The Musings Of The Consensus

 This is just a retrospective post on what I vowed to myself when I decided to become a regular games reviewer (and this applies to all other relevant media). This is NOT anything with official backing or sanction from my current employers at ChristCenteredGamer, this is just my personal code of honor, though to my knowledge none of it is in conflict with the expectations of my current employer. 1. The subject I'm reviewing must be the primary topic, and nothing else. These days, some of my more politically and socially partisan brethren in the games journalism business will typically derail a review about a game to complain about not enough people of some sort of minority group, how capitalism is evil incarnate, sexual identity and gender politics, and other things that are clearly more interesting to them. The game review part is practically a sidebar to what they actually want to talk about. Not me. I work as a volunteer, but even if I were paid, my first duty is to primarily di...

 This will not be a long post, but I just want to make clear, as someone who was involved in the first go-round of Gamergate, I want no part of any notional sequel. For starters, I already found my niche as a games reviewer for ChristCenteredGamer, a place where I feel free to review games on their merits with no chains on my work save our Christian focus and my own conscience, and that is enough for me. My only service to the world as regards gaming is to continue to review games as honestly as possible on their technical merits, unbiased by anything else, and I'm pleased to remain doing so as a reviewer for CCG. That aside, I want to make perfectly clear I do not want to get in the trenches of any sequel (which appears to be on right now). For those that do, on any side, you do you, but I found my place in the world, I shall stay uninvolved.

 Note: This post is about my New Year's resolutions, but has been written in the style of the Bible for fun, feel free to let me know how well I did with my silly little experiment in writing "Scripture style". The contents are meant to be serious, but the style is meant to be for fun. And so it came to me at the dawn of the New Year of The Lord that I needed to make resolutions that the year might be one to glorify God with all that I might do. Therefore, may The Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if these oaths are not carried out. I vow to be resolute in continuing my work for the ministry of the Christ Centered Gamers, so that my efforts will please not only Jason and Cheryl of the House of Gress, but that the works of my hands might also please the multitudes as a fitting memorial offering to the Lord. I resolve to continue honing my skills in my scribing work, so that the works of my hands shall reveal the greater mysteries of The Lord in my reviews of recre...

 Now, I want to say up front that, since this post represents me in my official capacity as a game reviewer for ChristCenteredGamer, I shall strive to keep this as family-friendly as possible, except where I must describe matters pertinent to Postal 4. I'm publishing it here since this is NOT an official CCG post, though I have informed my employers about it and made clear it's just my two cents, which it is. That in mind, here is my review of Postal 4: https://www.christcenteredgamer.com/reviews/pc-mac/8049-postal-4-no-regerts-pc And here is IGN's: https://www.ign.com/articles/postal-4-no-regerts-review https://archive.ph/yTdRa That all said and done, I want to cover some things I believe the writer of the IGN review got wrong or missed the point of. 1. First off, let me admit up front I enjoyed Postal 2 and still do. As a game it's hilarious and like Postal 4 started out janky and unstable and now is a polished jewel. My IGN colleague seems to gloss over the fact Post...

 First off, my employers, ChristCenteredGamer, do not, under any circumstances, want to review this game on their site due to its content. I entirely understand that, and thus this is my own personal project, done entirely outside of their aegis, though since I did want to use a similar review format, I made them aware I wanted to do my review in a style like a CCG review, though I again repeat this has NOTHING to do with ChristCenteredGamer, this is entirely my own review, I just borrowed a similar format. this review is again, not supported or sanctioned by my employers, hence it is on my own personal blog. The game was purchased entirely on my own dime and has been sent back for a refund now that I have evaluated the content for the review written below. Huniepop 2: Double Date is the sequel to the original by Huniepot. Its story is set two years after the first game, Huniecam Studio is non-canon despite them sharing some characters. The story is that, two years later, You (the ...

I've written for ChristCenteredGamer for some time now, and given I started around May 2019, am still around Feburary 2020, and have every intention of sticking around as long as I can, I just want to reflect on what I'm thankful for since I started working for them. First off, working for them was not something I immediately considered. I was aware of them long beforehand of course, and while I liked their work, I never thought I'd consider writing for them, until one day I realized they didn't review a game I had in my Steam Library and figured if no one else was going to write it, I could write it for them. That got the ball rolling to where I am today. I've written game reviews before, as well as reviews for other media, mostly here on this blog, and, I admit, I have written reviews for some very adult media on this very blog. I'm not ashamed to admit that because I no longer have an interest in doing so. I'm not removing any of what I wrote, I have...

Awhile back, I reviewed Girls Frontline for ChristCenteredGamer , and while I gave it good review even then, that series has continued to surprise and amaze me. For one, I'm an amateur gun nerd. Not exactly the kind of guy you'll find haunting gun forums, but I can appreciate firearms lore, and Girls Frontline manages to sneak in a ton of that. The community for it is pretty awesome. It's one of the better gaming communities, the main subreddit is a pretty chill place patronized by the developers at times, and speaking of the developers, they maintain a very warm relationship with the fans. The game is produced by a Chinese developer, and while a lot of Chinese game developers and companies tend to have a bad reputation in some circles, Mica continues to surprise me by making a game where you do NOT have to spend a dime to have fun and I usually don't, though you are free to do that is whaling for costumes and other cool swag is your thing. Another thing I lik...

Note: I'm single, but I still highly respect the concept of commitment and marriage as an honorable institution, especially as God intended it to be. I also would like to dedicate this post specifically to Jason Gress, co-founder of ChristCenteredGamer and someone I personally know to take their marriage vows as seriously as Jesus advised all men should. Marriage is a concept that gets treated with shockingly callous indifference in this day and age, and while I have no plans to get married and am happy single, I respect anyone willing to do so and stick with it, because that requires some long-term commitment, and if you marry as Christians are supposed to, that takes SERIOUS commitment, because you just aren't bound by mortal laws on the topic, but spiritual ones. Another reason marriage is important aside from the obvious commitment is that God made a direct comparison between marriage between a man and woman is the same as his commitment to us. Making a mockery of marri...

I once told one of my bosses at ChristCenteredGamer I have a somewhat liberal take on the Bible, and since that is a bit vague, I believe I need to explain that further. First off, in general, I consider the Bible, while a record compiled by Man and thus flawed and imperfect, it's still an authoritative compendium of all the basics any self-respecting Christian should adhere to, that is NOT up for debate as far as I'm concerned. However, I do have the following caveats, based on the same ones Christ Himself and His Father made clear concerning God's law: 1. As for the things not up for debate, like "do not steal", that's a pretty clear and straightforward command, you'd be hard-pressed to argue against that or saying it has some wiggle room. 2. As for the laws with extenuating circumstances, I take the more liberal view. For instance: "do not kill". First off, it would be more properly rendered "do not murder", as there are se...

Note: I would like to credit ChristCenteredGamer for the inspiration behind this post, based on a discussion on the CCG Discord channel when discussing the topic covered below. There is a common fallacy in both real life and fiction that evil means used for good ends can somehow have the evil origins of the means negated by using them for the noblest of causes. That could not be farther from the truth, especially for Christians. For a popular fiction example, the comic book hero Batman is a good example of being very aware of this problem. Batman knows he has no moral or legal right to pass judgment on any criminal he stops from committing a crime, hence why he leave them to be apprehended by the police to dealt with by the legal system. He knows if he allows himself to believe he has the right to kill in cold blood, even of the most evil and depraved of people who "deserve it", he will quickly become just like them, and no matter how much the world might be better o...

In case anyone wants to know exactly what I or any other reviewer of games and other media does at ChristCenteredGamer , here's a brief overview: 1. We get to pick, if we don't have a huge backlog of review keys, whatever we'd like to review, especially if we are volunteer reviewers. I'm a volunteer reviewer, but if we have a lot of review keys we need to check out, those go to the top of the pile. As for paid reviewers (regular employees who draw a fee for what they write, which is not a lot since CCG is a nonprofit), they generally handle the review keys first and foremost, but if they manage to get some free time, they can cover their own projects. Note: All reviewers must do at least two reviews of two games of their own choosing prior to getting any regular requests to do game reviews, this is so CCG can get an idea of your competence and writing ability in general. 2. If we use a review key, we have to sign a contract prior (only the first time) stating we...

Note; I dedicate this post to Jason and Cheryl Gress of ChristCenteredGamer, whose bravery and candor in their ministry for Christ has inspired me to be brave in my own life, and I owe both an immeasurable debt of gratitude for giving me the courage to say what is said below. For those who have not realized I write for the website ChristCenteredGamer  under my real name, I am named, in real life, Daniel Cullen. I commonly go by GethN7 on most sites, Arcane or Arcane21 on Wikimedia wikis. I have decided to quit hiding my real name for a few reasons I want to share, with both friends and enemies alike. 1. I'm at the point I refuse to be afraid of people trying to dox me. When I decided to have an internet presence, I knew it was a risk I'd run into, and for the longest time I was paranoid, especially because some malicious parties once tried to dox me with the intent of causing me all sorts of harm. More recently, some of them have threatened to dox me just to scare ...

https://www.christcenteredgamer.com/index.php/reviews/pc-mac/7096-dragon-quest-heroes-the-world-tree-s-woe-and-the-blight-below-pc Writing this post to confirm that I do indeed write for ChristCenteredGamer, a fact I'm very proud of, as both a gamer and servant of God. For the record, I want to get a few things out there for both my new employers and anyone else interested. 1. I admit I'm a sinner, unworthy to look up towards Heaven, but as someone who wants to glorify God, I will do my best to write work that does just that. 2. As a gamer, I've long bemoaned the horrible state of gamer journalism, and I have now become one (at one of the more honorable outlets for it from where I'm sitting) in the hopes of reversing the trend. It is my intention to be honest and honorable in this regard. 3. I will sublimate my personal moral opinions for the sake of CCG's standards, which are effectively neutral towards all Christian denominations and still strive to pr...