fidgetPing

Source engine, physics puzzles, NPC facial animations, companion AI, overall sound design, lots of UI primitives. Modern video games owe a lot to HL.

Visual novels are the genre where the writers reign supreme, yes, but that's very explicitly not the games that GP was listing. Skyrim, Fallout, Witcher and Elden Ring are very much not writing-driven experiences.

Video-games fundamentally don't work like that. Stories are told through gameplay, which is an interactive medium expressed through engine, assets and direction. The best video-game storytellers are the tech guys. Most of the franchises you've listed have fairly rudimentary writing by the standards of any other medium, but it's elevated because it is so fun to play. Even something as story-centric as Baldur's Gate, Disco Elysium or Pathologic rests on a ton of technical innovation.

Hold on, do you deny that IQ has a strong heritable component and that there's a well-documented IQ difference between different populations? Cause that's all he's saying, while also emphasizing that these statements mean little when referring to specific individuals.