While Warframe is a perfect example of a well done FTP model, you can buy a lot of stuff with real money in Warframe, it isn’t just cosmetics. But it has limited PVP and the community is fairly friendly, so it isn’t so much Pay-To-Win as it is Pay-To-Not-Work-Hard.

I was on both sides of the coin growing up - Often the bullied but sometimes getting my chance to be the asshole kid.

It wasn’t until high school when a kid was insulting one of my friends that really turned it. The kid decided, because I “stuck my nose in their business” that he wanted to fight me. The fight was one-sided because I didn’t want to fight but the result was me getting myself into boxing and wrestling. Most people didn’t know I had gotten fight training but people largely left me alone after that simply because I didn’t back down or go passive anymore. It’s not worth it for a bully to go after someone who could hurt them when they have so many targets who won’t bother or don’t know how to defend themselves.

I’d say, my best advice, learn how to protect yourself. Having the confidence to stand in-front of a bully and let them know that you won’t take their shit anymore is often enough to deter them. Should they choose to “fuck around and find out”, defend yourself. Try not to embarrass them, especially if you are in the US, but showing them that not only can you defend yourself but can fight, they are more likely to leave you alone in the future.

Before I got fight training I suffered multiple trips to the hospital for stitches and concussions. Afterwards, I never had to defend myself. Violence is not a great answer but when faced with violence, we must know how to and be willing to protect ourselves.

This is what I use when creating baselines for different price-points:

https://www.logicalincrements.com/

If you feel like you’ll need more RAM or a bigger SSD then that’s a simple thing to do but this will give you all of the components you need for a solid system at whatever your price point is.

That said, the “Great” range and up will play pretty much anything. You can even play pretty much any game on the “Good” range and up. So if you are looking to save money, I’d say the “Great” range will last you a good 5 years right now at least.

Even the PS3 game can be played via an emulator. The tech is still evolving so you still need a fairly powerful computer but it is playable. For reference, I was able to test archiving various PS3 games on my now 11 year old gaming PC which was a medium-tier system at the time of the build.

While what you say is absolutely correct, keep in mind that the profits a game makes go to the company. The workers are already paid. If a game doesn’t make money it would likely mean those people at the bottom would lose their jobs but the people at the top will absolutely get their share. But stealing a game like this doesn’t mean people aren’t getting paid. If Bethesda feels like the game doesn’t need all of the staff it took to make it, they’ll still get rid of them, regardless of how popular the game may be doing at any given time.

Indie game studios stand a better chance at doing right by their employees but a capitalist society means the profits go to the top and the losses go to the bottom and rarely are indie studios exempt from this rule of economics.

This person is being punished because they found a weakness in Bethesda’s setup and exploited it. It MIGHT be that if they had gone to Bethesda and let them know of this vulnerability rather than trying to sell what they had found that they would be been rewarded. But, more often than not, the companies who are shown a vulnerability still seek to punish those who point it out to them.

Fire Emblem Three Houses again - So much changes between the 3 different stories in that game, it is so much bigger than I initially realized. When my partner was talking about what happened in their playthrough and it didn’t at all resemble my Golden Deer playthrough I realized I’d have to get back to it one day.

Love seeing PE and LoD on here, both incredible games. I would also love to see Xenogears get a remaster that actually fleshes out a lot of the stuff left on the cutting room floor. I know we got Xenosaga - another one that would be great to have on modern hardware - and Xenoblade Chronicles but I truly miss that PS1 era of RPGs sticking with the turn-based model while trying to find ways to be unique.