wow! I am a huge thunder force III and IV fan but I didn‘t know much about the history of Technosoft, it makes me very glad to know that the series creator is trans and one of the first trans game devs!
I enjoyed the video but I hated the fact that they deadnamed and misgendered Kotori Yoshimura at the beginning (they could have just mentioned that she began her career under a different name before coming out and transitioning instead) but then at the end of the video she’s mentioned again but they used her dead name and misgendered her like they forgot that she is trans and her name is Kotori.
Sadly I see a lot of that kind of thing towards asian and non-western trans folks when talked in historical context, for some reason people feel like it's okay to deadname and misgender folks when they are not white and began their careers before coming out.
An example to contrast this could be Wendy Carlos, I've been reading a lot about her lately and most articles and write-ups don't misgender and deadname her for "historical context" like people often do with non-white people.
@“穴”#p44169 Wow, yeah thank you for pointing that out. Also definitely an interesting point re: the cultural dimension here–just to reinforce your point, I've been familiar with Wendy Carlos for a good portion of my life and only just now learned that she is trans.
F.D. Signifier is a quickly growing channel that does insightful media analysis with a focus on race, masculinity, Black culture and other topics. Doesn‘t touch on vidya games much but he’s quickly become a favorite in my subscriptions. Despite what some thumbnails might suggest, he's generally pretty constructive and empathetic in his criticism.
[Sam Sutherland](https://www.youtube.com/user/thisexists) is back with a follow up to his excellent and easily digestible "This Exist" series documenting niche Internet subcultures. These videos are great little rabbit holes. He also covers a lot of offbeat music trends like the [Anti-Idol genre ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMR2CYhtA7s), which is a favorite from his earlier video essays.
[The Cinema Cartography ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5kBJmBUVFLYBDiSiK1VDw) explores various themes and moods expressed through all kinds of media, ranging from games, manga, movies, static art, television, etc. A few favorites include a profile on the aesthetic of [Suehiro Maruo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w67WMr4krLI&t=472s) and an accounting of big jumps of narrative [storytelling techniques in video games ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGyx-G4HPnc&t=3544s).
Incredibly in-depth analysis of the genesis of the aesthetics, themes, and gameplay of Metroid, which seems to have bubbled up from a much more complex and commingled cultural melting pot than I ever realized. There's also some nice fodder for the Giger-likes thread in here!
Here is a passionate 320 minutes-long defense of Monster Hunter 2, generally considered the ugly duckling of the series (in Japan), but full of unique ideas that the series never really pursued moving forward ^because^of~thanks~to the success of Ichinose’s formula. I definitely agree with the sentiment that the game has become less Monster Hunter and more Monster Slayer, especially since the 5th generation.
@“chazumaru”#p50993 I have also been letdown by the direction the franchise has taken since world, where there are a lot of choices that confuse quality of life with removing substance.
Although I admit XX Ultimate as a greatest hits of sorts has enough of the good Monster Hunter for ages, I feel I haven't even scratched the surface of that game!
@“JoJoestar”#p50999 I guess this would probably fit better in another thread, but it‘s relevant enough and I’ve wondered long enough that I‘m going to just ask: What is the best Monster Hunter game for someone new to the series but who also doesn’t want to to start with World or Rise because the new-player-friendliness of those games might water down too much of what made the series interesting in the first place? (Maybe I'm asking “what is the most Insert Credit Monster Hunter game?”.)
@“rearnakedwindow”#p51011 Probably either Freedom Unite (second PSP installment) or Tri/3 Ultimate with the widely disliked but in my opinion wonderfully executed underwater segments. Although imo any pre-world installment is good, and as I was saying, Generations Ultimate is available on Switch and is kind of a greatest hits of the franchise, encompassing almost all of the maps and monsters from all the prior games.