Heather Alexandra's discussions

T-minus 4 minutes and counting. What tee-shirt/blazer combo will Phil Spencer wear this year, I wonder. Read more

We have about ten minutes before things go live and the stream is playing the same pseudo-jazzy tune in about 20 second loops. It’s great and totally not going to be caught in my head all day now. Read more

Hello friends! Riley and I will be commentating live here for anyone who can’t view the livestream. I expect some neat stuff. Probably a Cyberpunk, although my dream announcement is a new Perfect Dark. Read more

Kirk: Just Cause 4 (admittedly not the wildest prediction).
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We unfortunately had to end early because of server trouble but still showed off the gun range. I played a lot yesterday and matches were snappy but I guess folks are excited to play. :) Read more

I’m actually a bit disappointed that they didn’t keep the same structure too, but as long as we’re getting a good series of elusive targets and stuff, I think it’ll still work out. Read more

I’m pretty into it so far, even if the feeding is a bit more dire a choice than I expected. The social systems are cool. You get to see who is connected to who and track entire districts stability and health. Even if the combat is stiff, I’m going to keep going just to see how all of that stuff plays out. Read more

Do you have any idea how condescending this is? I slept like a baby last night because I’m a 28 year old who knows games are fake. I’m just painting this moment with some drama because I think that would make for an interesting read.

“I Accidentally Killed An NPC And It Was Kind Of Interesting” isn’t really a great… Read more

Of course they can, but that doesn’t protect writers from criticism. Particularly in the case of public works of art. If we want to take games seriously—which I hope we all can agree on that at least—it will sometimes mean talking about stuff we found questionable.

It’s totally okay to disagree about this stuff too.… Read more

It changes from game to game. Because certain tricks only work on certain versions—any Any%’s only goal is to GO FAST—folks gravitate towards those versions.
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Like I alluded to above, purpose as nothing to do with it. When it comes to examining art, intent always comes after effect for me. I care about what the work (and in this case, body of work) says far more than I want to speculate on the intentions of the creator. Read more

I placed at 54, which is comparable to the current system’s Platinum rank. Read more

Giving these moments strong, purposeful contexts. Plenty of stories tackle abuse or sexual trauma in ways that are both shocking but nevertheless empathetic. I don’t think Cage’s stories manage that, unfortunately. Read more

If my access is predicated solely on whether or not I say nice things about a developer or publisher, that access is not worth it. My job isn’t to say what they want. It’s to be honest with all of you. Read more

I streamed Heavy Rain on our Twitch channel last year, having a strange fondness for that game. But Madison’s introduction was something I called out in my post-mortem. Read more

The thing is that Dark Souls 2 is my secret favorite game in the series because I think it gets basically everything else right. Good bosses, amazing DLC, even more consistent themes.

But yeah, I miss a lot of that interconnectedness. 3 kinda has it? The journey from Road of Sacrifices to Irithyll and up into… Read more

I had completely forgotten that vagrants were a thing until I saw one and briefly confused it for a crystal lizard. Also, I’m pretty Gravelording actually works now and that’s pretty wild. Read more

I’d definitely call Lost Izalith “far flung.” Tomb of the Giants is far enough down (you can see Ash Lake for goodness sake) and enough of a journey that I’d consider it that as well.

My point is that all of these areas feel very disparate. The early game connects together nicely before taking a small break for Anor… Read more

I was rushing through the game and then we streamed it. Was in Sen’s Fortress without upgrading my Uchigatana. Forgot how much it sucks. Read more