The Sunday Papers: FFXVI, Armored Core 6, AI Research and Microsoft Layoffs

The Sunday Papers returns with another week of sharp writing from across games and culture, and this edition runs the gamut from Final Fantasy XVI's shallow worldbuilding to the quiet crisis inside artificial intelligence research. If you missed any of it, here is what deserves your attention.

When Fantasy Worlds Wear Brownface

Mazen Haggag, writing for Deleted Saves, digs into Final Fantasy XVI's attempt to weave Middle Eastern and North African cultural influences into its world. The verdict is not kind. Dhalmekia, the only non-white nation in the base game, is described as all surface and no substance. It is a desert nation of craftspeople whose wealth flows from trading artisan goods across Valisthea, and each of its towns has its own specialty. Tabor has its tanneries. Dravozd features an entire questline about smithing. Dalimil draws travelers with its hot springs, surrounded by shops selling carpets, shisha, herbs, spices, brass ornaments, and bread.

The variety tells a visual story about how the town grew, feeding off a captive audience of travelers and a populace eager to seize opportunity. Objects and accoutrements add flavor. The problem is that this flavor never extends to the people who actually occupy the country.

Armored Core 6 Knows Violence Is Ugly

Lilith writes at Gamesline. She examines violence in games. There's the kind that scolds you, the kind that both-sides it, and the kind that empowers, and much of this runs through the lens of a big stompy mech that towers over everything else in the frame. Armored Core 6 understands that violence is not glamorous. Death is ugly. It arrives in screams and gunfire. And war is full of people who never get a catchy one-liner before they die.

Depending on the route, the same violence can be cathartic. The aesthetics of death are loud. Blood is bright. Some emotions are too loud to whisper. A story where a violent regime is overthrown by the downtrodden is not the same power fantasy as one where you uncritically protect the status quo. Both are violent. That violence is not equal.

Some emotions are too loud to whisper.

The Research Is Investigating Capital, Not the World

Dr. Michael Cook, an artificial intelligence researcher and occasional contributor to RPS, remembers the optimism of earlier AI work and contrasts it with what big tech has warped it into. He reviewed a paper recently and noted it was one of about a dozen identical ones he has reviewed this year alone. The core contribution was simply this: they asked an LLM to do a thing.

That was the paper's contribution to AI research. They took a product built by a private company, asked it to do something, and reported that it did it. No evaluation. Cook says it is perfectly okay if this is what AI research is now, and that times and words change. But he finds it impossible to reconcile with the world he got excited about two decades ago. So much of the field now amounts to using the products of a handful of companies to claim they can do something. If you're lucky, they ask another LLM to evaluate the results. The research is investigating the applications of capital, not expanding our understanding of the world.

Xbox's Tarot Deck of Death Cards

Nathan Brown's Hit Points newsletter takes on the Microsoft layoffs. It's one of the best, funniest, most elegantly furious reads in games. And there's a certain logic to folding the Halo team into Activision, because Halo has spent a lot of money and a lot of time to make pretty much the square root of nothing, while Call of Duty's production line knows how to ship.

But nobody outside the Xbox C-suite believes this is good. Or that it'll work. The Xbox tarot deck these days consists solely of Death cards, and no matter how many times you shuffle them, which is a nice way to feel busy, you shouldn't expect anything to change. Shuffle away. It's nice. Don't expect change.

Nevermind at 35: The Words We Never Discussed

Niko Stratis, writing for Paste Magazine, reflects on Nevermind's 35th birthday and what was never said. The words were never really discussed. Only warned about. Baptist neighbors called them satanic, even evil, and Stratis learned that feelings which felt at home in Cobain's lyrics were bad, sinful, like pride and murder before it. His mother didn't think much of them until Cobain died by suicide. Then the sinful lyrics became desperate warnings.

Nobody talked about why he was sad, why he was so happy but alone, ugly but okay. Nobody talked about mental health, or the weight of the 1990s, a decade often remembered as many things but always a little dark to Stratis. Brown wallpaper. Dark carpet. Nights that seemed to find more hours to be dark. All the words he did not have for why Nevermind spoke to him so deeply, why it became his record to an annoying degree.

What Else Is Worth Your Time

Music this week comes courtesy of the Control Resonant OST. The standout track is described, with affection, as whatever the fuck this is.

• Deleted Saves on Final Fantasy XVI's handling of Middle Eastern and North African influences
• Gamesline on violence, empowerment, and Armored Core 6
• Dr. Michael Cook on what AI research has become
• Hit Points on the Microsoft layoffs
• Paste Magazine on Nevermind turning 35

The Sunday Papers exists to gather the week's best writing in one place, and this week's selection does not disappoint. Whether it is a mech game wrestling with the morality of its own combat, a fantasy world that never lets its inspirations breathe, or a researcher mourning the field he once loved, the through-line is the same. The details matter. The people behind the systems matter. And sometimes the most honest thing a game, a paper, or an album can do is admit what it cannot fix.

Pour the coffee. Sit somewhere your spine can tolerate. The reading list is ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

What criticism does Mazen Haggag make about Final Fantasy XVI's Dhalmekia?

Mazen Haggag, writing for Deleted Saves, argues that Dhalmekia, the only non-white nation in the base game, is all surface and no substance. Although its towns have distinct specialties like tanneries in Tabor, smithing in Dravozd, and hot springs in Dalimil, this flavor never extends to the people who actually occupy the country.

How does Lilith's analysis in Gamesline describe Armored Core 6's treatment of violence?

Lilith writes that Armored Core 6 understands violence is not glamorous, with death arriving in screams and gunfire and war full of people who never get a catchy one-liner before they die. She notes that depending on the route, the same violence can be cathartic, and that a story where a violent regime is overthrown by the downtrodden is not the same power fantasy as one where you uncritically protect the status quo.

Why does Dr. Michael Cook find current AI research difficult to reconcile with his earlier optimism?

Dr. Michael Cook says much of the field now amounts to using the products of a handful of companies to claim they can do something, with a core contribution often being simply asking an LLM to do a thing and reporting that it did it. He finds it impossible to reconcile this with the world he got excited about two decades ago, and concludes the research is investigating the applications of capital, not expanding our understanding of the world.

What does Nathan Brown's Hit Points newsletter say about the Microsoft layoffs and the Xbox tarot deck?

Nathan Brown's Hit Points newsletter takes on the Microsoft layoffs, and the article describes it as one of the best, funniest, most elegantly furious reads in games. It says nobody outside the Xbox C-suite believes folding the Halo team into Activision is good or that it'll work, and that the Xbox tarot deck these days consists solely of Death cards, so no matter how many times you shuffle them you shouldn't expect anything to change.

What does Niko Stratis reflect on regarding Nevermind's 35th birthday?

Niko Stratis, writing for Paste Magazine, reflects on what was never said about Nevermind, noting the words were only warned about and that Baptist neighbors called them satanic or evil. His mother didn't think much of them until Cobain died by suicide, after which the sinful lyrics became desperate warnings, and nobody talked about why he was sad, about mental health, or about the weight of the 1990s.