If all you’ve got in the writing dept is a ‘mystery’, what have you? Once it’s ‘spolied’, can you go back and enjoy the story again?

Last good book I read was Julian Barnes’s The Sense of and Ending. I read it twice, and it was a different read the second time. It didn’t have any mystery to solve, but it had great characterisation – although, I’ll admit that’s subject to taste.

I also have no idea who Ketheric is, but it was a smart move by Larian to include the guy in the latest trailers. He’s obviously not the main villain, but he at least adds some structure to what was otherwise a very flimsy reason to care about this game’s story.

Even Marvel and co. tease their villains in their trailers, otherwise it’s all flash and bang. If all you care about is the name of the ‘villian’, that’s quite a situation to be in, IMO. I can’t relate to it, as the more interesting element relates to the character of the villain, which cannot – in any way – be explored in a 3min trailer. That’s where all the narrative punch is at.

So there’s no spoiler here for me in terms of what I look for from a story. Even if they baldly stated that The Absolute is Bhaal, I wouldn’t be crying my eyes out, since it merely ‘spoiled’ a name – a meaningless thing. More intriguing would be, what are they going to do with Bhaal? Nuance, character development and so on.

JK Simmons is indeed a quality actor. But how many great actors have been wheeled in to add some gloss to an otherwise derivate film/story?

I thought Keanu Reeves worked well in Cyperpunk. The guy is no Al Pachino, but he seemed to enjoy the part, invested in the lines, and cd project have the writerly chops to deliver good material either way.

What I see with Larian is always a ‘big effort’, always ‘big heart’, even if what they’re investing in isn’t their strong suit. They’re not a cynical company, the’yre not cash-grabbers. Nor do they lack talent.

Alas, the writing team will never convince me they were the ‘correct pick’. They’re not even woke-wanks, pandering and so on – they’re bang smack in the middle of being ultra-pandering and being actually ballsy enough to do something different. The safest of bets.

Well, look. Who plays big budget games for their stories these days anyway? They did their job in keeping it inoffensive and pyrotenchincal – that’ll satisfy the wallet aspect in terms of payback.

But yeah, we’ll be waiting a few more years, I think, before anyone is allowed to write something interesting again.

I think Ricky Gervais summed up the whole thing quite aptly about a certain woke-hammer being dropped recently:

This is me pondering whether they'll change any of the words I've used in my work after I'm dead, to spare those who are fragile and easily offended. Words like 'fat' and 'ugly'. And 'cunt' and 'fuck'. And 'fat, ugly, greedy, pathetic little stupid fucking cunt'. Stuff like that.