@shindig: Actually, there are... it is just that what constitutes a "monopoly" is a rather vague concept, and corporate lawyers love vague concepts.
Also, the regulatory bodies want to save face after the far more lenient attitude they took in high profile and controversial acquisitions in the last few years (AT&T+WB, AB InBev+SABMiller, or Disney+FOX). They have left too many fouls pass between their fingers, so, under a new administration now, they are trying to look tough. Last year, the merger was a foregone conclusion as soon as it was announced, simply because regulatory bodies were seen as corrupt and toothless paper tigers* that couldn't really put a dent in the merger any more than I can stop a wave with my hands.
* Sony, if you are reading this, you can quote me on that
If you completed the 2B route and wasn't interested in the gameplay loop, you can safely put it down.
If you were somewhat intrigued in the story and the setting, my advice is to play it again and again. 2B ending is just when things start getting interesting. It is not that the 9S playthrough is as long, it is about half the length of 2B' and any subsequent run can be completed in a few hours. Also, thankfully, every sidequest completed so far counts as completed in following runs, so you don't have to repeat them.
It is not just New Game+ with extra stuff, either... the story and framing can have drastic changes, even in sections that you "replay", and each run has a ton of new content.
Not a genre, but a design style I wish it would disappear. Huge single player games with playtimes of over a hundred hours, that amount to copy-pasted content, over a big, empty "map". That includes 60+ hours JRPG...
Best of lucks and lots of puppies in your future, good sir. As one of the few members of the staff that still visits these damned forums, I salute you. Being following this man since its early times in screened, specially the podcast he did with Alex, which was a constant source of entertaining and interesting conversations.
As someone that has spent the last couple generations on PC gaming, I am used to the "always online", DRM policy.
Half of the launchers don't have an offline mode regardless of the game, and the other half has a spotty one, at best. It doesn't matter if its a co-op 3rd person shooter or a 100+ hours JRPG, many games will kick you back to the main menu if they loose connection with some server in the cloud.
I just want to point out that the previous bestseller author of British literature, Terry Pratchett, was a lot better at talking about people of all shapes and sizes being just people (specially in the Guard books), including characters of different inclinations struggling with identity and finding acceptance, without falling in one-note cliches.
All I can say to them is, you are both extremely talented and hard workers, I am sure they will land on their feet and whatever gig they get will be happy and lucky to have you.
To the people that stay behind, I feel it for you. I know most have families and things to worry about, need the job and have loyalty to the rest of the team, but you are hurting yourself defending this brand. Giantbomb has been drifting apart for some time now, and they are now a shell of what once was. You are all far too good for this name...
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