The Queue

There was an evil computer program once that remarked upon the smell, and I think they were on the right track. Maybe I don’t want to eradicate humanity entirely, but I certainly want to eradicate the people who decide that they don’t need to wear deodorant while they’re out and about!

While I invest in more nose plugs, it’s time for — The Queue!

It doesn’t matter if you wanna take ’em or leave ’em, we’re stuck with ’em. Humans are everywhere: surrounding us in real life, but also a dominating option in video games, movies, and books. There is simply no escaping humanity, so you have to accept it.

I am in fact so indifferent to humanity, that I wasn’t even going to discuss it until rjagoda suggested I should. So here you have it, the final word for Friday.

Phil made a passionate defense of Humans in fantasy yesterday, and it’s a good read.

I like humans in fantasy games. I know I’m the exception here: people are all about elves and dwarves, orcs and minotaurs, vampires and werewolves, demons and angels. And I like those too! But for some reason, I always tend to gravitate towards good old, boring, predictable, vanilla, run-of-the-mill humans. Their stories speak more to me.

When it comes to other races, the truth is that, although there are exceptions, they can often be very stereotypical. Elves are long-lived, pretty, magically-inclined, nature-loving, and a bit arrogant. Orcs are brash, hot-headed, and warlike. Dwarves dig and drink. Humans, on the other hand, are more of a blank slate — and for that reason, they don’t have a predetermined set of stories already written for them. I just find that the intricacies of political drama on human kingdoms and the pains and woes of human drama are not only easier to relate to, but they usually scrape a little deeper as well.

And with my defense of what is often called “the most boring race someone could choose to play as in a fantasy game” — I disagree — it’s time to Queue.

I’m pretty sure it was Caesar or something, but today I’d like a refund. And a nap.

This is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us questions and we’ll get around to answering them after we finish with this paperwork (because there’s always paperwork on Tuesdays).

This is the first time I’ve gotten into the endgame of Diablo 4 and I think I’ve gotten the hang of it mostly. I’m still a little squishy, and a few levels short of 100, but things are going well! I’ve finished the battle pass, and am most of the way through the seasonal challenges. I think what I like so much about the Diablo endgame is that it’s a great game to listen to podcasts with. I can let the podcast wash over me while I slay the myriad baddies of Sanctuary.

While I get my next episode queued up, it’s time for — The Queue!

I know that’s a picture of a panda and a turtle, but just use your imagination, okay? Today is all about pandas, but you have to bring your own cats.

Some people come back to Skyrim or Oblivion over and over again, but for my money, the best computer RPG to return to is Kingdoms of Amalur. The Re-Reckoning version released by THQNordic, complete with the Fatesworn DLC, has been my game of choice lately after I finished a pretty fraught playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Partially because of the balancing changes and partly because I wanted to actually get to see Fatesworn, I was interested in getting to play it again.

Anyway, I think it still holds up pretty well. It’s my favorite fantasy RPG and the conceit of playing a character who can change the fates of others because their own fate was removed reminds me a bit of the old David Eddings books I like, the Sparhawk series.

I picked up the very chill game Spirit City: Lofi Sessions this week and I’ve been enjoying having it in the background while I play World of Warcraft and write articles for BlizzardWatch. It’s good to relax, especially since the rest of this month is giving us:

• New Hearthstone Battlegrounds season on April 16
• World of Warcraft Season 4 on April 23
• Cataclysm Classic pre-patch on April 30
• Patch 10.2.7 PTR Soon™
• The War Within Alpha Soon-ish Maybe?

And that doesn’t even include Tales of Kenzera: ZAU releasing on April 23 and Taylor Swift’s new album Tortured Poets Department arriving on April 19.

So while I try to figure out how to double the length of days so I have time for all of this, let’s answer some questions.

I hope everyone had a rousing good time staring at the sun yesterday. I know eye sure did!

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and if we squint at the screen we can probably get through answering.