u/g_lampa

So, when Yes was faced with the Anderson / Wakeman departure, and the legendary meeting in the studios w/ The Buggles combined w/ Squire / Howe / White leaning into harder-edged material yielded the Drama sessions, the band nevertheless fell apart again, and reconstituted w/ the inclusion Anderson and Kaye’s return, and Squire and Rabin’s “Cinema” material, ultimately culminating in huge success with 1983’s “90125.”

Yes’ trajectory then followed the “Cinema” lineup for another two records, and the rest is history.

My question is this: in hindsight, in an alternate universe where the Drama (arguably a more muscular and “prog” edged sound) lineup continued forward and became the main Yes timeline, instead of the Cinema path, would we have been blessed with a better overall post-80’s Yes album run? I know many people feel that no Anderson = No Yes, and many people don’t care much for Drama, for that very reason, I personally think Drama is a beast of an album, and though I love 90125, I can’t really say the same for Big Generator or Talk. In my imagination, if Yes had powered through the 80’s with the Drama lineup, we might have been better off, hypothetically, with the resulting 90’s / 2000’s material.

Anyone else think a Drama trajectory would’ve been a bigger beast than the Cinema trajectory (and beyond) that we got? In my view, Drama was more prog-minded than 90125, and developing on that platform, instead of what came would’ve produced a stronger Yes than what we got.

All my other samplers are pretty lonely, these days!

A lot of people have tried to verbalize precisely what makes Crimson desert their favorite game, possibly of all time. I can pretty safely say that it’s in contention for first place in my storied game career.

Playing this morning I started to realize that the game is gradually forcing me to go back to a style of play I haven’t really tried in years. Slow, methodical appreciation and examination of everything down to the tiniest branch. When I used to play a lot of Red Dead Redemption 2, I often find myself in some small cottage, in the rain, marveling at the way the candlelight played off off a pewter carafe, or something like that. now I find that in crimson desert, Now I have to re-learn that style of play, here in Crimson Desert, but I’m more frequently rewarded for doing so.

After breaking into some posh estate, I came across a small lock box. Inside there was a peach pit. Big deal, right? Except in this game, my mind fleshes out the story. I haven’t seen a peach, yet. Not on a tree, nor in a vendor’s inventory. But now I can plant this pit by my house, and soon be visiting that place to collect a bunch of fresh peaches. Hopefully they help with stamina.

It may seem trivial to some gamers, but to me, it’s the whole reason I play. To operate with complete agency in a world more fantastic than our own.