Re: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

I get what you mean about the story seeming incomplete. The movie is but a segment of the entire story. The manga fleshes out the entire story and even provides that "evil" antagonist you were craving. The antagonists in the movie (Princess Kushana and Kurotowa) were never really meant to be the bad guys. That comes out much more clearly in the overall story from the manga.

What you deem to be a flaw in Miyazaki's writing is one of its strengths to me. His stories rarely have a clear villain. To me, that reflects the real world more accurately.

While I enjoy Spirited Away, I never really connected with it like you seem to have. Howl's Moving Castle, on the other hand, is one of my favorites. I always felt that my father would have particularly loved the music in that one. He was passionate about classical music. He passed away shortly before the movie was released in North America. Still, any time I watch that film, I think of my father.

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@Purple Library Guy

You forgot to name the anime that inspired The Wandering Village in the first place: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

One of our main inspirations for the game is the 1984 anime ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ by Hayao Miyazaki. The world of The Wandering Village is heavily inspired by the anime’s setting, a post-apocalyptic world where poisonous plants are spreading and gradually making life on the ground impossible. This adds a survival aspect to the game. The villager and Onbu are dependent on one another and need to find a way out of this mess together.

Taken from an interview on the Masters in Gaming! site.

https://mastersingaming.com/2023/07/21/the-wandering-village-creating-onbu-the-giant-walking-ecosystem/

Spirited Away is probably one of studio Ghibli's most recognized anime in the West. Personally, though, I think that Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind remains one of his best. His manga expands on the story even further. Of course, my first encounter with Miyazaki's works was Princess Mononoke. Unlike Spirited Away or Kiki's Delivery Service, neither of these films are targeted for children.

That being said, I have enjoyed every one of studio Ghibli's anime that I have seen. If you haven't already, you should see them all!

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@saturnoyo

Seems like the payment processors have been made liable for the content that gets bought so they are in CYA mode.

Huh? That's funny. Didn't I make that point 4 days ago?

@Caldathras

Could it be just as simple that the payment processors are just protecting themselves, should one of the federal governments choose to see their accepting payments for material of this nature as financially supporting illegal activities?

At the time, I didn't realize it had actually already happened. Thank you. I feel vindicated.

The commenter Goose306, over on Ars Technica, made a great point about the legal liability issue in this quote:

Generally, they are more than happy to skim fees off the top of any transaction. But when the judges clear them to be party in lawsuits over revenge porn because they facilitated a transaction, then they are going to consider pulling their services in areas of higher risk.

and provided a link to a Washington Post article about the matter as verification.

So, if payment processors can be held legally liable for accepting funds supporting illegal activities, of course they are going to start dictating terms to storefronts.

We don't have to like it (and I certainly don't) but, if the legal system and the governments are going to force the payment processors into this position, this is what we are going to get.

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@mi1stormilst
I hear ya. It's not much better up here in Canada either.

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@Geppeto35
I'd prefer to think of it as a tribute to Miyazaki instead.

:smile:

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To make it clear, I am no more in support of censorship than anyone else on this site.

But no one has addressed the elephant in the room here. Look over the list of the games being banned. The topic of these games is incest. Now, I can't speak to European regulations -- nor can I speak to Japanese ones either -- but here in North America, incest is illegal.

Could it be just as simple that the payment processors are just protecting themselves, should one of the federal governments choose to see their accepting payments for material of this nature as financially supporting illegal activities?

Is it appropriate for these corporations to be enforcing morality? No -- but do you really think that any of the North American governments are going to step in and slap their wrists for doing so? The governments have been allowing the corporations to interfere in the area of regulation more and more these days. I highly doubt they'll do even so much as peep about the matter.

Personally, I like the suggestion from @Cybolic on how Valve should handle the matter.

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I think some of you are giving the mid-level managers too much credit for intelligence here. They would have pushed for an online-only game strictly because their slipshod market "research" tells them that this is what consumers want. Microtransactions are an added benefit. Other than that, I doubt very little thought was put into the decision. Not unexpected that they would be so out of touch. Trends, not innovation, are all that matter to those type of people.

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Having shared my home with both species, I agree that cats may be better suited to the lifestyle of a software developer or author.

Dogs require more active attention than cats. While providing the socialization and exercise dogs need may benefit the developer's physical and mental health, it would certainly take them away more from their work. Cats will often just lie quietly nearby or on your lap -- unless they decide that they want your exclusive attention ... then you might hope that you have a spill-proof keyboard. :woot:

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Are you going to be picking it up?

I might eventually. I picked up the enhanced edition of the original game already. I have never played NWN 2, so nostalgia doesn't really play a part in the decision. I barely noticed it (I was caught up in the Elder Scrolls games that came out around that time). As you say, though, I will likely wait until they work out all the kinks.

At least, unlike the Oblivion remake, this one will run on my laptop.

Who knows? Maybe they'll relent and release a Native Linux version by the time I'm ready to purchase ... :whistle:

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@Mal

first you buy the content IP, it goes on Blockchain that you own that book content, and then you can ask whoever you want to print it whoever you want (for the price they ask to do it ofc, you own the IP not the physical media yet).

Had to think on this a bit. The only problem that I have with your idea is that it adds another middleman with their hands out for our money. Knowing corporations, it would also be an excuse to increase the overall price to the consumer.

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