Extra Sketch: Curie

Curie was my favorite part of Fallout 4, which was a very flawed game in my opinion. I enjoyed the world, I enjoyed the diversity of weapons, and I enjoyed the option of playing it on a 'hardcore' level to make it really feel like I was alone in a dangerous post-apocalyptic wasteland where every piece of scrap matters and every bullet needs to count. The story was shit though. It just was. The factions all had strong introductions but anticlimactic endings. The game felt unfinished. The main quest-line was boring in the beginning and boring in the end, with only a few fun points in between. Curie was one of those little bright spots. Her voice actress did a great job of conveying a cute and curious little AI, and although her arc is brief it is the best in the game. I'd actually be interested in some sort of modded Fallout 4 where you play as Curie, and your game begins in the Vault, surrounded by diseased mole-rats. But that's the problem with Fallout 4. It only scratched the surface of some really great ideas without ever penetrating. In retrospect, Skyrim had exactly the same problem, but I forgave it because I played Skyrim mostly in my own head, telling myself a story, as if I were playing with action figures. 

My faith in Bethesda is really shaken right now. I don't think they're even working on another Elder Scrolls game. I bet whatever this 'Starfield' bullshit it, it's going to be another soulless generic sci-fi shit-piece like Mass Effect/Star Trek/Destiny/Anthem/Star Wars that will somehow incorporate Loot Boxes. We're going to be getting Loot Box dependent games for a few years I think. The production cycle is too slow for that not to be the case. Chances are that there a dozens of games that entered development last year which are going to feature Loot Boxes, and they won't be coming out until a couple years from now. Bethesda wants in. It's just another stupid kid trying to follow a trend. That's why they tried to monetize modding not once, but TWICE, and why I think their next game is going to be a Loot Box grindfest with a generic sci-fi aesthetic, because that's the lowest common denominator, that's the ground-floor.