Trying to predict failure [reblog]
by Raycevick
2023
Okay, call back aside, it's a genuinely relevant topic as I've now witnessed this happen within just a few weeks of each other.
The Last of Us show was building up to release, and all I see in said build up are people on Twitter and Youtube abusing Red Arrows and capital letters to proclaim this show was "GOING TO SUCK" because Craig Mazin's being too hyperbolic about the game his show's based on, Pedro Pascal doesn't have a Playsation, and Ellie's actor was told not to reference Ashley Johnson's performance…
…
That's our evidence?
Really?
Then again what chance does it have anyway? All video-game adaptations are unwatched, unsuccessful, disrespectful garbage!
Ignoring Edgerunnners…
Castlevania.
Arcane.
The Witcher.
Dragon's Blood.
Silent Hill.
Tomb Raider.
Even someone venting about The Last of Us on Twitter were then asking themselves how they forgot the first three shows I mentioned as they really loved them.
The funniest part of all of this though was seeing my entire Youtube and Social Media feeds then going "never mind, the first episode is really good actually" and have proceeded to be dead quiet about it since except for a couple Red Arrow ALL CAPS title channels still trying to move the goalposts.
Now I'm getting deja-vu seeing everyone trying to shift the prediction machine onto Dragon Age Dreadwolff, pointing to its recently leaked gameplay and it's boring real time combat as evidence that it's going to be a bad game…
In a series that's never had innovating or exciting combat since its debut.
Even if somebody loved the gameplay in Dragon Age Origins, I don't see how they could possibly point to it being notable in any particular way, it's just a carryover from fifteen years of isometric RPGs. Origin's gameplay style was the result of a development cycle that lasted nine years, not to be "unique" in a market.
Yet, if Dreadwolff comes out to be a lackluster game, people are going to point at the leaked gameplay saying "see, I told you it was going to be bad" the same way people would've pointed to The Last of Us' articles saying the same thing if the show turned out to be lackluster.
…What is being gained here?
Even if one could predict the popular consensus on a piece of work prior to release…
Who gives a shit?
It doesn't stop people buying/watching whichever thing is being predicted, not based on numbers of things like The Last of Us, Rings of Power, Edgerunners, etc.
These comments are never remembered in any type of retrospect done on these works, like how Danial Craig was controversial for 007 because he was blonde.
Do you remember that?
I don't.
All there seems to be is selfish glee when the dart thrown by these people happens to land on the socially acceptable answer… or correct as is it's also known.
I understand debate.
I understand reaction.
I understand doubt.
I am very much doubting anything Bioware releases as of now based on their previous work and the current state of the company…
But I don't wish them to fail.
And I certainly don't want them to fail so I can feel good about ̶g̶u̶e̶s̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ predicting that they've failed.
Wanting Stadia to fail?
That's understandable.
Success of that would've meant progress on a discussion about digital ownership we as an industry aren't nearly ready enough for.
Hoping The Last of Us TV Show is bad?
Listen to Sparky…
