Game News Anito announced

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Anito: Defend a Land Enraged

New independent CRPG in the works, by the name of <a href="http://www.aninoentertainment.com/anito.html">Anito</a>. Here's a bit of the about:
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<blockquote>A land in flux, a muddle of cultures, religions, and politics, held together by a tenuous stalemate between wary natives and awkward colonials. A respected leader disappears, and the delicate balance is upset. That leader is your father, and you must find him before everything falls apart.
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Your land is Maroka? and she once spoke to us.. her children... but now, the land is not what it once was.. and she is silent...
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... they came... armored in twilight... tall pale men... bearing rods that flashed thunder... proud and impetuous, even as they wilted under the gaze of Maroka's eye...
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... we welcomed them amongst us, and the land fostered them within her embrace... they spoke of a great kingdom, far beyond the horizon... they preached of an almighty being... who held dominion over all... but their deity was a jealous one... and did not tolerate rivals in worship... so they cast down those who still heard Maroka's voice.. the elders, the seers, and those one with the land... their victory was won through her silence... and they claimed her land for their own.
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But know that she is still with us... the land still bears her name.. her people still carry her spirit.. And we still remember her voice?</blockquote>
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Okay.. Whatever.. you say.. guys.
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Spotted this at <A href="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPGDot</a>

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

Actually despite the mild incoherence of the release this sounds kinda cool. Sounds like a CRPG set in recently colonized New World. There are all sorts of cool possibilities there and at least it aint another orc-elf-aged wizard setting.

 

[Jed]

Actually despite the mild incoherence of the release this sounds kinda cool. Sounds like a CRPG set in recently colonized New World. There are all sorts of cool possibilities there and at least it aint another orc-elf-aged wizard setting.

I agree with that sentiment, but the following item from the game's FAQ makes me uneasy:

What other games is it similar to?
Sierra's Quest for Glory (it's adventure element); Blizzard's Diablo (RPG - stats and skills - element). Interplay's Baldur's Gate (view point, and level segregation).

Not the most inspiring list of influences...

J

 

[Spazmo]

Level segregation?

"All level ones and twos to the back of the bus!"

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

]I agree with that sentiment, but the following item from the game's FAQ makes me uneasy:

What other games is it similar to?
Sierra's Quest for Glory (it's adventure element); Blizzard's Diablo (RPG - stats and skills - element). Interplay's Baldur's Gate (view point, and level segregation).

Not the most inspiring list of influences...

J

far more unsettling for me: "some console-style fighting action."

still I am willing to keep an open mind about it. Hell I can't blame developers for invoking Diablo and BG as they both sold like mad and hitching your wagon to that star in a FAQ may encourage more people to give the game a shot.
also the fact that they make explicit it's "adventure" game elements encourages me to think that maybe it won't be combat combat combat (despite ahem the console style fighting and "kung-fu")
yeah I know; what can I say? I'm an optimist

 

[Jed]

Level segregation? "All level ones and twos to the back of the bus!"

I think they mean the way the world is laid out: maps like BG rather than a tile-based world like Prelude to Darkness or Arcanum.

J

 

[Spazmo]

Well, that's a very obtuse and unclear way of saying it.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

You guys missed the obvious here.

Large non-uniform levels to explore; numerous unique characters to interact with; and realistically depicted day/night, eating, sleeping, and hygiene cycles guarantee a more fulfilling role-playing and character development experience.

Yay! Micromanagement!

 

[ecliptic]

Ooooh, I always wanted my RPGs to have that banality that you can only get with the Sims.

However, QFG rocks. [except V, haven't played it.]

 

[Jed]

Ooooh, I always wanted my RPGs to have that banality that you can only get with the Sims.

I wonder if there will be cockroach infestations that you have to deal with...

 

[Sol Invictus]

It sounds like crap to me. I don't trust anything out of the Phillipines. One momen they're whining for America to help them out (be it World War 2 or any time after that) and once America does its duty they all protest en masse, shouting slogans like "Americans, Go Home." and "Go Away, We Don't Need You", and "America Sucks. American Imperialist Bastards."

Hooray for the Phillipines.

I think Claire Danes said it best when she called the place a "an awful, filthy place, full of weird people who have no eyes."

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

It sounds like crap to me. I don't trust anything out of the Phillipines. One momen they're whining for America to help them out (be it World War 2 or any time after that) and once America does its duty they all protest en masse, shouting slogans like "Americans, Go Home." and "Go Away, We Don't Need You", and "America Sucks. American Imperialist Bastards."

Hooray for the Phillipines.

I think Claire Danes said it best when she called the place a "an awful, filthy place, full of weird people who have no eyes."

yeah with sweeping racist summaries of entire nations like this one, who can understand why there might be some anti-American sentiment?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Especially when people just assume someone is American when they're not. Exit's a Chinese guy living in Malaysia.

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

I stand corrected and apologize for the assumption.

Nevertheless this kind of statement *made presumably on behalf of a pro-American position* does nothing but support anti-American sentiment throughout the world.
Americans and those who support their intentions and goals need to drop this kind of sweeping racist thinking. It embodies exactly the kind of hegemonic assumption and arrogance that so many in the world (including here in the USA) find so repugnant. These kinds of simplistic denunciations are helpful to neither America's ambitions in the world community nor to our allies. Whatever my mistake in attributing Exitum's geographic/racial identity, these kinds of patently offensive statements do nothing but contribute to not only the chagrin of Americans, but of humankind.
I mean really, can we not formulate a more intelligent and informed criticism of the Phillipine position (if there is one) that does not include categorizing them as weird people who live in an awful fillthy place? Isn't it obvious how offensive this kind of talk is and how little it does to promote an actual argument based on issues and not one based upon distracting noise?

 

[Rosh]

yeah with sweeping racist summaries of entire nations like this one, who can understand why there might be some anti-American sentiment?

Funny, I seem to have also missed where he mentioned where there was a racist comment there. That pretty much IS an accurate description of the place, but he forgot some aspects.

Namely that the economy has been so poor over the years, you could get a baker's dozen for $10 about 10 years back (probably less), not sure how well it's doing now. I'm not referring to doughnuts, either, and not referring to just Subic Bay area.

Edit: Fine, let's be positive of them.

They're different, and they often have thrifty living styles.

Is that Politically Correct enough, or do you further wish to escape reality?

Unless the place has changed, it's pretty much as what Rex has said.

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

Rosh, you are kidding right?
fine, let's not use racist, let us instead use plain offensive - weird people who live in an awful dirty place? oh yeah who could possibly interpret that in a negative way
this is not about political correctness - unless by that you mean not denigrating an entire nation in which case yes that is exactly what it is about.
people crack me up when they invoke pc - it is meant as a shorthand to undermine entire arguments without appeal to what is being said and instead invoke all sorts of visceral reactions: "oh yeah the pc cops man they are the ones who won't let me say things and think certain ideas"
frankly the ideals underlying political correctness are right on even if it has become a kind of facism.
while you are on about escaping reality explain to me precisly and without empty rhetoric what Filipino poverty has to do with anything? y'know what nevermind. It has nothing to do with what I am talking about.
sweet mercy. this sounds like the stuff one heard (publicly) in the 50s: "lookit these filthy negros! damn they are beneath consideration"
and that is being kind.
whatever. I had no intention of debating the virtues or not of the Phillipines, its government or its policies. But the sheer amount of disgusting talk being used in this thread have left me little choice.
get to the point of my post which was that the language and characterization that Exitum used was offensive. do you disgaree?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tuvok,

Mayhaps, but I think Exitium's point was more like they're the kind of government/people who only like you when you're offering them something they need. When they've got that need met, they procede to piss on your shoes. It's more obvious that he used the American example considering they loved the hell out of us when we were saving their ass from the Nippon Empire in World War 2 and then helped them out for decades after that. When we finally pulled completely out, they became pretty anti-American.

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

Alright before I respond let me say this outright: I live in the USA and I think it the greatest example thus far of what human beings can achieve in terms of the creation of a State. The Constitution and the Federalist Papers to this day remain imo perhaps the finest documents on government ever created.
Now to my disagreement: there are some very good reasons why peoples throughout the world express so-called anti-Americanism and it is not because, as some pundits and politicans would have us believe, that they are jealous or insensibly angry. Many of our policies *in countries we once aided* are not only offensive but downright damaging to the residents of those countries. I know little about the Phillipines and make no claims that I can intelligently state their position. But I do know a bit about other nations that have recently come under press scrutiny for their opposition to our policies and can legitmately say that the reason many in the world stand opposed to us is not because they resent our freedom or they envy our country. It *is* becasue we have done some really crummy things thru our foreign policy and our conduct in these nations and they have had a real and noticeable negative impact on residents of these nations.
It is the arrogance and brute self-righteousness that we in the USA too often exhibit that adds fuel to the fire of their dissatisfaction.

 

[Spazmo]

Hoo, boy, I can see this argument escalating to ridiculous proportions! I say... five pages, and then a lock.

 

[ecliptic]

It annoys me whne people dog on others for stereotyping. If stereotyping were outlawed, we'd have no no way of generalizing facts about broad groups of people. And then where would our jokes and old looney toon cartoons be? If I want to say that for example, Southerner's frequently have acccents, or they like fried food, obviously there would be exceptions. But these sweeping generalities come about as a result of grains of truth at their core. They do like fried food. Now if I were to say that dirty frenchies like cheese, or hate bathing, would that be so wrong? Now, don't think I'm just jumping on the anti-french bandwagon because it's the trendy thing to do, I've been anti-french for since I gleaned a working sentience. Damn it, I completely lost the point of my own argument... oh well. "Americans, so rude!"

 

[Rosh]

I know little about the Phillipines and make no claims that I can intelligently state their position.

I think that was fairly obvious about...7 posts back or so.

Nothing quite like an informed argument, eh?

And another swing of the clue bat to CT's head:

A guy I went through boot camp stated that they dreamed that the Phillipines was the Wal-Mart of the world. Seriously, going into boot camp was a drastic step up in life for most of the people who enlisted from there, it's why many of them try to. Last I knew of there, it made the US poverty level look like the Beverly Hilbillies. I've BEEN there. It's not a pleasant place. It was to a point where their economy was so bad that you could hire a kid to keep all the others from trying to pick your pocket and beat away anyone else trying to beg from you. If someone whips him down, you hire them instead. For a grand total of...$1 each. Amusing, in a morbid sense of way. The only thing that really has given rise to any part of their economy is the number of foreign people retiring there, who have more servants than Bill Gates, cheap.

Now, we could also go back to see what Exitium wrote and how you went all PCU about:

(A bit about the near-French manner of liking America.)

I think Claire Danes said it best when she called the place a "an awful, filthy place, full of weird people who have no eyes."

Let's break that down. An awful, filthy place. Well, most of the citizenship is below what we'd consider poverty, and if you've taken a look at some of the villages, they are pretty bad. Weird people? Well, if you've seen what they'll do for pocket change, I'll agree on that one. Plus anyone who eats fermented duck's egg that has been sitting in the ground for a month or so on end, with retching up your kidneys as the #1 reaction to trying to eat them, has got to be clearly out of their mind. No eyes? Well, if it pertains to the common practices that Rex spoke about, I'd say they were pretty blind. Or French, and I love Robin Williams' humor routine on that one. That's what we call a "metaphor".

So, in short, please educate yourself.

PS: If you see a sort of sandwich/wrap place on the side of the road that just sprouted up overnight, AVOID it. Trust me, a Sr. Chief, and the guy from there. You can also take it from me you don't want to know what the hell balut is, either.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Tuvok,

Mayhaps, but I think Exitium's point was more like they're the kind of government/people who only like you when you're offering them something they need. When they've got that need met, they procede to piss on your shoes. It's more obvious that he used the American example considering they loved the hell out of us when we were saving their ass from the Nippon Empire in World War 2 and then helped them out for decades after that. When we finally pulled completely out, they became pretty anti-American.

It's kind of like the time the Filipinos (them again!) killed Vasco da Gama on his trip circumnavigating the globe. They did it right after he traded his valuables to them. Such wonderful people found no further use for his existence and decided to kill him and several of his men. Luckily, the rest of the crew managed to escape and complete his journey. It's no less tragic, though.

It's pretty amazing how they've managed to keep the same mindset that they've had 500 years ago until now.

edit update:
Filipinos also eat cats and dogs off the street, right after they skin them alive. Filthy. Some people like to comment on how Koreans and Chinese are disgusting for eating dogs, but those dogs are actually bred for eating, so they're about as clean as the beef and pork you can get at your neighbourhood's cleanest butcher shop. Not so with the Filipinos.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Hoo, boy, I can see this argument escalating to ridiculous proportions! I say... five pages, and then a lock.

We don't lock. We aren't Nazis here. I'm a Nazi elsewhere, but that doesn't matter.

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

Rosh, Exitum, et al
if you honestly cannot see how Ex's original characterization of the Phillipines and its citizens was offensive and instead decide to defend it then we are at an impasse. Obviously I at no point in this thread was arguing anything at all specific about the their policies, people or lifestyle - merely the disturbing description. Your collective insistence on defending the really sickening gross simplification of entire peoples and complex issues makes me realize that you have no interest in discussion but rather in the pedestrian and frankly sad adherence to defense of a viewpoint at the expense of civilized conversation.
I blame myself for doing something I swore off years ago - engaging on a gaming site in anything but discusion about games. A mistake I hope to not repeat if only to not be exposed to yet another example of the ugliness of which people are capable.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Oh yes, let's all be as passive and non-offensive as we psosibly can! Can't call the Nazis bastards or Josef Mengele an insane son of a bitch, now can we? Because that'd be offensive. Oh wait, maybe we can, because according to political correctness, it's okay to label the Nazis and Mengele in whatever deregotory label we please, regardless of the truth or lies in those labels. Everyone say it together with me: "nazis were homosexuals".

But now, it's probably 'wrong' and 'offensive' to state the truth about the Filipino people, who just happen to be poor, weird, and completely blind to their state of existence (i.e. they don't do much to alleviate themselves from their predicament) because it's 'offensive to their inherently fucked up culture' and because we must respect other people's cultures, regardless of barbarism, cannibalistic practices, et al.

Why even bother with civilization, then? Let's go back to our primitive roots, live in Neolithic villages, respect other cultures, and mutilate ourselves for no reason whatsoever other than it's 'within our culture to do so'. Respect tradition! Tradition will give you a special place in heaven.

If you want to see the ugliness of humanity, visit the Phillipines. With pick pockets around every corner, and muggers on every street. It's like a regular combat-based CRPG in there.