Cruising

Cherry picking is my special talent, bro. Behold! My ultimate comparative work!

Regarding? You mean your assertion that these Switch fans who think BotW looks way better than Sw/Sh are imaginary? They are literally a dime a dozen at this point, bro. You want some links or sommat? I'm more surprised that you have yet to encounter such individuals than anything else atm.

Holy crap! Did I just get Celli to admit the Switch has inferior hardware?!

This is irrefutable truth. While the inclusivity pandering definitely added an extra layer of cringe, the entire movie was such a trainwreck that even an all male cast would have a nearly imperceptible effect on the movie's quality. The problem with Ghostbusters 2016 casting was they went for very "low-brow" actresses and humor in general. The old cast were actually classy while still funny. Can't replace actors that have passed away unfortunately (unless you wanna pull a Rogue One; which was coincidentally a movie with abundant diversity pandering yet unironically the best Star Wars film I've seen since Revenge of the Sith).

I cannot agree enough with that sentiment. Well... I suppose when speaking on entertainment media wherein story/ characterization is paramount to one's overall enjoyment. Video games as a medium are not one of these instances (imho). What matters most about a game is whether it is fun to play. Does the gameplay itself satisfy the player. Story, characters, music, and admittedly even graphics are all secondary or even tertiary in comparison to the metaphorical "meat" of the experience (I say this being a massive graphics whore myself). That being said, there are, of course, outliers and general exceptions. The RPG genre in and of itself pretty much demands at least a sizable amount of attention be paid by the developers to creating a compelling narrative and interesting characters. A game like Overwatch, on the other hand, uses character traits and backstory as flourish; in essence, a superficial method of making the product desirable to the consumer. I am not merely referring to Tracer's inclusion, but that of all the characters and how they are portrayed in and outside the actual game. Adding superficial flourishes to a game is not inherently negative. On the contrary, it can make the game feel like it has SOUL. Just look at all the superficial crap crammed into games like Super Mario Odyssey or A Hat in Time. Instead of detracting from the experiences it instead enhances them with a gonzo, whimsical charm. The problem with "forced diversity" is that it instantaneously breaks immersion in the world that these devs/writers are attempting to create. It feels like the only reason these types of characters are being included is to gain praise from those in support of the whole inclusivity movement. This is why there only exists an outcry over NEW entertainment media. Back in the 90s and even early 2000s, there were plenty of series focused on minorities, females, etc. Look at how beloved shows like Static Shock or Kim Possible/MLaaTR are amongst cartoon communities. Those series went out of their way to do something AGAINST the grain of societal norms. That is the very embodiment of soul. Nowadays, these writers throw in "diverse" characters as a safety net. They know if they include a protagonist who's female, black, gay, trans, etc, that they will automatically be safe from the vast majority of criticisms no matter how shitty their work actually is. That isn't "brave" in the least. It is cowardly and shows lack of artistic integrity. And this mentality isn't exclusive to the Western world either. Just look at Catherine: Full Body for a recent example. A game wherein the main character was always portrayed as exclusivly straight now has the option of choosing a literal tranny as a romantic interest. Truth be told, I do find Rin to be incredibly sexy, personally, and the fact that he is a biological male makes him all the more irresistible, but it seriously irks me as to WHY he was included to begin with. If these devs/ writers wanted to be "brave" they should have tried putting "diverse" characters like this in games back in the 90s. Like Poison from Street Fighter for instance. But regardless of all those facts opinions highlighted above, back to the topic at hand. Yes, in movies, tv shows, comic books, anime, manga, etc etc, the absolutely most important thing is "personality and story" as you so succinctly put it.

@Goat-kun

Don't get me wrong, I thought they were well modeled too... for the time... and for the 3DS. But we're on the motherf*cking Switch now for Celestia's sake. There's been such a massive step forward in the over-world presentation that one would assume there would be equal improvement to the in battle scenarios as well. On a semi-unrelated note, why in the bloody hell aren't we getting a proper fully controllable camera? What is the meaning of this bullshit? The game would look fucking incredible if not for those fixed overhead angles. Expand the image below for a taste of what I'm talking about. ^And worst of all, it's a nearly effortless fix on Game Freak's part. Why are they so opposed to giving us freedom of control over the perspective? The increase to overall immersion whilst playing through the main campaign would be unprecedented with this one simple alteration.

As much as I find myself defending Sw/Sh on other forums, I simply cannot defend this: Completely unacceptable.

What are your thoughts on forced diversity in entertainment media?

When indie devs are capable of creating something that looks like this, it becomes quite challenging for me to defend BotW's compromises. Is it fair to compare a pc game running at max settings to AAA Nintendo release? Probably not. But that's the point. Nintendo is so goddamn far behind it's not even funny. Nintendo fans have become complacent with visual mediocrity; which is a travesty as far as I am concerned. And this doesn't merely apply to games pursuing "realism" either. Just take a look at either Spyro Reignited Trilogy or Kingdom Hearts 3 to see how beautiful games with a "cartoony" aesthetic can look if the devs actually give a damn. And before anyone claims cel-shaded graphics are incapable of producing technically complex visuals, allow me to present the following: ^Look at the level of detail on that character model. Or the complex animation work. This is not merely a pre-rendered cutscene either; it is running in real time on a base Ps4 console. Just for fun, compare that model to the ones that are actually pre-rendered in BotW (albiet rendered within engine): The point here is that BOTH Sw/Sh and BotW are massive compromises visually. It just bothers me that people en masse pretend one is godlike, while the other is "subpar".

@Envy I understand where your criticisms are coming from. But to compare Sw/Sh to BotW as an objective step down just doesn't make sense to me (at least not from a purely graphical perspective). Remember, BotW uses extremely abundant hazy effects to hide visual imperfections in the distance. There exists LoD management which results in nearly perpetual pop-in and polygon culling. The lighting can be quite striking at times, but I more likely than not notice just how drab and plain ugly the game can look. And don't forget the incredibly drab interiors of buildings. Or the thick blinding rainstorms, sandstorms, snowstorms that essentially hides a great deal of the graphical flourishes