Tag: video games

Biblical Masculinity Hack: Don’t Play Video Games

Bernadine generally posts lots of pick me nonsense, because 90% of the time there’s nay a Scripture in sight backing a single thing she says rendering it nonsense.

By pick-me, I don’t mean women who want to be loved. Many of these SAHwifey influencers claim those criticizing pick-mes are criticizing women who want to generally be in a relationship, or get married, both of which no one is criticizing. Like 95% of humans wants to be in a relationship. A pick-me is a woman who vies for male attention/general praise by putting others (usually women) down in order to do achieve that. It’s not that these pick-mes want a relationship, but their means of gaining one involves being generally shady towards and criticizing women who don’t behave the way they do, or like the things they like.

Anyway apparently peak Biblical masculinity = not liking anime and video games. I suppose she prefers men partake in activities like watching football and posting constantly on social media about Harry Styles outfits? Ya know, all the extremely masculine activities Jesus and His twelve disciples participated in when they weren’t busy being stoned, whipped, and imprisoned.

Everything else aside, this post insinuates feminine, Christian women couldn’t possibly like video games or anime themselves which as a gamer who loves anime an cottage core that is actually what I find deeply offensive. Last year I played Spiderman, Horizon Forbidden West, and Jedi: Fallen Order. I re-watched HunterxHunter, and watched Chainsaw Man and Attack On Titan. I enjoy anime and video games, and most importantly I love Jesus. Many of my friends enjoy anime and/or video games and go to church every week, pray, read their Bibles, fast, and sing on their worship teams. And on Wednesdays we wear pink.

Now, I’m not saying Christians should go out and watch, or play, any old thing (I wouldn’t rec. Chainsaw Man tbh lol). However, there’s no difference between spending an hour playing video games each day vs. spending an hour on social media, or watching TV. Gaming is a hobby. Biblically, “everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial,” which is the attitude Christians should adopt when considering what activities to participate in, or not (barring anything that’s explicitly forbidden in the Bible).

I’ve come to accept social media is all about clickbait and whatnot to get people’s attention and Bernadine does go into a bit further detail on what she means and it’s like 10% deeper than this screenshot. That said, I don’t like seeing “Christians” post low-effort content that lacks any Scripture anywhere. Ya know, the part that makes it Christian and not just an opinion.

As Christians, our opinions should be formed by the Bible, not tradition, not cultural concepts of femininity and masculinity, but by the Word of God. Many of these influencers like Bernadine have large Christian followings of young people, so spouting off inane takes like these are only going to result in a bunch of young Christian girls thinking their partners aren’t masculine enough because they play Mario Cart, which is stupid.

The question isn’t whether or not anime and video games are inherently unmasculine, it’s whether or not those things are hindering one’s walk with God, or not. If you find yourself constantly skipping out on social events, time with family, or time with God to play video games, then yeah you gotta a problem.

However, playing video games as time permits isn’t unmasculine and Biblically this falls under the “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” umbrella.

Also gaming isn’t gendered. #bye

Rating the Female Characters in FFVII Remake

Who’s the best girl in FFVII Remake?

I recently finished FFVII remake (like a year late lol). It has waifus  female characters in it, thus I shall rate them.

All ratings are based 107% on my personal, irrelevant opinions. 

My criteria essentially is:

  1. Their removal would affect the plot game
  2. They undergo some change/character development, good or bad (not as applicable in video games tbh)
  3. We see different sides of their personality
  4. They have a plot of their own that doesn’t revolve entirely around a male character. (Cloud is literally the main character; the entire game revolves around him so this one isn’t applicable)
  5. They are well-developed within the confines of the role they are written to play 
  6. They don’t toss away every traditionally feminine trait in an attempt to be a strong, independent womyn

***Spoilers Abound***

Aerith

Young woman with dark hair holding a yellow flower. Idk it's Aerith from Final Fantasy Fifteen is that helps.

  • wields a staff
  • uses magic
  • excitedly hit one of Don Corneo’s men with a chair
  • grew up imprisoned in the Shinra building, but isn’t bitter to everyone around her because of it
  • was being chased by cloaked demons and Shinra, yet was pretty chill about the whole ordeal (still picking flowers and whatnot)
  • saves Marlene
  • wasn’t mad about Cloud crushing her flowers
  • relentlessly flirts with Cloud from the moment they meet until the game’s end, yet tells him not to fall in love with her
  • is a genuinely nice person
  • can fight in that long dress without tripping
  • the last Ancient
  • basically an energizer bunny. Her really not giving a single flip going into that ghost warehouse was the sort of energy we all need to sustain in 2021.

Aerith doesn’t take anything too seriously and she’s also not socially awkward, which makes her a nice contrast to the moodier, socially awkward Cloud. She provides a nice breath of comic relief, but also has more serious moments (such as the garden scene where she talks about living in the moment……..). She’s also like incredibly chill and friendly for someone who’s being hunted by almost everyone on the planet.

Aerith Rating: 9/10

Tifa

A young woman with long, dark hair leaning her elbows on a bar table.

  • is objectively the strongest on the team
  • fine af
  • basically a mother, always concerned, always trying to help out even to the detriment of literally everyone involved
  • fights in several incredibly impractical outfits without flashing anyone
  • doesn’t like ghosts
  • obviously likes Cloud yet is pretty low-key about it

Tifa is like the cool, chic version of Aerith (minus when it comes to ghosts) except Tifa is f i n e super athletic. Literally everyone loves Tifa‘s body. 

Also, Tifa not recognizing Cloud, who she’s known since a child, in a dress will forever be the highlight of my life. 

Tifa Rating: 8/10

Jessie

Young woman with brown hair wearing a red headband and holding a grenade.

  • created the bombs that blow up the Mako reactors
  • created bombs in general
  • openly and aggressively flirted with Cloud
  • was part of Avalanche, trying to liberate the world from Shinra
  • survived for a really long time on top of that plate before dying
  • was nice to jerk Cloud
  • was bold af, inviting Cloud to her room the  literal moment an opportunity presents itself
  • wore practical clothing
  • had some great, funny lines
  • basically Aerith but somehow more chipper and direct

Basically, these Aerith, Tifa, and Jessis are the same person with different clothes. Anyway, Jessie is also very awesome and is the best girl.

Sadly, she never got Cloud that pizza. Alas, we hardly knew ye before ye perished during the collapse of Sector’s 7’s plate though.

Jessie Rating: 9.5/10

Marlene

A cute kid; also Barret’s daughter except she looks nothing like Barret.  If not for her, Aerith probably would’ve made a clean escape from Sector 7…

Marlene Rating: 5.3/10

Elmyra (Aerith’s Mom)

  • A true ride or die. Waited for her man all the years despite not knowing if he would return or not (he didn’t).
  • Took in Aerith as a child.
  • Didn’t want Aerith hanging around Cloud.
  • Queen.

Elmyra Rating: 6.5/10

Aerith’s Biological Mom

  • Dies before the game even begins.
  • Has a name, but I don’t remember it, which is telling.

Aerith’s Biological Mom Rating: 2/10

Betty

A child with her hair in a bun not impressed with your song choices. She has brown hair and is wearing a white shirt overtop a blue collared shirt.

  • Basically Marlene with a bun.
  • She likes to bust a move though and was not feeling 90% of the song choices you picked in her side quest.
  • She also makes you find her cats.

Betty Rating: 7/10

Marle

Old woman with gray hair staring at the camera or something. She's wearing a blue and gold beaded necklace

  • A landlord before Sector 7 perishes.
  • straight up threatens Cloud not to mess with Tifa.
  • sympathetic towards Avalanche and I guess lets Cloud live rent-free or something in her apartments.

She seems to view Tifa as her granddaughter. Queen.

Marle Rating: 7/10

The Woman in Sector 5 Who Sells You Items

Couldn’t find a picture but this women has an attitude for legit no reason when you go to buy items from her, more so than other shopkeepers. This is similar to Cloud at the game’s beginning, who is also a jerk for no reason. 

The Woman in Sector 5 Who Sells You Items Rating:10/10

Scarlet

Women in a red dress sitting down and using a soldier as a footstool. Not as wild as it sounds.

  • uses a Shinra soldier as a footstool/makes him follow her around like a dog
  • gets off to Materia or something
  • peaced out when the Materia went haywire, dooming the scientists to their deaths
  • is rich
  • has a typical, evil mad woman type of laugh

Red is the color of evil women. Not only is Scarlet’s name basically red, but she’s wearing all red and showing lots of cleavage – the universal signs for an evil woman in a video game/anime/manga.  Anyway, Scarlet is a queen.

Scarlet Rating: 8/10

Jenova Dreamweaver Critter

Idk a skull with teeth horns amidst a starry background.

Whatever you fight at the end with tentacles pre-Sephiroth. Not as hard as fighting Sephiroth but still it was a long battle.

Jenova  Dreamweaver Critter Rating: 7.5/10

Cloud In A Dress

  • (Tifa doesn’t recognize Cloud)
  • (Chadley doesn’t recognize Cloud)
  • (Literally no one recognizes him despite Cloud making zero effort to hide his voice)
  • Makes Aerith way too excited
  • Gets picked by Don Corneo
  • Is preceded by busting a move with Andrea at the Honeybee Inn

Cloud In Dress Rating: Sephiroth’s Final  Attack That Kills Your Party If It Reaches Ten/10

Probably missed some female characters, but oh well.

If you’re extra bored (like I clearly am), I also rated the female characters in Parasyte – the maxim, Berserk and Lookism.

Rating the Male Characters in Horizon Zero Dawn

*Spoilers*

Usually, I rate females but in HZD there are a lot of solid female characters, thus rating them seemed pointless.

All ratings are based 100% on my own opinions, which are largely irrelevant.

My criteria (for women) essentially are:

  1. Their removal would affect the plot game
  2. They undergo some change/character development, good or bad
  3. We see different sides of their personality/can understand their motivations/background  
  4. They have a plot of their own that doesn’t revolve entirely around a male character. OR
  5. They are well-developed within the confines of the role they are written to play 
  6. They don’t toss away every traditionally feminine trait in an attempt to be a strong, independent womyn – masculine trait in an attempt to be an uber woke, social justice king

Rost

  • raised Aloy to be straight gangster
  • was an outcast but didn’t seem to hold any ill-will towards the whacko Nora tribe for not allowing him back after he did them all a favor, and he literally died saving Aloy.

Furthermore, the reason he was an outcast is because he became a Death-seeker to avenge his family, then came back and no one could say ish to him because he’d done them solid. Rost also taught Aloy an invaluable lesson: that her strength only has worth if it’s used to help others and she should fight for something greater than herself.

A real one.

Rost’s Rating: 9.5/10

Sylens:

Sylens is high key a jerk and notably absent from the final battle instead choosing to wander around the desert.

But:

  • he does help you save all of humanity with his pursuit of knowledge
  • he saves you from having to fight those Corruptors after using literally all your resources beating that Behemoth.
  • he gets you the spear with the Master Override
  • it’s incredible how sure he was that Aloy would accomplish every task he sent her to do.

Sylens does tone his energy down to low key jerk levels after a bit. Furthermore, he teaches Aloy the lesson Rost was trying to teach her, which is that she needs to fight for someone besides herself. Only time will tell how badly he mucked things up now that he’s taken Hades hostage in his lantern.

Also, Sylens telling Aloy she has two mothers: a dead woman and a machine will live rent-free in my head for a long time.

Sylens Rating: 10/10

Erend

You meet him when you go looking for his sister who RIP not long after you find her. Rather than be bitter and go back to drinking, Erend pulls his pants up, takes lead of the guard, and is generally helpful from there on out.

Erend is pretty jovial and good-natured. He’s there at the final battle, somehow surviving against all odds and helps you bring down the final Deathbringer.

Erend’s Rating: 9/10

Teb

You save Teb as a child, then he grows up to be one of the few folks who are nice to you before the Proving. Although Teb is generally useless in that he gets injured and can’t really fight, he’s still there in the final battle doing medical stuff and pulls Aloy out of the rubble.

Good to know someone was still hoping she was alive and looking for her.

Teb’s Rating: 8.5/10

Vantage Point Dude

Can’t recall his name, don’t feel like looking it up. Anyway, this man did exactly what I would’ve done in this situation, which is road trip before the robots ate me.

Of all the bits from the past you stumble upon, this guy’s story is the saddest because you really saw his life and love for his mother. His dad died, then his mom married some dude named Wyatt who worked for the very corporation his dad died trying to protect because they were broke. Poor vantage point dude got addicted to drugs, then stuck on a failed vantage point project, and found out the world was ending. Rather than wallow in despair, he decided to use the vantage points to tell his story and enjoy one last tour of his fav spots.

Ultimately, he told a tale about how pointless all our achievements are in the grand scheme of things, yet still somehow life still has meaning in the individual relationships we build with one another.

Screw Ted Faro. Long live Vantage Point Dude.

Vantage Point Dude’s Rating: 10/10

Sun-King Avad…14th

Avad always seemed shocked over whatever was going on around him. However, we all know he’s straight thug as he:

  • ended the Red Raids
  • overthrew his own father, Jiran, then murdered him because he was tired of his violent clownery
  • was also nice to that fake child sun king trying to usurp him
  • welcomes Aloy with open arms. A little too open but he does apologize later on. He gets a pass as his love interest and battle buddy, Ersa, died.

Avad also outlawed slavery, removed whatever restrictions the Hunters lodges had on women/ the non-Carja, and made an effort to make amends with the Nora tribes his father terrorized. All while maintaining peaceful relationships with the Oseram.

A true woke king.

Sun-King Avad…14th Rating: 9.7/10

Nil

  • Chaotic energy
  • Formerly imprisoned in Sun Stone
  • Sole goal in life is to kill, first bandits, then Aloy.

Nil got in the way whenever I took him along to the Bandit Camps, so I usually avoided talking to him altogether. If you don’t fight him, he “helps” you in the final battle.

Nil’s Rating: 7.7/10

Zaid

Trash. Not only lies to you about his involvement in the Red Raids, but then tries to ambush you with a pittance of soldiers in a shady, desert town.

Zaid Rating 6.5/10

Olin

Initially comes off as a friend with a Focus, then you later find out he’s inadvertently responsible for Rost’s death. Olin’s redeeming factor though is he’s fully aware he’s trash, but he did it for the sake of his family.

If you don’t kill him, Olin “helps” you in the final battle, which is nice I guess. Furthermore, had Rost not died, Aloy probs wouldn’t have been looking for clues about her mother and everything else as intensely as she was.

You also get to sleep in his house.

Olin’s Rating: 8.7/10

Dervahl

Everybody trash talks Dervahl in Meridian.

Anyway, he went loco after his wife and kid died. For whatever reason, Avad decides not to kill him even though he killed Ersa which is definitely not gonna bite him in the butt later.

Dervahl’s Rating: 7/10

Various Carja Soldiers/Nora Hunters

Once saw a group of Carja Soldiers take down a Snapmaw, which was shocking given I’d seen them die fighting Watchers before..

Various Carja Solider/Nora Hunters Rating: Helis Knocking Aloy Out/10

Helis

Deluded, knight templar wholly devoted to his cause because he genuinely thought he was the chosen one doing the Sun’s will (to be fair, his name is Helis which is similar to Helios (sun god) and Heli (to ascend) so it’s hard to blame him for feeling special).

Because of him you get dumped in the Sun Ring to fight your first Behemoth (unless you accidentally run into one while exploring like I did and get merked). He also kills Rost and if Rost hadn’t been killed, Aloy wouldn’t have given a flip about the rest of the world.

Helis Rating: 9.2/10

Hades

I thought you were like gonna fight one of the metal devil looking things with tentacles for the final battle. You just fight a Deathbringer on a time crunch, which like… I had more trouble fighting Stormbirds and Rock-breakers.

Anyway, you stick Hades with the spear. Someone activated his kill-switch. Sylens absorbs him into his holy lantern. Hades really is just following it’s programming though, so it’s hard to be mad. Ted Faro sucks.

Hades Rating: 6.5/10

Apollo

Ted Faro still sucks.

Apollo Rating: Ted Faro Sucks/10

Varl

  • chief Sona’s son
  • generally affable when you meet him
  • generally useful when going into the metal ring place

You initially help him find Sona who’s on a roaring rampage of revenge, whereupon he convinces Sona to balk the Nora’s dumb traditions and throw hands outside the sacred lands.

After Aloy tells everyone to shut the flip up and stop worshipping her following the blessing of All Mother Gaia, he asks how he can help save the world.

Varl Rating: 8.5/10

Grist

Sold you stuff while you were an outcast. A real one.

Grist Rating: 10/10

Bast

  • Threw a rock at you as a child.
  • Grows up to be a jerk by (knocking your Grazer thing out of your hand, being generally petty).
  • Dies at the Proving.

Bast Rating: 7.5/10

Bahavas

Deluded, but in his defense he probably genuinely thought he was doing the Sun’s will and Hades was a god. And because of Trash Faro, he didn’t have the knowledge of knowing Hades was literally a robot with a suspiciously demonic sounding voice.

Also, his outfit is fabulous.

Bahavas Rating: Stormbird/10

Ted Faro (Sucks)

Not only does he for whatever reason think creating something called a Deathbringer would be a good idea, he makes his critters un-hackable with codes that would take eternity to break. When they begin getting out of control, his first thought isn’t “oh snap, I created robots that live off biomass who are replicating and basically sentient and they might wipe out humanity!!!” it’s “good golly gee, how can I cover this up so it doesn’t point back to me!” Had I been Elisabeth Sobeck, I would’ve killed him on sight and robbed 80,000 banks to fund HZD instead.

Ted Faro destroyed Apollo and killed his coworkers, thus dooming humanity to live in tribal stupidity. Because of his actions, the world was nearly fated to go extinct again because they didn’t know what the flip was going on with the robots or where they even came from.

Faro is a great villain, because he’s literally what the not-CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos will do once he inevitably gets into military weapons like he’s doing with pharmaceuticals and creates killer robots with the help of Elon Musk to what a person would do in real life if this happened. I want Ted Faro to somehow be alive so I can shoot an arrow through his eyeball in HZD2.

However, without him the game would not exist.

Ted Faro Rating: A Corrupted Thunderjaw/10

No doubt, I’m missing some peeps (salty dude at the Hunter’s lodge, salty Nora dude on the wall, past characters from the Metal World) but this is getting long…