Richard

Kerry at least has the advantage of being the only romance that can potentially survive the Phantom Liberty ending. But he definitely could be fleshed out more as a character.

You can't reasonably compare the two in their approach to representation. Veilguard made its characters entire identity revolve around their orientation or gender/lack therof and it came across as forced and unnatural as well as preachy.

BG3 had even more inclusivity than most people realize, but the difference is, it never came up in the game. Tav/Durge or any Origin Character and their love interest never once brought up being a m/m or f/f couple, they were just a couple. Two people going through a shared hardship that developed feelings for each other and formed a deeper connection. The other companions or NPC's in the world at large never felt the need to bring it up it either, and that's exactly how it should be.

You want to know how to gain true inclusivity? Normalize it to the point its not special or beautiful or brave etc. Just let it be another part of life that no one notices or feels the need to bring up in conversation. It just exists as another thing you see everyday so you don't even notice it.

The best change that ES6 could make to the formula is giving you complete freedom of choice when it comes to "saving the world". Whether or not you're the "chosen" hero, having the option to switch sides and help conquer/destroy the world instead would give a lot more incentive to replay the game since it would allow multiple possible endings.

In pure damage nothing beats the Malorian Arms 3516, but my personal favorite is Archangel. You can add a scope to it which gives it a bit more flexibility and it can knock enemies down by default. I'm a bit surprised it's not mentioned in this article.

It's a major missed opportunity to not have Z-A be one of the debut titles for the Switch 2 given that Pokemon is one of their most profitable IP's, but it's entirely possible the development started before the Switch 2 was finalized as a concept so they started with what they knew. It could also be that they plan to capitalize on Holiday numbers for the console by releasing the Gen 10 mainline games around that time as the inaugural Pokemon games for the Switch 2.

More interesting to me is the ones depicting Super Sonic/Shadow. If the movie is going to include a threat dangerous enough to require a team up and Chaos forms they're definitely trying to cram way too much into a 100ish minute runtime.

All the positive reviews are about combat/performance which no one was really worried about. I've yet to see a single person with anything good to say about the story or characters, which has been the heart and soul of the DA franchise so it's still a hard pass. I personally care how much fun a game supposedly is, if the story sucks and I don't like the characters I can't get into it. Conversely, even a game that'd be considered boring from a gameplay perspective can easily be redeemed with a strong story and supporting cast.

It largely depends on how much more powerful the Switch 2 ends up being compared to the current one. Back during the jump from DS to 3DS the increase in hardware capabilities was mosrly negligible outside of graphics, so games could be released for both versions without much difficulty on the developers part. If the rumors about how much higher the Switch 2's performance is compared to the current one are true, they'd only be hurting the next gen games by trying to make it work for both consoles. (A good example is to look back at how poorly most original Xbox games worked on the 360.) As consoles continue to become more advanced, backwards compatibility will become harder to maintain. PC's have had that issue for years where physical copies of games released for older operating systems simply couldn't function on newer ones (i.e. Trying to play a game released for Windows 98 on anything higher than Windows XP).

Digital formatting has helped to an extent, but there's still a noticeable difference in performance on older games when playing on newer systems compared to playing them on their original systems. Long term it'd be better to release the next gen exclusively for the Switch 2 and not try to dumb it down to work on both consoles, so it becomes the best possible game it can be performance wise, with the option for current Switch games to port over. That would also encourage more sales of the new console if people want to play the next gen.

Evil is a subjective term, a lot of people lump Lae'zel into the "evil" companion group when she's objectively more pragmatic than anything else. Siding with Minthara and the Goblins in Act 1 is something she approves of, but that's a case of logically wanting to align with the stronger force, the Tiefling refugees offering little return on investment for helping them, especially when you get to Act 2 and they are still helpless and needing you to essentially babysit them so they can eke out a meager survival. Also in Act 2, she disapproves of destroying Last Light Inn under the logic that you are depriving yourself not only of a safe refuge within the Shadow Curse, but potential allies later on in the Harpers.

Where the Dark Urge is concerned, once again the term Evil depends on your perspective, they had no control over their birth/creation and the Urges they feel along the way only get worse and end up dragging in the people closest to them if they try to resist/ignore them along the way, and really, until the final showdown with Orin where they can choose to accept becoming Bhaal's chosen or reject him at the cost of their own life a lot of what they do is out of their control. I'd also submit that the Dark Urge character has a soft spot for certain animals, their reaction to the newborn Gnoll on the Risen Road and the way the three Gnolls react to you when freed from Linsella's mind control suggest that there's a kinship that normally wouldn't be present given the voracious nature Gnolls embody. Further reinforce that with the interactions with the Owlbear Cub, the Scared Hyena you meet at the goblin encampment in the Shadow Cursed Lands, and the various interactions with Scratch along the way, seem to suggest that under no circumstances would the Dark Urge willingly hand Scratch over to the Kennel Master in Act 3, and letting her walk away with all the blood still on the inside of her body is the closest thing to an "Evil" choice they'd allow themselves.