre, and ultimately, I’d like to have not thrown away my shot- much like the more modern Alexander Hamilton has said so many times. I think a lot of things would have been done differently if I had just stayed on course and kept up with Fanny, not once trying for a different show on TV nonetheless. Actors on stage are much stronger than film actors due to the fact that they do only get one cut– one chance to show the audience their material and if they mess up: the show, of course, must go on.

What is your biggest dream?

Luckily I would say that as of last year I accomplished the dream I’ve honestly had since I could remember: playing Fanny Brice on Broadway. Stepping into a successor role of Barbra herself has been outstanding and terrifying all at the same time. The reviews, however, definitely helped me know that this wasn’t a mistake and if Barbra did it, so of course could I.  Now my dream, though I wouldn’t say it’s a dream per say as it’s more or less an actual goal (because I will achieve it) is to get back on my feet in show business and show them that Rachel Berry has learned from her mistakes and will not be leaving any time soon. I don’t care how many doors slam in my face. I will keep trying until one happens to give me a shot once more. I know I can do this. All I need is another chance and I will put my name in the stars and solidify it for the rest of my life. It would, of course, be only right for my humble fans to be allowed to see my name return so they can continue to have new material of me instead of being subjected to just my instagram or snapchat stories.

Who would you consider your best friend? Why? 

Of course Kurt Hummel, my best gay, is my best friend in the entire universe. We are and were the best singers in glee club and nothing will ever change that. Kurt has always been my right hand man through everything and without him I don’t think I would have honestly survived New York the way I did (at first, of course– we don’t dare speak of my errors in the later part of my New York career (version one)). We’ve been through a lot together– including but not limited to: dating the same boy, having incredible musical duets, seeing and being on the actual Wicked stage, and sharing a very spacious yet constricting loft together. I don’t know what life would be like without Kurt, but I wouldn’t want to live it. Every shooting star needs her backup team to always help and that’s exactly what Kurt is. He’s my comfort blanket. Kurt Hummel will always be home to me.